Skip navigation

tab tips roll overs for main navigation

Who we are and what we do

Information about our services and programmes of work

The latest good practice we’ve gathered from the sector.

Online discussion forums and communities of practice

Improvement and Development Agency

Accessibility options

Contrast:

Site second level navigation

Sustainable social care

How can we design personalised services that also meet wider community needs in the longer term?
How can we achieve efficiencies that, at the same time, generate environmental, social and economic benefits for individuals, communities and society?
What are the impacts of social care services on carbon emissions?
How can we deal practically with the effects on vulnerable groups of extreme weather events, such as flooding and heat waves?
Can climate change provide 'common cause' for commissioners, providers and users of social care services and what can we learn from each other to make services sustainable?
Can social care commissioners stimulate the market for low-carbon business?

These are some of the questions being tackled in an exciting new programme of work bringing together professionals from adult social care, health and sustainable development. The programme is led by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in partnership with the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and others.

The aim is to research and demonstrate how sustainable development approaches can:

help realise the vision of 'Putting People First'
enable the local service improvements demanded by comprehensive area assessment (CAA).

Guidance and practical resources for the social care sector will be produced and disseminated. The programme is a new priority in the latest Department of Health (DH) Sustainable Development Action Plan 2009/11.

Social Care Institute for Excellence – for more information on the website

The programme comprises three complementary projects:

Project 1: The Sustainable Social Care System is a research project which will describe and analyse the conditions necessary for a sustainable social care system in a given community or setting. The lead delivery partner is the Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment (ISHE) at the University of the West of England.

Institute for Sustainability, Health and Environment (ISHE) at the University of the West of England

Project 2: Building the Capacity of Commissioners has established a local authority learning network to explore the challenges facing sustainable social care and produce practical recommendations for commissioners and policy-makers. The lead delivery partner is the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU).

Local Government Information Unit (LGIU)

Project 3: Guidance, Resources and Communications will create a web-based resource for social care commissioners and other stakeholders, signposting to existing resources and building a repository of guidance and information aimed specifically at the social care sector. The lead delivery partner is the SCIE, working closely with the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) and the IDeA.

Community of Practice (CoP)

We have a new Sustainable Social Care sub-CoP, which sits under the Adult Social Care CoP.

How to join a community of practice

To join a community you must first register on the CoP website – it only takes a few minutes. Then use the search facility or the list of communities to find and join your chosen communities of interest.

Home page on the CoP website