Opportunity Knocks: Exploring the Links Between Day Opportunities and Equal Opportunities

Abstract

The term ‘day opportunities’ is used in the context of personalisation in England to refer to alternatives to day centres. This article employs the lens of legislation on equalities to comment on access to day opportunities by different groups of eligible older people. It reports and discusses findings from a scoping review of the literature conducted in 2012 and updated in 2013 which searched for research and ‘grey literature’ material. Findings from the scoping review are presented using the different elements of the Equalities Act 2010. We conclude that social workers need to be aware of definitions when describing what is being suggested as part of a support plan or reviewed in the context of desired outcomes. We draw attention to the need to think about levels of needs and access to any day opportunity. Social workers are well placed to identify whether these changes have a differential impact on certain groups. This exploration of the literature on user experiences and outcomes from day opportunities may be helpful to social work practice and scholarship.

Keywords:

• day services
• older people
• social work
• equalities
• personalisation
• self-directed support

Acknowledgements

This article is developed from work commissioned by Age UK. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors alone.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jill Manthorpe

Jill Manthorpe is Professor of Social Work at King’s College London and director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit and Associate Director of the NIHR School for Social Care Research. She has long-standing research interests in older people’s health and social care and works with a variety of older people’s groups and organisations. Her research currently focuses on workforce studies, dementia services, safeguarding and homelessness.

Jo Moriarty

Jo Moriarty is Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London and Deputy Director of the Unit. She has particular interest in dementia services and race equality studies and undertakes practice based research on these subjects. She is a research fellow of the NIHR School for Social Care Research and is currently completing a study of carers’ services.