‘A focus on outcomes is integral to the core business of modern social and health care agencies’.  This is the key message of ‘Outcomes into Practice’, a comprehensive Resource Pack for managers and trainers published in 2003 by the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York.  Based on a five-year programme of research and development and funded by the Department of Health, the Pack identifies ways in which the outcomes of social care can become more central to routine practice and evaluation of services.  A focus on outcomes is growing in social care, following the Green Paper ‘Independence, Well-being and Choice’, the White Paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say’ and the proposed new Commission for Social Care Inspection performance assessment framework for adult social care. 

Acton Shapiro contributed to the final development of the Pack and helped to refine the training materials.  Since its publication we have been providing tailor-made training based on the Pack, for senior and middle managers, care managers, social workers and other staff, and for partners in the health and voluntary sectors.  Our experience has shown that, given the breadth of implications - for practice, systems and culture - from taking an outcomes focus, authorities are wise to take a broad ‘whole systems’ approach.  We offer consultancy support with this process which varies according to local needs, for instance working with a small group of senior managers at strategic level and/or facilitating local learning networks for practitioners.  We are currently developing a tool which we can use to help authorities take stock of their current position with regard to an outcomes approach, identify any developments needed and plan in a structured way how to tackle these.

We have been working on outcomes with a number of local authorities in England and Wales, including Coventry, Dudley South, Flintshire, Neath Port Talbot, North-East Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Oxfordshire, Reading, St. Helen's, Swansea, Torfaen, Wokingham and Worcestershire.

In 2005, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) commissioned the Social Policy Research Unit and Acton Shapiro to carry out a knowledge review on achieving outcomes-focused services for older people in England and Wales.  There were two main stages to the study:  (a) a review of existing research and (b) a postal survey of current practice in England and Wales, alongside in-depth case study work in six locations.  The evidence from the review was published by SCIE in December 2006 to inform other authorities developing their outcomes approach - www.scie.org.uk/publications/knowledgereviews/kr13.pdf.

Our ‘Outcomes into Practice’ work is co-ordinated by Ruth Chamberlain and involves a number of experienced trainers and consultants:  Ruth Chamberlain, Liz Newbronner and Terry Wolf.