Recently the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in England commissioned the National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL), Shaping Our Lives and the University of Leeds to look at service user-driven culture change.The objective was to research current literature and practice around service user and carer involvement, the extent to which service user involvement had bought improvements to social work and social care and where the change has become established practice.

The research had some of the following findings:

• Although the policy drivers to involve service users and carers are still strong, many of the current practices limit the effectiveness of user involvement which means the pace of change is slow.
• Differing priorities and unequal power relationships between service users and professionals were a key barrier to change.
• There was a wide variation found between who was involved and who wasn't.
• Lack of funding and resources were found to be a big barrier to change.
• Overall, the research found that user involvement and participation are key to culture change

To read the whole report go to:
Knowledge Review 17: Developing social care - service users driving culture change (2007)