Introduction

COVID-19 has brought about significant change and impact to our interactions with, and experiences of, health and social care. The situation has required a dynamic and adaptive way of working to respond to new and developing information on how to manage the impacts of the virus. Changes to working practices have been rapid and has required an incredible capacity for resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity and uncertainty, and whilst experiencing intensive scrutiny and pressure.

What is important to acknowledge is that the sector’s response to COVID-19 represents a significant amount of change and innovation which in some cases, has completely transformed the care experience. As we begin to engage in reflection on elements of the COVID-19 experience so far, it is important to harness the learning and implications towards collectively shaping the future that we need.

The programme of work led by Scottish Care, aims to build on the learning from COVID-19 to collectively explore this new care reality and work towards shaping a ‘preferable’ care future. To do this, we will support the independent care sector and key stakeholders to share and critically reflect on their experiences in responding to and managing COVID-19 in the context of care homes and care at home. Together, we will outline the emerging themes from our shared care realities and present a vision and pathway towards our collective care future.

This first phase of the programme is focused on understanding the pandemic experience given the significant changes and impacts across many different areas of practice both in care home and care at home contexts. This phase involves engaging with people with direct experience of working in, working with or being connected to independent social care services.

The second phase of the programme will begin in Autumn 2020. Based on the findings of the theme explorations in phase one, we will invite further engagement on future scenarios to creatively explore the future of the independent care sector. During this phase we will support critical reflection and evaluation through collectively building a vision for the future that enables wider dialogue around key actions, people and infrastructure required to enable change.

Engagement process

We have designed a multi-method engagement process to support reflection and sharing of experiences.

The process involves a series of online exploratory sessions to reflect on and share experiences related to thematic areas. Participants are supported to critically reflect on the learnings from COVID-19 and implications for change towards identifying priorities for the future. The sessions are tailored to the context and participant experience of the pandemic in care homes or care at home. These include a variety of formats: group sessions and one-to-one discussions.

A survey series has also been designed to provide an opportunity for wider engagement around the pandemic experience and complements the thematic areas explored in the online sessions.