Access to information about social care – response to recommendation from the Better Regulation Task Force

External collaborators

• Sue Clarke

Background

SPRU was commissioned to undertake a scoping review of available evidence about accessibility and availability of information for service users and carers across the spectrum of adult social care. This was in response to the recommendation of the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF) in its report,Bridging the Gap – Participation in Social Care Regulation (2004), that the Department of Health should commission research on people's experiences of the availability and accessibility of information on the range of social care services available to them.

Aims

The aims of this scoping study were to:

• determine what work was in progress in government departments to:
  • investigate the access and availability of information about social care services to current and potential users and carers; and
  • improve access and availability of information about social care services to current and potential to users and carers.
• undertake a scoping review of the research evidence on the availability and accessibility of information on the range of adult social care services. Specifically, to identify research evidence on:
  • what information about adult social care services people want and need;
  • the accessibility via current access arrangements of information about adult social care services.
• identify any gaps where new research might be needed.

Findings

The review found no government-related initiatives or recent research evidence on the specific information access needs relating to some user groups and services, for example, people from ethnic minority groups. For other groups, such as people with chaotic lifestyles, there was evidence about their information needs, but no development work planned to address these needs.

Additional information