Social services directors pay tribute to Dr Glenys Jones

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has paid tribute to Dr Glenys Jones, “a towering figure in adult social care”, who died last Wednesday.

Dr Jones, who was formerly, chairman of the Older People's Committee for the Association of Directors of Social Services, was awarded an OBE for her services to social care in 2006.

She held posts as director of social services at Sunderland City Council and Middlesbrough Council.

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) honorary secretary, Richard Webb, called her “a towering figure in adult social care’ and said she will be “sorely missed”.

ADASS president Sarah Pickup said that among her enormous contributions to the Association, her work on ‘No Secrets’ and ‘All Our Tomorrows – Inverting the Triangle of Care’ perhaps stand out as the most significant.

“ADASS extends its sympathy to all Glenys’s friends and family,” she said.

David Behan, national director for social care and communities at the Department of Health said: “I had a close relationship with Glenys – she was my successor, director of social services for Middlesbrough Council and the excellent chair of the Association’s Older Peoples Committee when I was president, where she led the work on the seminal ‘All Our Tomorrows’.

"I found her to be a supportive, stimulating colleague who helped me understand the role that social services could play in enhancing the wellbeing of older people.

"She was a woman of great intellect and integrity who inspired many to take a greater interest in older people. In later years she would often send me cards with suggestions for what I needed to do. Or provide words of encouragement and tell me to `keep going’. She will be missed by many."

Martin Manby, former director of social services at Sheffield Council, who worked with her between 1990 and 1997, said: "Glenys had been battling against cancer for some years, with some good periods of remission; enjoying being part of an arts community in Lytham.

"She was very positive and philosophical, and surrounded by a lot of friends. She spoke very highly of the NHS health care she has received, and had been hoping that she would be able to enjoy a last summer this year. She was a hugely talented, focused, wise and very kind woman."