Our role in helping people: a blog by Sally Billison

May 1, 2024
June 20, 2023
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Bruce Leeke

Suffolk Libraries recently lost a much loved and valued member of staff. Sally Billison worked at Chantry Library as a Library and Information Advisor. She sadly passed away in May 2023.

She was kind-hearted, hugely knowledgeable and someone that everybody respected. Sally encapsulated Suffolk Libraries values; she was kind, empathetic, listened to people and generally brought joy to people who came into the library.

Her previous career as a social worker meant that she had significant experience of dealing with social challenges and she used her considerable skills to positively impact dozens of lives over her time with us.

Before she passed away, Sally wrote this account of her experience of working at Chantry Library which considers the role which libraries play in helping people and the potential there is to do even more.

From Cradle to Grave: a blog by Sally

In my opinion the holistic ‘cradle to the grave’ value of library services should not be underestimated. Libraries also guarantee non appointment face-to-face contact with staff which isn’t always possible in statutory services.

Our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has indicated to all of us that human contact with others is vital to our wellbeing. For example, an elderly lady in her 80’s came into Chantry Library during one of the lockdowns with a presentation of tearfulness and distress. She said she had lived in the Chantry area of Ipswich for 60 years but had not visited the library in recent years.

The customer said she had never felt so isolated in her life before. I spoke with her and encouraged her to sign up for a library card which she did. We then arranged for the lady to pop in when I was on duty and have a chat with me to hopefully alleviate feelings of low mood. The customer had also visited her GP and been prescribed anti-depressant medication. I established a good rapport with the lady and gradually her demeanour changed.

She attended a bingo group I started up after the lockdown rules were eased and now regularly comes to this activity on Monday afternoons. The customer has made friends with other local people who also come along to groups at the library. She now comes in at least three days a week for group activities. She also borrows books and is no longer requiring anti-depressant medication. It is such a pleasure to see her smiling, laughing and enjoying life again.

Health and social care are now working as integrated teams which are geographically aligned with district council defined areas. The purpose of this is to offer greater continuity of services, avoid duplication and enhance communication, therefore enabling smarter working practices.

Adult social care services are accountable to the Care Act 2014 legislation which focuses on independence for individuals with emphasis on support for carers and the importance of advocacy.  The gist of this law is to prevent, reduce and delay the involvement of statutory services.

Suffolk Libraries has for a long time been keen to ‘make every intervention count’, as is the ambition of Suffolk County Council and other statutory partners.

The vast majority of referrals to social care are triaged as ‘tier 1’ which includes signposting, support to live at home, universal services and prevention of reliance on longer term services. I feel libraries should be classed as universal services by health and social care in terms of enabling people to help themselves.

The gateway to social care in Suffolk is via Customer First, which is also now known as the Independence and Wellbeing service. It is therefore important at this juncture that libraries are mentioned by Customer First staff at initial contact in a similar way to Suffolk Family Carers, for example.

Children and Young People’s services are functioning in accordance with the Children Act 1989 to promote and safeguard the welfare of children.  Again, libraries can be utilised as universal services particularly if they are working closely with children centre hubs, as is the case at Chantry Library. For example, we have welcomed teenage parents at Chantry Library via a request from their health visitor. I can remember a young teenage mum and her mother expressing amazement about the facilities on offer and also the non-judgemental atmosphere.

Although the Warm Handover system is in place for signposting to other agencies, I feel that Suffolk Libraries could be a more proven asset to health and social care and ultimately save them expenditure, with greater familiarity between the two organisations.

I feel that so much positive work is carried out at Suffolk Libraries which isn’t necessarily captured by statistical recording. A great deal of active listening takes place which is a known social work skill but understated by staff who ‘just do it’.

The emergence of libraries as community hubs containing books is definitely a positive way forward and should also reflect the demographic of the community they serve.

Sally also contributed to a recent video case study which focuses on how libraries can help to tackle health inequalities. You can watch the video below.

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