Self directed support and adult social care in Northern Ireland
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of self directed support in Northern Ireland and the potential for social care reform in the context of a policy vacuum
IRAS ID
302908
Contact name
Ann Marie Gray
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 18 days
Research summary
Internationally, social care has been transforming to become increasingly person-centred. Many countries have established their own approach to personalisation in social care, underpinned by an ideology of client-led services (Barnes and Mercer, 2006), offering service users greater choice and control over social care arrangements (Baxter, Heavey and Birks, 2020).
Since devolution in 1999, each country within the UK has had responsibility for their own regional social care policy and consequently, there has been divergence in the development of personalisation across each jurisdiction. England, Scotland and Wales have underpinned their approaches in policy and legislative frameworks. The English approach has been subject to criticism for language that was believed to suggest alignment with consumerist agendas (Tarrant, 2020), whilst Scottish and Welsh governments have been open in their desire to take social democratic approaches, focussing on partnership between service users and professionals (Doheny and Milbourne, 2013).
Whilst the government in Northern Ireland have introduced the concept of self directed support in policy documents since Transforming Your Care (2013), this model is yet to be defined in policy or legislation. This leaves the social care system to function within an outdated framework (Chapman, 2018). There is little known about how the people of NI would like social care to be shaped (Gray and Horgan, 2010).
This research aims to understand lived experience of self directed support in NI, as well as exploring how service users would like adult social care services to be delivered. This research will contribute to theoretical debate on personalisation as well as influencing policy development at a time when the NI Government have recognised a need for adult social care reform. The study will take a 4 phase approach, first interviewing service users, then social workers and finally policymakers to explore the lived experience of self directed support.REC name
HSC REC A
REC reference
22/NI/0084
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion