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The importance of person-centred social support has been recognised by successive governments as central to the development of effective and supportive social care services. The research led by Brunel and funded by the DoH and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, made a substantial contribution to the enhancement of UK social care policy and practice in relation to the personalisation agenda. Parliamentary committees and policy consultation used the research to develop new social care policy. Standards of service care delivery were developed and implemented in partnership with service users; these were adopted at a policy and practice level. The development and use of evidence based practice guides, training programmes and web resources facilitated the successful adoption and implementation of person-centred support nationwide. In summary, public debate was influenced, equality and empowerment for service users was advanced, national policy and practice enhanced, health and welfare improved and economic impacts achieved.
A major element of modernising English adult social care is the introduction of individual, user-directed budgets. The Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) led a major, multi-method and multi-centre research programme evaluating the Individual Budget (IB) pilot projects in England; and a linked study of the impact of IBs on family carers. Through this, SPRU has influenced: the content of the Department of Health's (DH) good practice guidance for personal budgets; the DH's approach to piloting and evaluating NHS Personal Health Budgets; the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) piloting and evaluation of `Right to Control' trailblazer projects; and, the agenda for an Audit Commission investigation into financial management of personal budgets. Most importantly, it has helped shape the agenda for national and local organisations striving to successfully implement personal budgets, particularly for older people.
Quality of care for the increasing numbers of frail older people is an issue of international concern. Led by Professor Meyer at City University London, in partnership with Age UK and Dementia UK, My Home Life (MHL) is a collaborative movement of people involved with care homes for older people. It was established to improve the quality of life of everyone connected with care homes for older people and has become the recognised voice for the sector. The original underpinning research and ensuing projects all focused on knowledge translation, in particular the factors that enhance quality improvement in care homes. MHL actively works with care homes to progress quality improvement and share the lessons learned throughout the system. The programme has had a significant impact on both policy and practice in health and social care, influencing Government policy and supporting practice improvement across national and international borders.
This research into what is believed to be one of the largest care home closures programmes in Europe had three key impacts in terms of:
Research at Newcastle has made a significant contribution to the public services modernisation agenda in the areas of inter-agency working and information-sharing. The research showed that effective information-sharing required not just that different information systems are made compatible with each other, but also that people from different professional cultures are enabled to work together through a common understanding of information governance issues. In active collaboration with a range of service providers, a number of processes and tools were developed for the significant benefit of service users. They have been implemented in a variety of policy settings, including children's services and adult social care, and have informed current programmes funded by the UK government.
Research on residential care- and extracare-supported housing conducted by Swansea's Centre for Innovative Ageing (CIA) has impacted on the development and reconfiguration of supported housing services in Wales. Our research on care home closures has directly led to Welsh Government (WG) consultation on guidance regarding `escalating concerns' for care home closures, and the Independent Advisory Group on Local Authority Closure of Care Homes has recommended that our amendments to escalating concerns should be adopted in relation to care home closures due to strategic/policy reasons. Work is now underway by the WG to publish revised guidance in relation to care home closures based on our research. Three local authorities (Swansea, Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham) have used our research on the challenges associated with extracare provision to inform the development of future services.
A key challenge for UK Government is to identify how older generations can continue to live independently in their own homes. The UK's changing demographics, recent increases in the cost of institutional care coupled with its declining availability make this a priority for policy makers. A twelve stage research programme undertaken by Professor Tinker has investigated how improved home care and assistive technologies including aids and adaptations could be employed to enable older people to remain at home longer. It examined and costed these options and provided recommendations on how they, and other specialised housing types such as sheltered housing, could be provided. Central government, local authorities and housing associations have employed her findings in revising their approaches to housing support for this rapidly growing population. Her findings have recently been employed by governments in Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia and the Far East in their reappraisals of policy on assisted living in later life.
Research on the financing of adult social care in England resulted in the development of a full simulation model of the social care economy. This has allowed for the quantification of the costs and benefits of different funding reform options. The research has hence allowed for identification of the limitations of the current financing of social care, and has been relied on by the Government and by the Dilnot Commission in the formulation of new funding policies. It has also been used by social care groups (such as Age UK) to highlight the problems facing the funding of social care.
This research improved policy-makers' and practitioners' understanding of well-being among residents of social care facilities by identifying the factors contributing to residents' quality of life. This research resulted in the development of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT), whose use is rapidly increasing both in the UK and internationally. Evidence from beneficiaries including policy-makers, experts and service practitioners, as well as interviews with service users, indicates that ASCOT captures aspects of well-being that are highly valued by service users and policy-makers alike.
Research into participative practice and well-being with older people has contributed directly to the development and application of an ethic of care in policy and service delivery, as well as to practices in older people's participation, locally, nationally and internationally. The research has directly impacted on practitioners and practice developments in services for older people, with learning resources (co-designed with practitioners and older people) being used in professional education and training across the UK and in New Zealand. An innovative participatory methodology has both enhanced older people's participation locally and been adopted more widely by university community research collaborators working to enhance older people's citizenship and well-being (eg in Netherlands). Research has directly informed policy concerning older people's needs assessments by recognising the centrality of relationships to well-being in older age. The well-being research involving collaboration with service users and providers has been described as `exemplary' by the leading national charity Age UK.