Social Care and Society / Work programme 1

Work programme 1

Long-term social care

Work programme 1 focuses on long-term social care with vulnerable populations, older people, carers and those with mental health needs in multiple settings, in the context of social and health care reform.

Projects

Background

Projects in this programme focus on the social care system, the demands upon it and producing evidence by which system demands can be responded to.  Many of the projects study the interface between social care and healthcare and how these systems can interact for the benefits of service users and carers. 

The SECURE study, for example, is about the impact of COVID-19 on adult social care and social work services in Greater Manchester.  It is a collaboration with the Manchester Combined Authority – which comprises ten local authorities in Greater Manchester, NHS partners, charities and other social care organisations – and the Greater Manchester Social Work Academy.  The data we are collecting, and our analyses are being made openly available quickly. This is to help social care and social work services with their forward planning and to make sure that social care can be strong, despite the additional pressures that COVID-19 has brought. The study is moving to examine the sustainability of learning from the pandemic to ensure the social care sector can be resilient to future pressures. 

Our partners

Aims

We are tracing, monitoring and understanding changes over time by exploring and understanding the impact of changes on practitioners and organisations providing social work and social care to adults.  We also are describing and measuring changes in planning and commissioning, recruitment and retention, service changes, staff wellbeing and service collaboration with users and carers. 

What we are doing

We are using different data and methods in these projects to describe and inform social care reform. These include online surveys, anonymised routine data, interviews with staff and users and carers. 

 

Our teams

  • Catherine Robinson (Principal Investigator/Co-Lead) – Professor of Social Care, Social Care and Society
  • Alys Young (Principal Investigator/Co-Lead) – Professor of Social Work, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
  • Paul Clarkson (Principal Investigator/Co-Lead) – Senior Lecturer in Social Care, Social Care and Society
  • Rebecca McPhillips – Research Fellow, Social Care and Society
  • Jan Owens – Research Fellow, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work (GM-ARC)
  • Karina Lovell– Director of Research, School of Health Sciences (GM-ARC)
  • John Keady Professor of Older People’s Mental Health Nursing, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
  • Patricia Cartney – Head of Social Work, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work
  • Susan Davies – Research Associate, Social Care and Society
  • Amelia Pearson – Research Assistant, Social Care and Society
  • Rosie Allen – Research Assistant, Social Care and Society
  • Martie Van Tongeren – Professor in Occupational and Environmental Health, Division of Population Health
  • Penny Bee – Chair of Applied Mental Health Research, Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work (GM-ARC)
  • Martin Regan – Regional Professor of Public Health and ARC GM public health lead (GM-ARC)
  • Reena Lasrado (Principal Investigator/Lead) – Research Fellow, Social Care and Society
  • Hannah Shafi – Research Assistant, Social Care and Society
  • Noor Butt – Research Assistant, Social Care and Society
  • Tanya Lee – Research Assistant, Social Care and Society

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The University of Manchester