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I d o f e e l a s e n s e o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y …

b e c a u s e , s e e I ’ m i n q u i t e a , a f o r t u n a t e

s i t u a t i o n t h e s e d a y s . I ’ m 6 9 y e a r s o f

a g e , I ’ v e g o t e v e r y t h i n g I w a n t i n l i f e s o

i t ’ s n o t a b o u t m e … b u t b e c a u s e I ’ v e

o p e n e d u p a c a n o f w o r m s , t h e r e ’ s

a c t u a l l y s o m e g u i l t a b o u t n o t d o i n g

s o m e t h i n g e a r l i e r .

A n d t h e n t h e t h i n g s I ’ v e s e e n t h a t a r e

s t i l l g o i n g o n … y o u k n o w , j u s t l e t ’ s g e t

i t r i g h t a t t h e m o m e n t .

CONTENTMessage from the Forum............................................................................................................. 03

Chapter 1: Purpose ............................................................................................................................ 05

Chapter 2: Hearing Testimony .............................................................................................. 07

Chapter 3: Communications and Outreach................................................................12

Chapter 4: Legacy...............................................................................................................................21

Chapter 5: Continual Improvement .................................................................................. 22

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Over the last year we have continued to reach out to even more adults who experienced institutional care in Scotland during childhood. All of the individuals and organisations we spoke to about our work recognised value in the unique and confidential opportunity to be heard that NCF offers. The decision to talk to NCF is never taken lightly. Some participants have weighed things up for weeks, months, or even years, before eventually feeling ready to share their experiences with us.

We provide information and emotional support to everyone who is considering talking to The Forum. This includes free access to an independent advice and support line where trained counsellors can help people to consider the impact that coming to The Forum might have on them. This year, 24 took the next step and entrusted us with their deeply personal account of what their life in care was like. What we heard has left an indelible mark.

We continue to be humbled by the sheer determination of care-experienced people - many of whom survived harrowing and painful childhoods and selflessly speak out, “to make sure what happened to me, doesn’t happen to anyone else.” Almost without exception, it is this reason above all other considerations that compels people to come forward. The adults who come to NCF often tell us they’ve never spoken openly before about their life in care, because they didn’t want to cause worry or upset for their loved ones. Many have carried a sense of shame or guilt about what happened to them as children, at the hands of the adults who were supposed to be looking after them. The Forum is committed to ensuring participants have access to ongoing support to help them make sense of their experiences and learn to shift the weight of responsibility onto those who so badly let them down.

We believe in keeping the needs and rights of care-experienced people at the centre of everything we do. This year we undertook several key improvements to strengthen the quality of our work and have increased the accessibility of hearings to include evenings and weekends. We also significantly extended our reach and presence through a vigorous communications and outreach strategy which has markedly developed our public profile and engagement with others. We will continue to build on our success to ensure participants feel that sharing their testimony is meaningful and worthwhile, and contributes to making a difference to the lives of care- experienced people in Scotland now and for all of the generations to come.

The Forum is made up by 5 forum members, including The Forum Head; all of whom are Public Appointees charged with the responsibility of executing The Forum’s statutory obligations as Victims and Witnesses Act (Scotland) 2014. Forum members bring diverse skills and knowledge including Law, Human Rights, Psychological Trauma, Psychiatry, Children & Families, Leadership & Management.

The Forum is supported by a staff team which includes the NCF Operational Manager, Gillian Middleton; Research Associate, Martin McKee; Audio Typist, Emma Reid; Hearing Co-ordinators, Leona Irvine & Angela Ward; and Communications and Outreach Officer, Joe Wallace. NCF Manager Suzanne Abbate moved on to pastures new in August, and our new Operational Manager Gillian Middleton joined us in December. We were unable to fill the previous Engagement Officer role but successfully recruited to the revised position of Communications & Outreach Officer with the appointment of Joe Wallace in August.

