Using DEEP methodologies to support social services in Neath Port Talbot

What is the project?

Using Developing Evidence Enriched Practice (DEEP) methodologies to improve services and outcomes for people supported by Neath Port Talbot social services. 

This work encourages the use of the ‘most significant change’ and ‘community of enquiry’ methods to develop practice and inform policy.  

Most significant change is an approach to gathering and exploring change outcomes through stories, while a community of enquiry enables people to create and explore questions in response to evidence. 

Why is it being carried out?

This work builds on Neath Port Talbot’s previous partnership work with Professor Fiona Verity and Nick Andrews at the former Wales School for Social Care Research around using evidence in practice.

The team have focused on collecting and engaging with ‘lived experience’ evidence from the people they support, with the aim of improving outcomes for them.

This fits with their existing work around developing personal outcomes-focused practice, which places the voice of the people they support at the centre of decisions about their care.

Where and when is the work taking place?

This work is mainly taking place in children’s services in Neath Port Talbot, but it’s now been extended to adult services.

Since April 2023, the team have learnt from the stories of practitioners, parents, families and children in a series of most significant change story gathering and selection panels.

Practitioners and parents have also undertaken DEEP training.

Who’s involved?

The project has the support of the local authority’s director and senior management team and has been driven by consultant social workers in Neath Port Talbot social services.  

The work has involved managers, practitioners and the people they support, including members of the Parent Advocacy Network (PAN). 

What's been learnt from the project so far?

The team have learnt that their findings appear to mirror those of national child practice reviews.

While case-file audits happen, they often reflect the of views of practitioners. Most significant change highlights the feelings of parents and children, which has helped ‘what matters’ conversations and associated policy and practice development.

Relational ways of working – such as most significant change or community of enquiry - support better outcomes for people than process-driven practice, which is often detached and risk adverse.

People involved in this work have found that the stories gathered reflect the complexity and humanity of people’s lives and how social services impact on them.

This approach and the work to date has made a significant contribution to cultural change in the directorate.

It’s supported relationship-building across the organisation and has brought a deeper understanding of what matters to people, and how best to support them.