Overview
The present Labour Government's modernisation strategy has strengthened the key role of state-sponsored regulation in the delivery of public services - see, for example, the Department of Health's Modernising Social Services 1998 White Paper.
Regulation is a very significant form of managing public services, as central government increasingly relies upon regulatory agencies (such as inspectors and auditors) and regulatory mechanisms (such as national service standards and performance indicators) to measure and improve the performance of agencies providing public services
Main question(s)
What are the processes of the regulation of adult social care as perceived by different stakeholders and what impact does regulation have upon adult social care as perceived by different stakeholders.
Methodology
There are three stages. Phase I, a mapping exercise, examines the processes of the regulation of adult social care from different stakeholders' perspectives. Phases II and III are evaluative. They will assess the impact of regulation upon adult social care and identify how regulation might be improved, again from the perspective of the different sets of stakeholders. Research findings from Phase I will be used to inform the detailed research design of Phases II and III.
The research employs a hybrid research strategy. Using a variety of methods - documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews (both one-to-one and group interviews) and a short questionnaire - data are being sought from the entire research populations of central government sponsors of regulation and of key regulators of adult social care in England (Phases I & III). Data will also be sought from informants in regulated agencies (Phases I & II) and from service users and carers (Phase II only) located in 'adult social care' case study areas. A dimensional sampling technique (incorporating important dimensions of the regulatory framework for adult social care in England ) has been used to select the case study areas. Two different samples of local authority social services departments (SSDs) have been identified for Phase I and for Phase II of the research and the catchment areas of these SSDs form the geographical areas in which the investigations for that Phase will be based.
In Phase I, in these SSDs, the key actors are directors, chief executives or equivalent and those located in other 'partner' regulated agencies (the main health, voluntary and private providers of adult social care) within the study area. Also, in Phase I, an Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) and an adult social care Service Users and Carers' Panel (SUCP) will help to identify the key national associations representing the interests of service users with whom interviews will be conducted. Interviews in this Phase are mainly individual face-to-face interviews about the processes of regulation of adult social care in England.
In Phase II, key senior actors within regulated agencies in the different case study areas will be targeted, and snowballing techniques employed to identify middle managers and frontline staff within those same agencies, for interview. In Phase II, the advice of the AGE and SUCP will again be used, and local social care organisations will assist in the recruitment and accessing of users and carers within the case study areas. In this Phase interviews will mainly be face-to-face group interviews about the impact of regulation of adult social care.
In Phase III, a summary of the findings from Phase II will be sent to the original Phase I participants, who will then be re-interviewed, mainly by telephone or electronic means, about the impact of regulation of adult social care.
Main outcomes
The overriding purpose of this research is to assess the impact of regulation upon the provision of adult social care services, and the extent to which regulation works for key groups of vulnerable adults in England . The research findings will inform recommendations to the Department of Health for the improved effectiveness of regulation in ensuring that a range of adult social care services are tailored to meet the required needs of vulnerable adults and their carers in England. The research will assess the processes of, and impact of regulation upon adult social care from the perspective of four sets of stakeholders, namely: central government sponsors of regulation; regulatory agencies; regulated agencies (in the public, private and voluntary sectors); and adult social care service users and carers.
Project team
Judith Lathlean
Project funder
Department of Health