Abstract

The government advocates the use of outcomes information for local social care related decisionmaking. Local authorities gather information about social care provision from service users and carers via the Adult Social Care Survey (ASCS) and Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England (PSS SACE). The Maximising the Value of Survey Data in Adult Social Care (MAX) project looks at ways to help local authorities translate the data from the ASCS and PSS SACE into meaningful results that can underpin policy and practice improvement. The project aims to design two toolkits (one for each survey) for council staff to facilitate a better use of the survey data for local decision-making. We present a literature review conducted to assist in the development of the toolkits.

The focus of the review was to explore research that supports organisations to use survey data for performance and quality improvement. We will discuss factors involved in promoting and hindering change in organisations. The review findings will be examined in terms of implications for the MAX project and current policy encouraging the use of outcomes information to drive local priorities.

The MAX project (www.maxproject.org.uk) is funded by the Department of Health, through the Quality and Outcomes of person-centred care Research Unit (QORU), a collaboration involving researchers in health and social care from the Universities of Kent, Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).