Giving people opportunities to have a say on Adult Social Care
Devon County Council is committed to enabling people who receive our support to have their say in the planning, commissioning and provision of services, whenever possible. We have a number of different ways of engaging with people who use services and carers and the wider public, so we learn from their experience of adult social care. This page outlines our approach to engagement and the ways in which we involve people in adult social care issues, including co-production opportunities.
How we help people have their say
The ways in which we listen to people who use services and carers vary depending on the type of service and the changes we are making to it. We work out which aspects of service development can realistically be influenced by the people receiving those services and the best way to enable them to have their say.
Types of activities:
- discussion forums
- surveys
- issue-based focus groups
- co-production
- task-and-finish and other working groups
- service user involvement in recruitment and selection
- participation in procurement processes
- mystery shopping
- public meetings
- participation in management boards
- filmed case studies
- and more.
How we undertake these activities
Adult social care engagement within Devon County Council (DCC) is co-ordinated by our Involvement Team, based within the adult social care commissioning part of DCC. We work in partnership with Living Options Devon as holders of a contract to provide local engagement activities, and we undertake some activities ourselves. We also commission Healthwatch Devon, the local statutory consumer voice organisation and work with the County Council’s independent Equality Reference Group.
The Involvement Team
The Adult Social Care Involvement Team consists of:
- Paul Giblin – Involvement & Equality Manager
- Kathryn Bird – Senior Involvement & Equality Officer
- Jill Singh – Involvement Officer – Learning Disability Specialist
- Joanne Haynes – Commissioning Support Assistant
- Robert Hawken – Engagement Officer with a Learning Disability (Supported by mentor Emma McKay)
- Mason Bartlett -Admin Support Apprentice
Contact the team at: socialcareinvolvement-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
Making involvement meaningful
In order to enable people who use services, carers and the wider public to have their say on adult care and health, the Involvement Team works with other managers to identify aspects of our services that people can realistically influence. This ranges from seeking feedback on high-level strategies, such as the Living Well, Ageing Well and Caring Well strategies, to undertaking detailed co-production of aspects of our service provision, such as developing new assessment forms.
We organise regular forums for engagement, such as the Learning Disability Partnership Board, and a range of other groups and activities which take place on an ad hoc basis.
Regular Meetings and Forums dates
Here is information about the main forums and groups used to gain insight into adult care and health issues, all of which meet using Microsoft Teams.
The Joint Engagement Forum (JEF)
A quarterly gathering of people who use services, carers and relevant organisational representatives which reviews ongoing involvement activities by DCC and NHS Devon.
The Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDPB)
A Board for people with learning disabilities, carers, relevant providers and health and social care managers.
The Learning Disability Health and Social Care Discussion Group
We also gather views from Learning Disability friendship groups.
The Learning Disability Health and Social Care Discussion Group is a subgroup of the LDPB for people with learning disabilities.
For further information about learning disability engagement can be found on our Easy Read Learning Disability Devon Website.
The Co-production Advisory Group (COAG)
This group which includes people with lived experience is able to advise managers on how appropriate co-production is for their projects. If not, the group will advise on the most appropriate form of engagement.
The Co-production Working Group
The Co-Production Working Group have planned and developed Co-production ongoing awareness sessions. They facilitate and support co-production projects, and run a co-production network to help promote co-pro activities.
The Autism Involvement Group (AIG)
A specialist forum for autistic people, those with ADHD and related conditions and their carers.
The Equality Reference Group – (ERG)
A corporate DCC forum made up of people from organisations representing each characteristic protected by the Equality Act 2010.
Carer Ambassadors and the Carers Partnership Steering Group
Devon Carers, holders of the carers support contract, recruit Carer Ambassadors who are able to represent the view of carers as well as being active in their local communities. A number of Carer Ambassadors sit on the Carers Partnership Steering Board Group and Carer Ambassadors also participate in discussions with people who are receiving our support, where appropriate.
The Health and Wellbeing Board
The Joint Engagement Forum has a seat on the statutory Health and Wellbeing Board to represent the perspective of social care service users and carers, and Healthwatch Devon has a seat on the board to represent the perspective of the wider public.
For more information please contact Kath Bird on kathryn.bird@devon.gov.uk
Mental Health Engagement
Mental Health services are delivered and jointly commissioned by Devon Partnership NHS Trust who have developed the LEAP programme for people who use services engagement.
Older People’s Engagement
Older Person’s Engagement is set up to deliver all forms of engagement opportunities with partners Age UK Devon.
The HOPE (Help Overcome Problems Effectively) Programme
We are helping to spread the HOPE programme in Devon. Designed by Coventry University, the programme helps people struggling with long term health conditions to build confidence and self-manage their conditions more effectively.
