I do Drama twice a week at ROC Creative. To start us off, my first question is, what is the best show you’ve ever seen?

I think the best show I’ve ever seen is War Horse. I went to see it – not because I wanted to go – but because my youngest daughter really, really likes horses. So as a treat for her birthday I said I’d go. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but it was absolutely fabulous. I really enjoyed it and so did she.

What was your journey to this job?

I’m here as the Interim Chief Executive. I’ve been a Chief Executive for a very long time (32 years!) and I’ve worked for lots of different sorts of organisations, such as the NHS, the British Medical Association, and organisations similar to this one which support people living with drug addiction. I’m very pleased to come, because United Response does a very, very worthwhile job for people who deserve to be treated equally and given every opportunity in life.
What has impressed you so far at United Response?

I’ve been really impressed at seeing what people are learning at places like ROC College, ROC Creative and URTEC in York. It’s been really lovely to see people learning to do things that they might not have had the chance to do in the past. It’s also been very nice to talk to the staff who really care about what they do, want to do a good job and want to give people we support the best opportunities they can.

What are your hopes and goals for United Response?

It’s been very hard for the whole sector over the last few years and some organisations have had to spend money they had in reserves in order to keep going. United Response has had to do that too, but you can’t go on doing that forever. By the time I have finished here, I hope that United Response will still do brilliant services, without spending its reserves. We need to get to this point without disturbing the services that we give people we support.

What has been happening so far to achieve this?

The leadership of an organisation is really important, so we’ve made some changes there. We also noticed that because our services were divided, with one manager looking after the North and one looking after the South, they were becoming quite different when they didn’t need to be. To change this, we’ve brought them together under one manager.

On top of this, we are making improvements so staff can work more efficiently and have more time to support people. One thing we’ve been looking at here is the technology. We’ve just introduced a database called Nourish, we’re going to introduce a system for rostering in the autumn and we’re upgrading our
finance system.

Finally, we’ve introduced a new process so that anyone in the organisation can fill in a form to request an idea for improving things or something new they want to try. These suggestions will also make things better.

What changes are you hoping to make to support people to live good lives in the community, especially people like me who have left education?

I think we need to all think about the places that the people we support live in. Many people like yourself want to think about a future where they could perhaps have their own place with their own front door. We need to be really good at creating places to live where it’s easy for people to live in them and for staff to provide support, so you can be as independent as possible.

The other key thing is creating opportunities for people to do what you’re doing – learning new skills, being educated and having a chance to volunteer or try out some employment. This all helps people we support feel more confident to be themselves and be more able to live independently. The more that we can help people to live independently, the better it is for you, because it’s a nicer way to live, and the better it is for the local authority, because they have can pay less for
support hours.

Finally, do you have any messages for anyone supporting, working for or using the services here at United Response?

I would say this is a brilliant organisation, and it’s a lovely organisation as well. You do a good job and you make a real difference.

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