The staff team works for The Forum but are contractually employed by the Mental Welfare Commission, of which NCF is a Committee. All Members and staff are contracted until 31st March 2021. It is anticipated that later in 2020, new legislation will be introduced in the Scottish Parliament to instigate the creation of a financial redress scheme for survivors of abuse and neglect in care in Scotland. We expect this legislation to include provisions which repeal parts of other legislation under which NCF was set up. If passed by Parliament this would mean the NCF would close.

Aileen Blower

Tara Pennington-TwistKate Davidson

Jayne Laidlaw Moira Ramage

Joe WallaceGillian Middleton

NCFForumTeam

04

Operational

Manager

Comms &

Outreach

Officer

1.1 Who we are and what we do

The National Confidential Forum (The Forum) was established as part of the Scottish Government’s Survivor Scotland Strategy, designed to ensure support for adult survivors of childhood abuse, reduce stigma and improve services. The Forum was established through legislative provisions, in part 2 of and schedule 1A to the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”) as amended by the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”). The Forum is established as a committee of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

1.2 Our values

Our values are core to how we work in fulfilling our functions and include:

Purpose

Statutory functions of The Forum

Receive and listen to testimonies from those who were in institutional care as

children with the aim of contributing positively to their current health and wellbeing

Signpost other appropriate services to those who were in institutional care as children

Identify patterns and trends and make recommendations about policy and practice which NCF considers will improve institutional care

Treating people with respect and dignity

Respecting people’s rights in all we do

Listening in good faith to what people

tell us

Respecting people’s privacy and

confidentiality at all times

01.

05

I was always made to feel that everything I did was never

good enough. I was often told that I was thick and stupid and

all this has made me lack confidence to succeed in life.

The abuse has also made me a nervous person though I have

always tried my best to hide it.

1.3 Governance

The Forum is a committee of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. The Head of The Forum is accountable to the Chair. There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commission and the Scottish Government to ensure a sound system of corporate governance and operational independence for The Forum. The Forum shares business management services with the Commission, including audit services. The Forum’s work is supported by a robust risk management strategy and records management plan. The Commission is the Data Controller for The Forum.

1.4 Budget

NCF’s 2019/20 budget was originally £950k but this was revised to £775k following a budget review on the appointment of the new Forum Head. The subsequent creation of a new Communications and Outreach Officer post allowed the Forum to manage all Communications and engagement activity in house, improving our reach and impact while enabling significant savings. In addition, the plateau in hearings this year led to fewer paid member days and this combined with role vacancies at the start of the year led to further savings.

This operational underspend has now been offset by the inclusion of a closure provision including redundancy costs. This may be necessary in the event that the Redress Bill is passed by parliament and the legislation under which NCF was set up is repealed.

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07

2.1 Hearing Testimony

Forum members hear testimony from care-experienced people in a number of different ways. Participants can choose to have their hearing in our confidential hearings suite at our office in Glasgow, or we can travel to any part of the country to deliver hearings in a safe and confidential venue close to the participant’s home.

If people choose to have their hearing at the NCF office we cover their travel and accommodation expenses and the expenses of any person they need to accompany them for support.

Sometimes people who experienced institutional care in Scotland have moved to other parts of the UK, or

beyond.

To ensure we hear from as many people as possible, we sometimes travel to other parts of the UK to

conduct hearings.

Hearings can also take place by teleconference or video call.

Some people choose to provide their testimony in written format instead,

either by letter or electronically.

HearingTestimony02.

2.2 Hearing Duration

Most hearings take around 2 hours to complete but some take longer than this. We always work at the participant’s pace and stop for breaks when the participant feels they need a rest, sustenance, or to go outside for some fresh air to gather their thoughts.

What I’d love to do is (pause) get to the people that know the people who could actually make a difference … and hopefully they would listen to me and others because they’re not getting it right even now.

2.3 Hearing Method & Process

The Forum members are skilled and experienced listeners who are caring and non-judgmental, and who listen with empathy, sensitivity and compassion for all those who come to us.

