Modernising Social Services Assessments: An Evaluation of the Implementation of the Single Assessment Process within Plymouth City Council's Social Services Department

This dissertation begins by outlining the theoretical and policy context for the Single Assessment Process (SAP), tracing this to the development of New Labour's Third Way' approach. This necessitates modernisation of the welfare state, with social services seen as a key area, particularly in terms of promoting independence and active participation by service users. SAP is intended to contribute to 'person centred care' - treating clients as individuals and providing them with real choices about their care - by integrating health and social services assessments into one overarching framework, with the client at the centre. Plymouth Social Services implemented SAP on 4'^ April 2005. The discussion then turns to the design of the methodology for evaluating Plymouth's SAP implementation. Discussions with project sponsors resulted in a five strand methodology, incorporating a quantitative postal survey of service users, a quantitative postal survey of staff involved in operating SAP, staff focus groups, a file audit, and examination of management information drawn from the Plymouth Social Services client database. The evaluation revealed many interesting findings about the implementation, and about the operation of SAP within the Department, which are covered in detail in the results chapter. The core issue was failings in the implementation project itself, which impacted upon the robustness of the SAP process, and upon the quality of training, support and guidance documentation for staff, leaving them confused about the process. The increased length of time taken to record assessments on forms and IT systems caused backlogs and increased assessment waiting times. This, in conjunction with the confusion around processes and inadequate training and guidance, was blamed for poor recording quality. Staff were confident in their abilities to work in a person centred and multidisciplinary way, but analysis of the qualitative data revealed underlying problems in embedding these key concepts in assessment practice. Service users were relatively satisfied with the assessments they received; meanwhile, the many perceived problems with the operation of SAP was found to be causing high stress levels and low morale among staff. The final conclusions chapter evaluates the evaluation itself, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of the methodology, identifying lessons learned, and providing suggestions for future research. Overall conclusions are then drawn about Plymouth's SAP implementation, finding that the vast majority of the intended project outcomes were only partially achieved, or not achieved at all. Given that SAP aimed to improve person centred care through strengthened multidisciplinary working, the failure of the implementation in these two areas was especially worrying. The evaluation, however, revealed a strong commitment from staff and service users to participate in consultation; workers in particular showed great insight, and a desire to become more actively involved in project management and implementation, providing a solid base to draw on for the future development of personal social services in the city. Ideas for such future developments form the final part of the dissertation, with a list of recommendations for the improvement of SAP, and for the management of future projects within the Department.Faculty of Social Science and Busines