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22nd European Social Services Conference

The plenary and workshop presentations at the 22nd European Social Services Conference brought discussions about the involvement of service users and citizens in decisions about social services. Presenters and delegates alike emphasised the importance for social planners and service providers to involve users in decisions about services at strategic level and going beyond occasional and possibly symbolic gestures in this process.

Shaping services based on the needs and wishes of service users

Involving service users and their families in the design, delivery and evaluation of services is key to ensuring that those who are ‘experts by experience’ have a say in how services are delivered and will help ensure that services respond effectively to the needs of citizens.

“If you want to involved service users effectively in decisions about services you need to involve people from the beginning to the end”, emphasised Peter Lambreght, Policy Officer at the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) (download presentation). This active input is exemplified by the process of co-production with service users as equal partners and is therefore important to prevent passive recipients of services designed and delivered by someone else.

This also has implications when it comes to the development of a system where the range of social services offered are steered by demand, with services becoming more responsive to the needs of users, rather than users having to adapt to the structure of service provision. Collecting data and promoting evidence-based policy making plays a key role in this process.

Promoting service user participation

Using the experiences of users can broaden the knowledge of professionals and help generate new perspectives on the best practices, as well as showing areas in need of further development. The ASPA Foundation in Finland is a non-profit organisation which promotes the involvement of service users as ‘experts’ for reviewing services. Since 2007 the Foundation has developed a peer review programme, which allows service users to participate in the planning, evaluation and development of assisted living services (download presentation). In the past five years ASPA have coordinated visits to 67 different places and interviewed over 500 services. However, discussions in the workshop brought forward the problem that service providers are not obliged to invite peer reviewers, nor are they required to implement their recommendations. This raised the issue of moving away from symbolic gestures when it comes to involving service users and ensuring that their feedback is actually being involved in a strategic way from planning services to reviewing.

Looking outside Europe, a practice from the National Institute for Excellence in Health and Social Services in Quebec, Canada, presented an example of a collaborative approach to social care interventions, which reflects the views of service users and values their participation in the evaluation process (download presentation). Users and citizens sit on all the committees alongside professionals, researchers and other stakeholders and are involved throughout the process. The project highlighted the need to develop a system of consultation which allows service users to be prepared on an equal basis as others (through access to easy-read documents and preparation) and truly integrates their knowledge and opinions on a day-to-day basis.

Key messages

“Often when I talk with policy makers they say: ‘Yes independent living is all right for you, Peter; you are a strong-minded and educated wheelchair user!’ For other people with multiple disabilities or mental impairments they tend to lower the standards. This is incorrect, as I have seen many examples which show that independent living is possible for all”, argued Peter Lambreght.

This quote shows that investing in people and providing services which enable all people to live independently and participate in society is essential. To ensure that services are able to respond effectively to the needs of all people in need of support or care, it is key that service providers in the social welfare, as well as other sectors, involve and consult with service users and citizens in a meaningful way, making the best use of their expertise by experience.

More resources from the 22nd European Social Services Conference