Forum members use open questions to encourage people to tell us about their experiences of care but participants retain control over what they choose to tell us and come to us on an entirely voluntary basis. If they wish, participants can have a full copy of their testimony to keep. An anonymised version is retained by NCF for posterity and to ensure that participants’ experiences contribute to our findings report.

SAFETYand support

positivefeedback

I do feel a sense of relief … that somebody’s actually sat and listened to me

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2.4 Disclosures

The Victims & Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 compels Members of the National Confidential Forum to share information with Police Scotland under 2 specified circumstances:

A member of NCF must disclose to a constable information

received by that member to the extent that it is, in the opinion of the member acting in good faith, reasonably necessary to prevent

the commission of an o�ence involving the abuse of a child.

it is, in the opinion of the member acting in good faith, in the public interest to do so.

it relates to an allegation made by a person who has given testimony that an o�ence involving the abuse of a child has been committed, and

A

B

A member of NCF may disclose to a constable information received by

that member to the extent that

Last year we made 10 disclosures to the Police. Of these 9 disclosures were made to prevent the commission of an offence involving the abuse of a child, where we believed there was a possibility that an alleged perpetrator/s was still alive and could potentially present a risk to children.

We handle referrals to Police with great sensitivity and ensure the participant is kept at the centre of our decision making. In this circumstance we fully explain why this information needs to be passed on. We can offer to do this without disclosing the identity of the participant. In the majority of cases the participant is willing to speak to the Police and further assist with their investigations.

All of the referrals made last year were carried out with the full consent of the participant and we are forever indebted to all of them. Their extraordinary courage in coming forward and their commitment to making sure that Scotland learns valuable lessons from past atrocities, is hugely respected and appreciated by everyone at The Forum.

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hearing statistics

My message for scotlandParticipants are invited to make a summary statement on a card entitled, “My Message for Scotland”. The messages gathered will form the content of The Forum’s final report early next year.

32 booked hearings

24 completed hearings

24 hearings in person

2 cancelled and not rearranged hearings 2 postponed and rearranged hearings

2 postponed and not rescheduled hearings due to Covid -19

who required more than 1hearing to provide their

full account

1writtenhearing

8hearingsin other

locations

1participant

Cumbria

South

Ayrshire

Lancashire

Fife

Inverclyde

618

4

11

11

10

hearings were carried out at the NCF office

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24completedtestimonies

26New

applications

28Enquiries

33%remote hearings

NCFForumsupport

I guess I’m just feeling the benefit of having this conversation, you’ve both got

a really nice approach so thank you.

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Magazines Newspapers

RadioTV Stations

NEWS

These media outlets help to communicate our

message in a much more cost-effective manner

Communications &Outreach03.

The Forum appointed Joe Wallace as Communications & Outreach Officer in August. We’re delighted to report on the difference the introduction of this new role has made. This work has raised the profile of NCF in our continued effort to reach more people who’ve experienced institutional care in Scotland, to ensure they have an opportunity to be heard.

Joe developed a new Communications & Outreach strategy which introduced a more proactive programme of engagement, and a specific focus on local Media outlets:

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3.1 Mainstream Media Activity

The National Confidential Forum carried out an advertising campaign on the Glasgow Subway network in December to #ShineALightOnCare at Christmas. This was coupled with a press release highlighting the challenges faced by many care-experienced people during the festive season.

The campaign acknowledged the loneliness and isolation that some care-experienced people may be feeling. We encouraged people to consider speaking to The Forum about their experiences of childhood Christmases spent in institutional care.

The campaign was picked up by the BBC and subsequently featured on BBC Reporting Scotland lunchtime and evening news bulletins, and on BBC Radio Scotland’s Drive Time show. The feature included an informative and insightful case study with a former participant of The Forum.

We are very grateful for the candour and courage of this participant in choosing to share his experience publicly and the difference this made to people coming forward. The campaign was also picked up by local press and given a page lead in the Paisley Daily Express.

This coverage resulted in The Forum Head being interviewed on live radio (Paisley FM) for a half hour slot which was broadcast across Renfrewshire.

