From the outset the St Helens Adult Social Care team were very clear – they wanted their plans to be shaped by the people they were supporting, their families, carers, friends and commissioned care and support providers. It was crucial that the voice of local people was heard, so they could build a shared idea of where the council was going, and what needed to happen to get there.
Setting the scene
Like many of our projects, we started by getting to grips with the context. We spoke to senior team members from the council and read key council strategies to begin developing an understanding of where the team were heading in order to tighten our brief. We built our awareness of the council (and local partner organisations) priorities in the coming years, building a picture of what that meant for Adult Social Care and the pieces of those plans this new vision and strategy would need to pick up.
What we heard
Over a two-month period, we spent time listening to people across the borough. We heard from 300 people, including residents, external care and support providers and council staff. We ran workshops with local people who used Adult Social Care services, visited libraries and markets, completed virtual interviews, shared resident surveys, attended provider groups and visited provider venues.
At the heart of this engagement was the question ‘what would you change to make your experience of care and support better?’ We wanted to know what things people would teak, what they’d overhaul and their ideas for the future. In times of ongoing public service funding cuts, we were very cautious that this wasn’t a promise of action, but a chance to think creatively about how the council could do more with less.
We heard many loud and clear messages over the two months. What came across most clearly was that people wanted to feel important and valued, and they wanted Adult Social Care to find ways to prioritise this, even against a backdrop of funding cuts.
People told us they wanted:
- Good relationships with workers who truly knew them.
- To be supported by great personalities.
- To be able to communicate with Adult Social Care.
- To be able to find out what support is available and access the information they need when they needed it.
- Their local community to be more involved in their support.
- Better technology and systems that would make their lives easier.
- Their services to be better quality.
Naturally, some of these conversations led to insights around difficulties with existing services, but rather than seeing this as an issue, we saw it as an opportunity. What was very clear was the positive and passionate approach of the St Helens Team, who were open-minded as they listened to people’s thoughts and ideas, seeing these experiences as helpful guides on where they should focus their future efforts.
These insights highlighted the need for some solid foundations within the department – improving two-way communication and customer service, establishing the department and its work more strongly within the local community and looking at the role systems and technology could play in making things easier. By ‘fixing’ these foundations, and with them building more trust within relationships, we had no doubt that this approach would lead to ongoing co-production and user-led innovation becoming a natural by-product of the department’s ‘new ways of working’.
‘I want to build a relationship with people, people who understand my problems’ –
St. Helens resident.
What we did
Based on what we heard, we worked with the team at St Helens and the people we’d spoke to in the insights phase to co-produce a vision and core set pledges. We created a unique way of communicating this through accessible wording and layout, along with key actions. We used storytelling to bring each pledge to life and shared a final artwork brief and communication and engagement ideas with the Corporate Communications and Adult Social Care teams.
This work enabled the client to develop their strategy further, to have a clear focus on adult social care going forward. The biggest outcome, however, was developing a new culture for the council’s adult social care staff, underpinned by co-production and more person-centred services.
In June of 2024, St Helens published their Adult Social Care Strategy ‘Enabling People to Live Healthier, Happier Lives’. This plan outlines what St. Helens residents can expect from Adult Social Care over the next few years and how the council aims to get there. The strategy sets forward 7 key focus areas, based on what we heard during our engagement:
- Relationships between adult social care services and individuals will feel strong and important.
- The council will work together to enable people to make their own decisions about care and support.
- They will coproduce assessments and care plans, so people are in control of decisions that are made around their care and support.
- They will continue to be creative and ambitious for the future.
- They will ensure information is accessible and easier to understand.
- Everyday experiences will feel fair and right for residents.
- Staff will be well informed and there will be consistency of practice through their practice model.
The plan also details the Council’s approach to delivering their plans, underpinned by a ‘St Helens Practice Model’, based on 3 key priority areas. This model is informed by trauma-informed practice, takes a strengths-based approach to assessment and will be based in localities.
So, what’s next?
We’re excited to see how St. Helens Council tip their plans into action over coming years, transforming how adult social care is delivered in the borough.
