Abstract
Background: Our vision is to support a positive culture in the social care sector, with improved wellbeing for people receiving and providing care and support.
Introduction: Wales is a small country with a big ambition. Although we have made notable progress in bringing strengths-based, person-centred approaches into social care, economic disparity and inequality in access to health and social care challenge our vision. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 gave us a legal framework to focus on these issues and in doing so, give people greater freedom to decide which services they need while promoting consistent, high-quality services across the country.
Social Care Wales is a professional body who want to make a positive difference to social care in Wales. We wanted to see the Act’s aims realised and we wanted to do it with social care professionals and the communities they serve.
Approach: During the COVID pandemic, communities led innovate responses to challenges using place-based approaches. We wanted to take this wisdom and use a place-based care lens to our work.
Here’s our journey so far:
· Principles – we researched and worked with a range of stakeholders to give people some principles that can support their work whilst giving flexibility to do place-based care.
· Participation – we explored new ways for people to get involved in not only our work but the work of communities and wider systems. We embraced the ‘What matters?’ conversations.
· Partnerships – we developed new connections to support social care, and we brought people together.
Result:
· Principles – we planned strategies, and we published guidance and resources for people to use and to feed into and we are collaborating with people in the social care sector to create new ones. Social care workers are starting to proactively seek out Social Care Wales for learning and development opportunities. Ymlaen and Workforce Strategy Resourceful Communities Partnership – Co-production Network for Wales Multisector collaboration to improve community wellbeing | WCPP
· Participation – we have involved over 100 people in the Place-based Care Community, connected people across sectors for better collaboration and they were part of the development and testing of new resources. Project finder - Social Care Wales - Research, Data & Innovation Research, innovation and improvement (RII) skills resource - Social Care Wales - Research, Data & Innovation Strengths-based practice | Social Care Wales
· Partnerships – we helped build stronger relationships, especially between health, social care and charities/non-profits. We now understand each other’s work better and have started exploring further collaboration opportunities with other sectors. Balancing Rights and Responsibilities Programme Evaluation - Social Care Wales - Research, Data & Innovation
Implications: We’ve seen a lot of small, positive shifts across the social care sector and beyond and we believe that these will contribute to the bigger, sustainable changes. We’ll continue advocating for place-based approaches which build on the work and expertise of local people, organisations and the strengths and needs of different areas.
Social Care Wales continues to explore how best to work with a wider variety of people and engage more people with lived experience of providing and/or accessing care.