Case StudiesEnhancing Social Care Collaboration in Wales
- Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
- Service Design
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) wanted to better understand how digital solutions could support the health and social care landscape across Wales: improving collaboration and efficiency across sectors, while delivering ambitious digital transformation.
The number of partners involved in delivering initiatives to support health and social care within Wales is vast; the systems in use vary in capability; and, those on the ground are often time-poor because of pressures within the system. The growing demand on the service from outside of the system also adds to the urgency to better design and deliver products, collaboratively.
WLGA engaged Perago to help untangle these challenges by bringing all stakeholders together in a series of structured workshops to develop a more cohesive view of social care and identify priorities supporting frontline delivery.
Perago was tasked with:
- Facilitating workshops: Conducting interactive sessions to gather insights from key stakeholders.
- Identifying challenges and opportunities: Analysing the landscape and identifying areas for improvement.
- Developing a change roadmap: Creating a plan to guide future actions and drive change.
Perago applied a user-centred design approach, bringing a collaborative, agile, and participatory method to identify and agree on the common problems and themes that current digitally focused social care projects are intending to solve. The key activities included stakeholder engagement, where representatives from various organisations were invited to explore how digital solutions can better support health and social care across Wales. Open discussions were encouraged, allowing for dialogue and sharing of experiences.
Idea generation was another significant activity, where ideas were explored and prioritised to collectively address the problem themes. Additionally, consensus building was facilitated to ensure agreement on key priorities and next steps, which had the support and commitment of all stakeholders.
Perago’s team conducted two workshops focusing on the following themes:
- Exploring the requirement for a strategic, joined-up approach to delivering transformation across the sector: Based on feedback from the kick-off meeting with the WLGA team, we explored what having one single view of digital change meant to stakeholders and explored its implications by prioritising user needs. For example, to what extent has the transformation of social care been developed in partnership with people who use services, including those who self-fund, their carers and other interested citizens?
- Landscape review of digital projects, strategies and policies driving change across health and social care: The workshops highlighted the need for inclusive solutions that cater to the diverse needs of the service users, and the sessions encouraged a collective prioritisation of issues with the view to commit to a ‘now, next and later’ roadmap of actions to take forward.
- Understanding the importance of data access and standardisation: Participants recognised the critical role of data in improving decision-making and service delivery. The opportunity to ensure that this data is regularly evaluated and overseen at a senior level across local government and health was a prevalent theme.
- Identification of themes and pain points for leading digital change: Participants identified the fragmented nature of funding, lack of shared knowledge, and digital literacy gaps as significant barriers.
- Prioritisation of user needs: The workshops emphasised the importance of putting users at the centre of service design.
- Development of a roadmap: A draft roadmap was created to guide future efforts and drive positive change.
By implementing these recommendations, WLGA can work with partners towards a more collaborative and efficient health and social care system that better meets the needs and wants of service users.
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