Measuring the Mountain
We spent three years (2018 - 2020) gathering and analysing people's experiences of using care and support services and of being an unpaid carer in Wales to better understand what things are really like for people day-to-day. Using SenseMaker to gather the stories, and conducting two Citizens' Juries to examine issues in more depth, Measuring the Mountain has generated a wealth of information and critical insights to people's experiences. Funded by Welsh Government, and forming part of their work to understand the early impact of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, the project now leaves a large bank of stories, analysis and key recommendations.
The Stories
Over the three years of Measuring the Mountain, we gathered over 900 stories from people about their experiences of using care and support services or of being an unpaid carer. The stories came from across Wales and illustrate the complexity of many people's lives as well the often straightforward approaches that make a difference to people's experiences.
We have produced two reports relating to our findings from the stories and uploaded a bank of over 450 stories that were gathered during the 2019 / 2020 work. They provide incredible snapshots of people's day-to-day lives that we hope will support the development of policy and practice within the care and support sector.
The Citizens' Juries
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We conducted our first Citizens' Jury in 2018 as an in-person event looking at what really matters in social care in Wales. And our second in 2020 as an online event that moved the discussion on to look at how what matters could be achieved.
Both Juries produced a series of recommendations aimed at those who design, deliver and oversee care and support services. You can find these in the reports and by visting our YouTube channel you can watch the 2020 sessions to learn more about how the recommendations came about.
What next?
We have uploaded a range of resources that have been developed over the course of the project and which we hope will be useful to people in and around the care and support sector.
These include:
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Reports on the findings from the stories
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A database of 450+ stories
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Reports from the Citizens' Juries including their recommendations
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Recordings of the 2020 Citizens' Jury sessions
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A selection of other material developed over the project's lifetime.