Improving support for minoritised unpaid adult carers

The team has been been working with services across the council to explore how additional access to data and evidence can inform their work.

Bradford Adult Social Care Commissioning Team (ASCCT) identified a need to better understand the evidence base around how to support minoritised informal carers. This evidence was needed to inform a new strategy for unpaid carers, which had a particular focus on addressing inequalities.

Working with the HDRC Bradford Evidence into Policy and Practice Hub, the ASCCT identified the need for a rapid review and agreed the following research aim:

To rapidly identify and summarise evidence on key factors that affect access to support for minoritised informal (unpaid) adult carers which can be addressed at local policy level.

Embedded researchers from University of York completed a rapid review of over 300 research articles and reports and produced a research report briefing for the ASCCT. They also worked with ASCCT colleagues to support reflection on existing support mechanisms for unpaid carers, and to support review and refinement of engagement and consultation processes.

The rapid review identified examples of opportunities for local action and produced a ten-point checklist to guide council officers in the development of policy and practice.

• Recognise diversity within minoritised groups.

• Ensure support is socio-culturally appropriate.

• Recognise different understandings of care and carer coping strategies within local policy development and support service design.

• Ensure gendered hierarchies and inequalities in care work are considered when developing support.

• Identify racism and discrimination and ‘design it out’ of services.

• Ensure access to social networks for support, influence and voice.

• Address exclusions that adult carers with additional communication needs face.

• Identify and mitigate socio-economic inequalities.

• Ensure representation of minoritised adult carers in systems of support

• Ensure there is a ‘whole system approach’ to support carers, including attention to improving data systems and evaluation.

The research findings have been used in 4 main ways to:

• Enhance engagement and consultation processes: based on the findings and through further work with the embedded researchers, the Adult Social Care Commissioning team have been able to refine the questions used in their regular surveys conducted with carers. They have also been able to create questions for in-depth community conversations with specific groups of unpaid carers in Bradford to help the Adult Social Care Team address gaps in survey data. A workshop and analysis session was developed to assist the Team in analysing the insights from these conversations.

• Develop the key themes and priorities of the new strategy: the key findings from both the rapid review and engagement and consultation process have been used to develop the new strategy’s priorities and to produce an action plan which meets the support needs of minoritised carers.

• Change procurement and service provision: because of the insights gained from the review and consultation processes, changes to procurement practices, funding and service provision have been made to better meet support needs.

• Develop research capacity: the ASCC team has developed ongoing working relationships with the embedded researcher team and developed research skills within the ASCCT, setting a foundation for stronger research and internal capacity building.

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