SCIE Practice guide 11: The participation of adult service users, including older people, in developing social care

Conclusion - The changing face of social care

• The changes to social care such as the advent of integrated teams, extension of direct payments, and individual budgets mean that changes in the type and nature of participation are likely to take place.
  Despite being the major provider of social care services, there is still very little evidence about service user participation in the private sector.
• A concern for service user controlled organisations is that they will be increasingly expected to compete for funding with organisations that are less committed to participation.
• We need to integrate participation into the wider quality improvement programmes mentioned earlier, (Beresford & Branfield, 2006), so that organisations are competing on equal terms and ensure that participation does not become lost as new service configurations emerge.