Service user involvement and customer care

Trish Hafford-Letchfield

Key roles for social work• Key role 1: Enable individuals, carers, groups and

communities to identify, clarify and express their strengths expectations and limitations.

Enable individuals, families, carers, groups and communities to assess and make informed decisions about their needs and circumstances, risks, preferred options and resources.

• Key role 3: Advocate with, and on behalf of, individuals, families, carers, groups and communities, including accessing independent advocacy.

Work with individuals, families carers, groups and communities to select the best form of representation for decision-making forums and to be involved in or understand the procedures and outcomes from decision-making forums.

GSCC codes of practice

• Code 1: Respecting and where appropriate promoting individual views and wishes.Supporting service users’ rights to control their lives and make informed choices about services they receive.

• Code 3: Promoting the independence of service users and assisting them to understand and exercise their rights.Helping service users and carers to make complaints, take them seriously and respond appropriately.

• Code 4: Respect the rights of service users while seeking to ensure that their behaviour does not harm themselves or other people.

Service user participation

• Enables the planning, development, provision and arrangements of services to make them more effective and responsive to diverse need;

• It is an essential component of legislation and policy statements;

• Theoretical move from paternalism to partnership-based approaches;

• Influenced by the ‘social model’ of disability.

JointTrainingprogrammes

Representativeson advisory, planningor committees

Independent Living Centre

user surveys,focus groupsor consultationmeetings

Providing or responding to requestsfor information or ‘telling’ people

Figure 4.1 The service user involvement continuum

Users involved in selecting staff/service providers

Service users andcarers

Citizens Communities

Consultation

Delegated Control

Information

Partnership

A framework for participation• Clarity about the aims and scope for participation (Carr, 2004);• Make resources available and consult on the process;• Ensure the process is accessible and responds to the perspectives,

priorities and needs of those participating (Hasler, 2003);• Be aware of power dynamics and clarity on extent and potential of

decision-making power;• Value knowledge and expertise of those using services;• Put frameworks in place to monitor and evaluate the process and

outcomes of service user participation;• Involve and train staff on the expectations and principles (Carr,

2004);• Make space for the expression of emotion and feeling that can arise

in the process (Beresford, 2004).

Customer complaints and representation procedures

• Statutory requirement (DoH, 2004);

• Requirement of Children Act 1989 & NHS, Community Care Act (1990);

• Essential element of quality assurance and service user involvement processes.

A complaint may arise from…

• An unwelcome or disputed decision;• Concern about the quality or appropriateness of a

service;• Delay in decision-making about services;• Delivery or non-delivery of services;• Aftercare and decisions relating to the placement or

handling of a case;• Quantity, frequency or cost of a service;• Attitude or behaviour of staff;• Application of eligibility and assessment criteria.

(DoH, 2004)

Complaints procedure

• Stage one – Seek a local resolution;• Stage two – Assess eligibility for and conduct

an independent review;• Stage three – Review by the Local Government

or Parliamentary Ombudsman.

All stages should result in a decision in writing to the complainant and access to advocacy and support. Strict timescales should be adhered to.

Advocacy

• Advocacy is a feature of user-led organisations;

• Is an essential requirement and skill in promoting user participation;

• Is becoming a common feature of legislation and policy in social care;

• Can be provided by social workers themselves.

Service users want professionals to be…

• Physically and emotionally available;• Supportive, encouraging and reassuring;• Respectful, empathic and warm;• Patient and attentive to the service users’ problems;• Committed to the independence of the individual;• Punctual, trustworthy, reliable;• Friendly but not afraid to tell people how they see things;• Knowledgeable and practical especially about law and rights,

benefits and diverse cultures;• Able to find practical ways to help them;• Willing to stay working with them or have a good handover if they

must change;

(Reform Focus Groups, 2002, www.gscc.org.uk)

Summary

• Service user involvement presents a challenge to social care organisations in achieving it;

• Service users/carers are key partners for support in helping to resolve problems and improve services;

• Organisational strategies and cultures can help ensure service user involvement is implemented, monitored and evaluated;

• Customer care is one way in which service users’ rights are respected;

• Advocacy is important to ensure service user involvement.

ReferencesBeresford, P (2004) Madness, distress, research and a social model, in

Barnes, C, Mercer, G (eds) Implementing the social model of disability: theory and research. Leeds: The Disability Press.

Carr, S (2004) Has service user participation made a difference to social care services?, Position Paper no 3, published by Social Care Institute for Excellence, March 2004, www.scie.org.uk

Department of Health (2004) Learning from complaints: consultation on changes to the social services complaints procedure for adults. October 2004, obtainable from www.doh.gov.uk

Hasler, F (2003) Users at the heart: User participation in the governance and operation of social care regulatory bodies. published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence, Report no 5, November 2003, available from www.scie.org.uk