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Perceptions and experiences of access to social care services within South Asian Communities in Barking and Dagenham
Introduction and importance of this research
Access to social care and knowing what the local authority can offer to YOU can make all the difference to one’s quality of life, just like a GP is the first point of call when it comes to health issues, social care can be the first point of contact when someone with a long-term condition or disability needs support. Social care covers several services including care Homes, care provided at home, adaptations, aids and equipment, and support for people who have disabilities, older people etc).
Yet, locally we find that some communities don’t access or use these services as much as others, for example there is an underrepresentation of people of an Asian/Asian British ethnic background for older people accessing adult social care as well as working-aged people (in line with the information from Adult Social Care LBBD).
The local council want to look deeper into the reasons why and see if there is anything they can do to ensure all communities are using social care services as and when needed, however, it can be challenging to adapt services and ensure they are suitable for people of different ethnicities if we don’t fully understand why. Developing a culturally appropriate service requires an understanding of various racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Therefore, as an independent voice of local people, Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham want to hear and present the perspectives of the South Asian communities when it comes to adult social care services.
The findings of this research will help to build a more culturally appropriate service. In order to do this, we are calling everyone from the South Asian communities to take part and share their experiences, stories and perspectives with us.
The responses to the survey are anonymized preventing the identification of individual respondents.