At Christmas time I used to pray to the baby

in the manger, ‘Can I get visitors? Please,

please let me get visits. Somebody, come

and visit me.

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3.2 Social Media

We have introduced a more proactive programme of engagement, encouraging an organic growth programme on social media platforms which has paid dividends.

NCF Twitter account has seen a 36% increase since August

NCF Twitter In the month of December alone we tweeted

NCF Twitter We had 574 profile visits.

NCF Twitter Earned new followers

new followers

Impressions

tweets

followers

1,113

249

111k

84

We have enjoyed retweets by celebrities, campaigners, and supporters of care-experienced

people, such as TV chef Lorraine Pascale, Ben Ashcroft, Ian Dickson, and Ian Gould

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3.3 Outreach Activity

Outreach and awareness are essential to promoting The Forum to people who may directly benefit or who can signpost others to NCF. The Forum extended our engagement with frontline organisations, services and campaigning bodies who are actively supporting care-experienced people.

We’ve had an exceptionally busy outreach calendar this year and disseminated information about The Forum’s work or delivered presentations directly to staff, managers or service users in the following organisations:

Social Bite’s ‘Big Sleep Out’

People First Scotland

Kibble specialist services & support for Young People

Blue Triangle Housing Association

Break The Silence

Crossreach

Voice Within Drama Group

Roman Catholic Diocese of Paisley

Right Rev. John Keenan (Roman Catholic Bishop for Diocese of

Paisley)

Strathclyde Sirens netball team

Netball Scotland

Fair Start Scotland

Police Scotland (Preventions and Interventions Officer, Motherwell)

Police Scotland (Preventions and Interventions Officer, East Kilbride)

Falkirk Champs

East Renfrewshire Council

East Ayrshire Council

Fife Council

North Lanarkshire Council

Salvation Army

Clackmannanshire Council

We Are Citizens (Care-experienced theatre group)

South Lanarkshire Council

Scottish Commission for Learning Disability

Care Visions

Who Cares? Scotland

Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations

Thriving Survivors

Wise Women

Sense Scotland

See Me, Mental Health Awareness and Equality Campaign

Hayfield Support Services

Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters

LGBT Youth Scotland

Shetland Local Authority

HMP Grampian

PAC Glasgow

Homeless Action Scotland

Terrance Higgins Trust

Pride Glasgow

Disclosure Scotland

Gender based violence team, NHS Lanarkshire

NHS Credit Union

The Alliance

Lanarkshire Links

Lanarkshire Deaf club

Deaf Services Lanarkshire

The Lennox Partnership

Breathing Space

NHS 24

The Care Review

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

CELCIS

STAF Scotland

Wellbeing Scotland

Speak Out Glasgow

Say Women

Glasgow Women’s Aid

SAFE

Health and Social Care Scotland

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3.4 Highlights of Outreach activity

Right Rev. John Keenan, Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Paisley, committing his support to spread NCF’s message to every care-experienced person in Scotland’s Catholic community. Bishop Keenan pledged to encourage care-experienced people to approach The Forum in confidence to have their voices heard. This will include distribution of NCF literature and recommending the NCF message is carried to all Catholic parishioners. Image: Jayne Laidlaw, Head of National Confidential Forum, with the Right Rev. John Keenan, RC Bishop for Diocese of Paisley.

3.5 Social Bite’s Big Sleep Out

Social Bite’s Big Sleep Out in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens, where Forum Head and Comms and Outreach Officer joined thousands of people around the world attempting to bring homelessness to an end. At the National Confidential Forum we know care-experienced people are far more likely to experience homelessness at some stage in their lives.

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Social Bite CEO Jane Bruce supported our work and invited us to exhibit at the event where we talked to 100s of members of the public about our work and distributed 500 NCF information leaflets.

DISTRIBUTED NCF

INFORMATION LEAFLETS

500 Although we were

institutionalised, we had a c lean bed, we had food, we have no love, certainly, and

that but we at least had a roof over we’re head but when you were leaving care, you didn’t

have that. You didn’t have that security, as such, right?

