What really matters in social care to individuals in Wales?
Overview
Roedd Mesur y Mynydd yn brosiect Cymru gyfan a gynlluniwyd i ddeall profiadau go iawn pobl o ofal cymdeithasol ac effaith gynnar Deddf Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol a Llesiant (Cymru) 2014. Casglodd adborth dilys gan bobl sy'n derbyn gofal a chymorth, yn ogystal â gofalwyr, a rhannodd y dystiolaeth honno gyda Llywodraeth Cymru a phartneriaid.
Yr her
Formal evaluation does not always capture people’s voices clearly or independently, especially in social care where experiences are personal and complex. The project needed a way to hear directly from citizens across Wales, outside formal systems, and focus on what mattered most in everyday life
Y dull
The project used two main methods: SenseMaker story-gathering and a Citizens’ Jury. SenseMaker collected personal stories and experiences from people across Wales, while the Citizens’ Jury explored key themes in more depth and developed recommendations based on the evidence
What happened
The story-gathering phase ran during 2018 and collected 473 stories, generating more than 45,000 words of narrative. The project worked through community networks, events, face-to-face conversations, paper forms, and online tools to make participation as accessible as possible.
Key themes
The findings explored issues including people and well-being, co-production and working together, time-wasting, prevention, information, carers, and perceptions of the Act. The work highlighted both positive experiences and areas where social care needed to improve.
Y canlyniad
The project created a rich evidence base grounded in lived experience and produced recommendations for Welsh Government and the wider social care sector. It helped show where social care was working well, where it was falling short, and what people felt really mattered in practice.
Original case study and report: Co-production Network for Wales