Involvement contracts
Living Options Devon hold a contract with DCC and NHS Devon to help us listen to the people we support. Living Options are required to maintain a network of organisations and individuals who can share their lived experience of receiving adult social care, including people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010.
Also we commission Healthwatch Devon as the statutory health and social care consumer voice organisation for the Devon County Council area.
Find out more about Living Options Devon and Healthwatch Devon below:
Statutory Surveys
We administer two national surveys on behalf of Devon County Council. The annual Social Care Survey of Service Users and the two-yearly Carers Survey.
Adult Social Care Survey – The latest ASCS results will be released in October 2022. Past publications are at Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey – NHS Digital
Here are the Adults Social Care Survey for Devon 2017-2022 summary of the results.
This national survey takes place every year and is conducted by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs). The survey seeks the opinions of people aged 18 and over in receipt of long-term support services funded or managed by social services and is designed to help the adult social care sector understand more about how services are affecting lives to enable choice and for informing service development. It covers all people who use services aged 18 and over in receipt, at the point that data are extracted, of long-term support services funded or managed by social services following a full assessment of need. It seeks to learn more about how effectively services are helping people who use services to live safely and independently in their own homes, and the impact that these services have on their quality of life.
User experience information is critical for understanding the impact of services, for enabling choice and for informing service development. Data from this survey enables councils to benchmark against their peers and to gather information to support their local commissioning, performance and strategy. The survey also supplies data for a number of measures in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.
NHS Digital publish the survey results nationally.
Carers Survey – The latest carers survey results are due to be published in June 2024. Past publications are at Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England – NHS Digital
Here are the Adult Social Care Carers summary results for 2017-2023.
There are reports analysing both surveys at the NHS Digital Adult Social Care Analytical Hub
The survey of Adult Carers in England (SACE) is a biennial survey. Carers are sent questionnaires, issued by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) to seek their opinions on a number of topics that are considered to be indicative of a balanced life alongside their caring role. This survey has been developed to learn more about whether services received by carers are helping them in their caring role and their life outside of caring, and also about their perception of the services provided to the person they care for. Carers must be aged 18 or over. Carers must be caring for a person aged 18 or over who, during the previous 12 months, have been assessed or reviewed by social services, received respite support or received another form of carer support. The survey feeds into monitoring of the impact of the national carers strategy and it will also be used to populate a number of measures in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.
NHS Digital publish the survey results nationally.
Jargon Buster
Below, we have included a link to a page that contains clearer explanations to acronyms and jargon that you may come across when you are reading information on our web site, more information will be added to this over time.
Policy and Principles for adult social care and health involvement
National Cabinet Office guidance requires consultation, engagement and involvement to be ‘reasonable and proportionate’ to the subject matter being engaged on. We do our best to enable people to have a say in keeping with the spirit of the above statement. This involves making ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable participation, paying expenses and agreeing codes of conduct.
Co-production resources
National Co-production Advisory Group
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) guide to co-production
Co-production Collective – A national community of people involved in co-production
Principles supporting good consultation
Government guidance published by the Cabinet Office in 2016…
National Government Guidance Consultation Principles 2018
We follow The Gunning Principles for effective consultation…
The Consultation Institute’s guide to The Gunning Principles
Local Government Association (LGA) guidance on engagement
NHS England’s Participation and Engagement
NHS guide to Planning for Participation
Easy Read
In order to empower people with learning disabilities by enabling to understand as much as possible, written documents are produced in Easy Read format. Easy Read makes use of pictures, symbols and photographs along with jargon-free text in short sentences. We advise and train staff on use of Easy Read, produce key documents ourselves in that format and administer the licences to enable staff to use Photosymbols software to produce their own Easy Read documents, such as minutes of safeguarding meetings. We have also created Easy Read versions of care management forms in co-production with people with learning disabilities.
Impact Assessment Support
Impact assessments are a way of informing decision-makers of the effect that changes to services will have on people with characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010 and must be carried out when making significant public-facing decisions. Impact assessments can be used as evidence in court cases as a means of proving that people who use services and relevant communities have been engaged on the proposed changes so that any potential negative impacts are identified along with the possible action to mitigate them. The Involvement Team is able to support managers with the production of impact assessments and ensure they are published in the public domain in time to inform the decisions they are covering.
Key partner agencies who support Adult Social Care
Involvement Partnership agencies links
Plymouth – Racial Equality Council
Adult Social Care Webpages
Adult Social Care public web pages
Insight work carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic
We have asked Living Options Devon to find out how people who use adult social care services and people with characteristics protected under the Equality Act have been affected by the pandemic. Here are their reports, along with some other key findings from our partners.
Reports on the impact of the pandemic