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3.5 CrossReach Leadership Group

To extend our reach to care-experienced people with learning disabilities, Forum Head Jayne Laidlaw and Communications and Outreach Officer Joe Wallace were invited to give a presentation to CrossReach’s senior management team at their away day in Perth. Service managers and leaders cascaded the NCF message to their local teams and we subsequently met directly with service users from CrossReach’s Adult Learning Disability Service and Children & Families Service.

3.5 Who Cares? Scotland

Forum Head Jayne Laidlaw delivered a presentation and Q&A session to Who Cares? Scotland Leadership Group at their event on Loch Tay and sought their views on reaching out to a younger care-experienced audience. The generous feedback and insight of the Who Cares? team has been used to improve NCF literature and social media engagement. We were also delighted to formally support their call to action for independent advocacy for all children and young people in care who want it.

3.6 Glasgow Pride Festival

Former NCF Manager Suzanne Abbate and Forum members Aileen Blower and Jayne Laidlaw held a very busy stall at the Glasgow PRIDE festival and cascaded NCF information and literature to approximately 500 people who engaged with them directly over the course of the day. This was the first time that NCF had been present at a PRIDE event and we were thrilled to engage with so many younger care-experienced people interested in our work and its relevance to them within the wider landscape of inequality.

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3.7 Partnership Work

The Forum is committed to reaching care-experienced people who have previously been underrepresented in the demographic of participants we have heard from.

3.8 People First

Forum Head Jayne Laidlaw and Communications and Outreach Officer Joe Wallace met directors and staff at People First and discussed ways in which The Forum can reach out to more care-experienced people with learning difficulties. The main outcome from the meeting was the production of fit-for-purpose easy-read literature. Initial steps have taken place to produce this in collaboration with colleagues at the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability but the delivery of this work is currently on hold due to the Covid-19 crisis.

3.9 SCLD (Scottish Commission for Learning Disabilities)

Forum Head Jayne Laidlaw and Communications and outreach Officer Joe Wallace have been determined to see NCF reach out to care-experienced people with learning disabilities. NCF engaged with SCLD and held productive meetings with CEO Charlie McMillan and Implementation and Involvement Officer Catriona Rowley.

We have made great strides in getting our message out to those important groups over the year by forming and developing key partnerships both commercially and within the voluntary sector or wider landscape.

We are now proud sponsors of the Strathclyde Sirens to take advantage of the marketing reach this provides in our efforts to engage a younger female audience. This partnership supports NCF to reach a national and global audience via branding on the players’ uniforms, NCF logo on Sirens’ website and courtside board advertising, on top of a substantial digital campaign.

Our priority audiences during the last

year have been women, people under 40

years of age, and people with additional

learning and support needs.

The pic shows National Confidential Forum Manager Gillian Middleton, second from right, at launch of the partnership with Strathclyde Sirens

and Netball Scotland CEO Claire Nelson, second from left, and Sirens players Natalie Bright, far left, and

Gia Abernethy, far right

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3.10 Scottish Throughcare & Aftercare Forum (STAF)

NCF were delighted to become a membership organisation of Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum (STAF) at the end of 2019. STAF CEO Jo Derrick, invited the NCF to have an opportunity to further raise its public profile among their staff and networks. These opportunities took the form of a presentation at their team development day and by inclusion of a prominent Q&A in their winter newsletter.

The Q&A with NCF Manager Gillian Middleton provided a further

opportunity to widen our networks and promote and clarify the key

messages and function of The Forum in acknowledging testimonies of adults

who had experience of childhood institutional care in Scotland.

NCF were pleased to be a sponsor of the 2020 STAF summit. The summit

was very well attended with over 200 senior delegates and speakers from the Scottish Government, statutory, public

and voluntary sectors.

