Move-related inclusive practice

Here people talk about how practitioners can be inclusive when supporting people to move to and between social care settings. They discuss:

  • How to take person-centred approach
  • How they take into account protected characteristics

How to take a person-centred approach

Practitioners explained how a person-centred, strength-focused, and flexible approach, could lead to better outcomes for both older people and their carers.

 

A discharge coordinator explains why the older person needs to be at the centre of decision-making.

Although there's all these different routes available, what is it that person needs? You know, we can't use a blanket approach for everybody because not everybody needs the same thing… It's always making sure that that person is in a centre of any decisions that are being made,
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A social worker told us they think there needs to be more flexibility to take into account people’s individual needs.

“I suppose more flexible approaches in terms of what you can get authorised. It’s very sort of black and white and people are put into categories and things in terms of how high their needs are and that can be very, sort of like a blanket approach which is difficult for some people. It works for some but for some other people they’re the sort of person who can be lost I think in that kind of system.”

A social worker tries to coordinate with homes to make arrangements that suits people’s individual needs.

They can tell us … what's really important to them, what they really want and really need from this place. That helps us then when we are helping somebody… for instance, when you work in an area you get good knowledge of … the homes and things. And if that person says it’s really important that I can perhaps go out once a week and have a short walk on the seafront we would perhaps – we can like communicate that to the homes, is that something they can facilitate, is that something they can do. And that can then be supported in our selection of environments as well.
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How to take into account protected characteristics

Taking into account protected characteristics, increasing awareness, and making efforts—regardless of their scale—is important to ensure inclusive practice when supporting older people and their carers during moves. For instance, the use of inclusive language plays a pivotal role in creating an environment where individuals feel welcomed.

A dementia support project officer explains that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans plus (LGBT+) people might wait until a crisis point before agreeing to move to a home.

If you’re an LGBTQ person, so you wouldn’t actively choose to go to them. So although physically you might benefit, for example, from an extra care or a supported care system, you probably wouldn’t, and therefore it takes something quite – like a crisis point, like a severe illness or a fall or, you know, something that kind of takes the decision away almost, rather than you make the decision proactively... It would be a kind of reactive, there’s no other option.
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Some people we interviewed acknowledged that people with protected characteristics, such as those from LGBT+ and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, faced more challenges during their moves and move-related decisions.

A social worker talks about supporting a person’s cultural and religious requirements.

I worked with this woman who was from Sri Lanka and she preferred [differently to]… traditional English menu, which you do tend to find in care homes. So we needed to ensure that the home were able to accommodate her dietary requirements… I've had people where we've needed to ensure that their religious needs can be met as well… just because somebody is a certain race or a particular religion it doesn't mean that that's necessarily important to them in that day.  So it’s about clarifying through our assessment process what is important to you.
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A reduced family support network in later life is again more challenging for people with protected characteristics, such as LGBT+ people.

A dementia support project officer explains why older LGBT+ people might have smaller support networks in later life.

In LGBTQ relationships again that I support, they don’t have children or grandchildren to kind of form part of that support network of decision making as well […] in my situation, my sister and I with my mum, for example, at least there were the two of us to make that decision about our parent, so it was a shared decision. Whereas I think if you are somebody’s partner and there is no other family around to help you make that decision, I think – again in this instance, I can see people sort of holding on and delaying that kind of decision for even longer than maybe non-LGBTQ people may, just because of the support around you and the shared decision making.
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Meanwhile, we also identified a gap in knowledge and awareness in supporting older people with protected characteristics through moves.

A community navigator says there are communities they haven’t had much contact with.

I’m well aware that there are communities living in the area that I cover with whom I have little contact. Which I would like to think we can reach out to and have, you know, more engagement with for their sake, you know, as we should.
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We have observed positive developments and instances of effective inclusive care practices. Notably, there is a growing trend among local authorities to incorporate inclusive care principles into their commissioning. This reflects a promising shift towards prioritising inclusivity in the delivery of services.

A dementia support project officer explains that some councils have a specific needs assessment for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Currently – for example, East Sussex County Council has done a specific LGBTQ needs assessment. So they’re one of the local authorities that has actually really considered what the needs of the LGBTQ community might be across lots of different things, such as housing, and Brighton are certainly following suit on that as well.
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See our resources section for links to websites with resources on inclusive practice.

Support for practitioners

Here, social care practitioners talk about the support they need in helping people move between care settings. A key message is that organisations need to...