King's College London

Over the course of two years, King's College London's HSCWRU has worked with the University of Birmingham to develop a strengths-based approach to the social work change programme. The strengths-based approach is considered best practice for social care and social work in the UK. The project investigated how a systems-wide approach to change can help embed a strengths-based approach to social care and social work. The programme has been implemented in over 30 local authorities across the UK, and this is the first independent review of its kind. The findings focus on the core themes of leadership, culture, co-production and data use. Each theme shows how the change programme has a positive impact on social care and social work in the area, as well as areas for improvement within the change programme. Overall findings suggest that the change programme led to positive impacts on care assessments and management activities compared to non-program sites. Additionally, the research shows how community-based health and social care can work on a practical level, involving multi-sector working.

This publication

The report was lead-authored by Robin Miller (University of Birmingham). Chloe Waterman of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce was co-investigator: Changing culture not just process: Community led support in action

See also: NIHR report on this publication.

The header image is drawn from the new report.