The summit provided a fantastic opportunity to engage in dialogue

with fellow professionals in the care and survivor landscape and

further carry the NCF opportunity to their networks

Gave her a guided tour of the hearing suites and provided her with a greater understanding of

our work in giving a voice to care-experienced people in

Scotland

NCF Forum Head Jayne Laidlaw invited STAF CEO Jo Derrick to the

NCF o�ce

If I’ve brought anything here today that would protect one child that’s worth it.

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The Legacy that those with experience of institutional care in Scotland will ultimately embed is vast and powerful. The Forum has gathered data and testimony from 100s of care-experienced people. Following a rigorous and reliable process of analysis we expect to publish our qualitative Research Report, “Shine a Light on Care” at the end of 2020. From these findings The Forum will be in a strong position to make Policy and Practice Recommendations to Scottish Government, in a further report which we aim to publish by January 2021. We also anticipate publishing a final report in early 2021, “My Message for Scotland” which is a compilation of numerous direct quotes from participants. Work is well underway to produce the following documents:

From the start of 2020 we have been engaging in discussion with officials from the National Records for Scotland to begin the process of planning how we will securely transfer confidential and anonymised data should The Forum come to an appropriate and timely close in the future. Over the Summer of 2020, we will publish the decision of the Data Controller and seek to mitigate any concerns expressed by stakeholders.

The Forum is grateful for the very valuable input and support of colleagues at the National Records for Scotland, and to the Information Governance Manager at MWC, Paloma Alvarez for her knowledge and insight as we progress this important task.

Dec. 2020 Jan. 2021 Feb. 2021

Qualitative Research Findings Report

“Shine a Light on Care”

Policy and Practice Recommendations

to Scottish Government

My Message for Scotland

The messages convey, in their own words, what participants want Scotland to take notice of and what they want Scotland to do about institutional

care now and in the future.

MESSAGETheir messages also speak to Scotland about what can and should be done now to support those who

still carry the trauma from their adverse care experiences and lost childhoods.

SUPPORT

04. Legacy

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The Scottish Residential Childcare Conference

UK Psychological Trauma Society Conference

Scottish Trauma Informed Leaders Training (STILT),

NHS Education for Scotland (NES)

Wellbeing Scotland - Vicarious Trauma and Team Work

Training with Police Scotland’s Single Point of Contact Team (SPOC) to mutually improve our management of Disclosures made by NCF to the Police

One of the top priorities of The Forum is to ensure the very best quality and safety in our support of all the care-experienced people we come into contact with. Whether people go on to have a hearing at NCF or not, The Forum members believe that care-experienced people deserve our very best at all times. This year The Forum introduced a range of improvements to our operational processes as well as developing the knowledge and practice of our support staff.

5.1 Professional Development

The Forum has supported staff and members’ Continual Professional Development using a range of resources. This year we have taken part in:

5.2 Looking after each other

The wellbeing of Staff and Forum members is very important to NCF and we recognise that working in the field of trauma support and recovery has the potential to lead to vicarious trauma for those individuals working in NCF. While we have always had the benefit of a multi-disciplined Forum and direct access to their expertise, we did not have in place a robust framework to provide opportunities for reflective practice and line management supervision.

Glasgow University course for a member of NCF staff - The Psychology of Addiction

ASIST suicide prevention training for one NCF staff member

Understanding Organisational Team Dynamics - Taylor Clarke Associates

Observing the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

Review of Care Launch Event

ContinualImprovement05.

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This year we introduced monthly 1-to-1 supervision for all NCF staff to support their emotional wellbeing and promote effective performance of their role objectives.

A clinical reflective practice group was established in July to offer further support to staff and this was facilitated by Dr Calum Munro, Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist. After 4 sessions and following consultation with staff, the reflective practice group was concluded in November and staff were redirected to the other supports that were now in place. In addition, an Employee Assistance Programme has always been available to all staff of the Mental Welfare Commission.

5.3 Process Developments

Our new Wellbeing Risk Assessment helps us to understand any support needs participants may have to enable them to participate fully in a Hearing, and work collaboratively with them to minimise any potential risk to their longer-term emotional wellbeing.

