Perceptions of access to social care within the South Asian communities in Barking and Dagenham

Healthwatch Barking and Dagenham was commissioned by LB Barking and Dagenham to investigate the reasons why the local South Asian community were not accessing social care services and see what steps they can take to guarantee that these services are accessed and used by the South Asian Community when needed. They spoke to 88 people.

Key findings

• Only a small percentage of participants were unaware of the services provided by Adult Social Care Barking and Dagenham.
• The majority of people who had used adult social care received their support primarily in the form of aids and adaptations to the home, access to the community, and support in their own homes.
• Adult social care was referred to them by medical professionals. Both positive and negative aspects of the support they received were mentioned by the respondents, the majority of whom stated that the support either fully or partially exceeded their expectations.
• Some service users suggested perceived that they received unfair or partially unfair treatment. Religion accounted for 40% of this unfair treatment, and the language barrier for 20%, 80% of feedback accounted for other reasons which were not entirely religion or language-related.
• The majority of respondents had been empowered to make or partially make decisions related to their care, and the majority rated the quality of the service as very good, good, or somewhat good, with the minority saying it was unacceptable.
• GPs were the primary information source for the community. The majority of respondents expressed the opinion that social workers only partially comprehended the difficulties they faced in obtaining adult social care, which were caused by a variety of problems that are covered in detail in the report.
• For the vast majority, having a social worker with a similar ethnic background to them was crucial.
• The notion that members of minority ethnic communities are more likely to take care of one another was generally not supported by survey participants, however, some respondents indicated that their family viewpoint could influence their perceptions around adult social care.
• When it comes to social care, the South Asian community places a high value on dietary restrictions and religious requirements. A portion of the population still associates stigma with social care, suggesting that there is a pervasive negative perception of someone who requires and receives social care support.
• The majority of respondents indicated that receiving social care support will not conflict with their cultural identity, indicating that they are likely to accept it in the future.