Better access, good lives
Social inclusion means improving access to the community and social networks. Research has repeatedly shown that wellbeing and resilience – the capacity to survive an accident, or crisis, or plain bad luck – depends a lot on people feeling connected.
In short, it is about being involved with other people, the local community, ordinary life and stimulating experience. This in turn contributes to improved wellbeing, which is a broad concept that can be summarised as a state of feeling good or positive, and functioning well.
The Care Act 2014 describes a council’s responsibility to promote wellbeing. Good adult social care services remove the potential tensions between the service and the life a person wants to lead, and helps the former to support the latter. The ambition is that those services also significantly contribute to supporting the person’s wellbeing.
Promoting social inclusion and wellbeing goes beyond individual care; it plays a vital role in council and community leadership, planning and systems integration. As a DASS, you become the eyes and ears of local communities, advocating for their needs and concerns.
Building trust with key stakeholders, such as health, police, other council services and community councillors, strengthens your ability to be effective. Aligning your strategies with local economic plans, the Local Plan (a formal document that sets out a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities created by the local planning authority) and other housing plans will ensure a comprehensive and coherent approach towards social inclusion.
Focusing on approaches that increase social inclusion effectively averts or delays the decline that individuals may experience as they age. This ensures their journey is smooth, and that care and support are stepped up seamlessly, rather than marked by sudden crises.
While the focus on meeting more acute needs, particularly in the NHS, can overshadow these efforts, the real challenge lies in shifting funding towards prevention and effective community-based services. By prioritising social inclusion, adult social care can continue to champion people who want to remain as independent as possible. This provides momentum for what is sometimes be seen as an overfocus on the pressures in more acute services, particularly hospitals, and can even help to be part of the solution for these.
This approach supports individuals to become active participants in their care and fosters a sense of community, which can greatly enhance people’s overall quality of life.
Newer digital solutions offer another way of supporting people to remain at home longer, but for this to work, it is necessary to address the digital divide and provide help for those who may struggle with accessing technology. This means planning with other council functions, such as the information, communications and technology (ICT) services, and other stakeholders, such as commercial providers.
To ensure social inclusion and wellbeing are at the core of your work, integrate it into your directorate or departmental strategy, and consistently reinforce it. A demonstrable commitment to social inclusion in your policies and practices reinforces your organisation's dedication to enhancing the lives of local people, including the vital role of carers.
Your accountability as a DASS extends to working effectively with all partners and communities, so it is important to seek every opportunity to promote social inclusion and in particular to work with primary care networks (PCNs) to gain a deeper understanding of what local changes can be made through effective joint working.
The positive impact of promoting social inclusion relies heavily on relationship-building. Prioritise building strategic and genuine connections with stakeholders, people who draw on support and communities. The focus should always be on people, not just process. This is because understanding local people, communities and services well is vital to identifying ways to improve social inclusion and wellbeing.
That notwithstanding, implementing processes and systems for managing, monitoring, reporting and addressing social inclusion and wellbeing issues remains essential. Engaging with local groups – both people who draw on support and wider community groups – is a good starting point. Make sure there are opportunities for both you and your wider management team to actively listen, so that you really understand what people need, as opposed to what you think they need.
Although you are qualified, have received ongoing training and gained lots of experience throughout your career, a key question introduced by Andrea Sutcliffe, during her time as Chief Inspector for Social Care at the Care Quality Commission, is to ask yourself:
Would this be good enough for my mum?
The Social Care Future vision should also be your guide:
We all want to live in the place we call home with the people and things that we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter to us.