Our new Hearing Process document was developed following a successful mapping exercise. Staff and Forum members visually mapped out each component of the hearing process from end to end, paying particular attention to the experience of participants, the support we offer at each stage, and the careful recording and anonymising of data during the process. This has helped us to streamline our data processing and have better oversight of the hearings workflow.

Helped highlight areas where

improvement is needed

Enabled more timely support to be

offered if wellbeing concerns are

shared or identified

Reinstated regular team business

meetings which has been helpful

in progressing Forum work

The Forum Head offers regular 1-1

meetings with Forum members in

addition to the bi-monthly Forum

Meetings

The Forum Head has supervision

meetings with the MWC

Vice-Chair throughout the year

External support is provided by

Taylor Clarke Associates

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The NCF Manager engaged staff in revising and developing the Pre-Hearing Briefing document to ensure vital information was captured, recorded, and shared with Forum members ahead of each hearing to promote a better experience of care, attention and sensitivity for participants.

By creating our own Evaluation Tool which keeps the needs

of care-experienced people at the centre, we are pleased to

report a good level of engagement in the feedback process.

The tool focuses on the participant’s experience of the

sensitivity, care and support offered by NCF prior to, during,

and post hearing. We expect this to increase when we can

have access to the written evaluations returned by post

currently held by the Royal Mail ‘keep safe’ service until

lockdown restrictions can be reviewed. The evaluation

process is overseen by NCF Manager Gillian Middleton and

her summary of the evaluation follows.

evaluations were sent out to recent

participants in early March 2020

4. Reintroduction of an Evaluation

process to gather participant feedback.

3. Increased potential capacity in our

Advice and Guidance line, which Health

in Mind has the contract to provide for

us.

2. To better meet the needs and diversity

of care-experienced people we extended

the availability of hearings from 4 days

per week to 6 days per week

1. The Participant Consent Form was

also refreshed and updated.

1. This helps us to ensure we are more explicit and

transparent in our communication with participants about

how we use their data when they come along to The Forum,

and affords them greater choice in what they wish to

consent to or not.

2. The Forum took account of available research and their

own knowledge of the range and depth of inequalities that

care-experienced people suffer, including how, when or if,

they access services. We also included evening availability

instead of expecting everyone to fit neatly into typical ‘office

hour’ appointments.

3. The Advice & Guidance line is available 6 days a week

to any person considering coming to The Forum and for

anyone who has already spoken to us. In addition to the

core opening times of the line, participants now have the

option of requesting a bespoke appointment out with the

core hours if this better meets their needs.

4. Limited success from previous attempts to gather

qualitative feedback using costly external agencies,

prompted the current Forum to try a different approach.

of the current response rate,conducted by

telephone interview

22%

36

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5.4 Evaluation

Participant evaluations have helped us to identify and celebrate our strengths as a Forum as well as enabling us to shape any areas of our practice and service that could benefit from improvement. Feedback received through evaluation has been overwhelmingly positive.

100% of participants felt safe and supported as part of their experience of sharing their testimony with us.

SafetySupport

All participants indicated there was nothing additional The Forum could have offered that would have further helped to take part in the process. They each felt The Forum had been a positive and valuable experience to take part in.

RequestChanges

The independent Support and Advice Line offered to participants before and after their hearing continues to be much underutilised with very low access levels. None of the respondents had used the Support and Advice Line.

SupportAdvice

Line

100% of participants appreciated and welcomed the aftercare follow-up phone calls from hearing co-ordinators checking in with them and offering any additional support and signposting following on from their hearing at The Forum.

Additional Support

The post-hearing information provided by staff was deemed ‘very informative’ and the support given post hearing was recorded as ‘helpful and supportive’ as well as ‘appropriate and respectful’.

Post-HearingInformation

100% of participants reported that the pre-hearing information shared with them about coming to The Forum was properly explained and easy to understand.

Pre-hearing Information

All of the participants identified they felt accommodated and looked after by The Forum in terms of pre-hearing support, this included implementing practical arrangements to ensure their attendance was as smooth as possible.

Pre-hearing Support

3 participants noted their appreciation of the accuracy of the typed copy of their transcript and all participants said they were pleased to be offered the option to receive a copy of their personal transcript.

TranscriptAccuracy

70% of participants noted they valued the offer of transport to and from The Forum as being a benefit and support on the day.

OfferTransport

All participants who took part in our evaluation recognised the supportive, respectful and gentle manner in which their testimonies were listened to and received. 100% of participants reported that they felt listened to, believed and acknowledged during their hearing. This was identified as being an important component in helping to make participants feel comfortable during their hearing itself.

Participantfeedback

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The quotes below illustrate participants’ experience of being heard and acknowledged by the National Confidential Forum.

The hearing was respectful and I felt listened to.

Good to know people want to make a difference.

Very positive experience all round engaging with the NCF.

Questions were great & I felt really present & cared for, great eye contact.

Nerve wracking but good to have the opportunity and space to talk about

things that I had locked away for many years. Coming to The Forum was a

positive experience for me.

Staff in the office and the people who listened to my hearing were all

lovely and put me at ease.

The ladies who listened to my testimony were fantastic - put me at ease and

listened intently and sensitively.

Offered a taxi home which was kind and felt a weight lifted off my shoulders that I

had a chance to share my story.

I wanted to take part as I admire any work being done to improve the care

system for Scotland’s children and future generations.

A really wonderful team and service, would recommend NCF to anyone.

Good aftercare follow-up calls and I appreciated getting

my transcript in the post.

I didn’t feel rushed at all which was great.

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Participants’ Quotes

COVID 19 The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating for public health, the economy and every part of society. Following Government advice, The National Confidential Forum commenced home working in March 2020 and immediately set about introducing contingencies to ensure care- experienced people could continue to have the opportunity to be heard. We have introduced facilities and protocols which enable us to offer hearings confidentially by video conference and teleconference.

At the time of writing we have 1 video hearing booked and 2 people waiting for a face-to-face hearing should that become possible at some point in the future. Early indications suggest that the necessary restrictions to reduce the spread of Covid-19 will impact on the number of people who choose to get in touch with The Forum at this time. It is too early to ascertain whether we will see a sudden spike in demand later in the year, if lockdown restrictions are reviewed and directives permit us to resume some form of in-person hearing. What we can say for certain is that we will continue to adapt and be responsive to the needs of care-experienced people throughout this incredibly challenging and uncertain time. We are acutely aware of the impact which lockdown can have on care experienced people’s mental wellbeing, sense of isolation and fear and the potential for this to bring past trauma to the fore. We will continue to work alongside our stakeholders to offer all the support we can as we navigate this crisis together.

“Since the start of Covid-19, discussions with my friends and care-experienced colleagues have not been light in nature.

Almost every person I have spoken to has expressed a sense of isolation. Of course, we are all isolating ourselves but these friends are experiencing isolation equivalent to profound loss. A few of these friends have described it as being torn from those they love and being forced by the hand of the government to stay far from those that allow them to feel normal and part of society.

I have my own thoughts on why we are experiencing such profound loss – with the varying distress we have experienced in the past by being removed from families, moving homes several times over and over, it becomes a struggle to hold and maintain a friendship, and with the Covid-19 crisis, the community are being forced yet again, to leave people and avoid those people that make them feel loved.

On a lighter note, a few of my friends have found positives in this disastrous time. Some of them have expressed stronger than ever bonds developing within their families, some haven’t seen parents in 20 years and have reconciled old issues and are managing to hold a relationship. Many of my friends, even the ones who are struggling, have managed to start cooking healthier and exercising more and are finding more and more interests and skills that they believed they didn’t have, such as a strong passion for reading or one of them has taken up ballet at home for example.

So while we can talk about the negatives at length, it is important to recognise the good with the bad.”

Jayne Laidlaw, Forum Head

David – former NCF participant

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