Ailsa is Co-Founder and Co-Director of Matter of Focus. In this role Ailsa works closely with pioneering public service organisations and partnerships supporting them to plan and embed outcome focused thinking, learning and evaluation into their work. She also leads the consultancy team and is continually working with colleagues to integrate learning to refine the Matter of Focus approach and software OutNav. She and Co-Founder, Sarah Morton, have captured this learning in a book published by Policy Press, ‘How do you know you are making a difference: A Practical Handbook for Public Service Organisations.’
Before founding Matter of Focus in 2017, Ailsa worked across research, policy and practice in the areas of outcome based approaches, health and social care integration and public service reform, most recently as Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. A key focus of her work has been how to orientate organisations to the outcomes that matter to people who use services and supports. She is a co-originator of the Talking Points: Personal Outcomes Approach that is used by 100’s of social care organisations and has been influential in shaping social care policy in Scotland and Wales.