Good decision-making in adult social care

Explore the characteristics of good decision-making so that experiences and outcomes are better for people who draw on social care.

Practitioners in adult social care contribute to important decisions that affect people’s lives. The purpose of these decisions, set out in the Care Act 2014, is to promote the wellbeing of adults and carers. However, decision-making is complex, nuanced, and often presents dilemmas.

This workshop will explore the decision-making skills needed to improve the experiences and outcomes of people who draw on social care. Emphasising the importance of co-production, this session will examine the fundamentals of good decision-making and the factors that challenge this. Through consideration of examples, we will explore approaches and support systems that enhance decision-making such as, intersectionality, positive risk enablement and legal literacy.

Finally, we will look at emerging developments that can affect decision-making such as artificial intelligence and climate change.

Designed for

Social care practitioners working directly with adults.

Learning outcomes

As a result of attending this workshop participants will be able to:

  • Recognise the issues with decision-making in the context of complexity, constraints and power and how to overcome these.
  • Outline what justifiable decisions are, and the capabilities required to make them.
  • Understand the importance of co-production in making decisions and the ethos and practicalities for how to do it.
  • Develop your confidence in practice approaches to decision-making, using evidence, intersectionality, positive risk enablement and legal literacy.
  • Examine how the continually evolving context we are working in affects decision-making, including technological developments and climate change.
  • Understand what supports good decision-making in practice.

Booking information 

This workshop can be accessed in two ways:

Research in Practice Partners can select this online learning workshop as part of their membership allocation.

Link Officers can visit the Link Officer toolkit to review the available topics.

Complete the booking request form

This workshop is available to commission for your organisation. 

Commissioned workshops can be tailored to your workforce priorities and delivered online or in-person. Visit our commissioned workshop menu to find out more.

For more information, contact our learning team.

Please ensure the appropriate budget approval is in place before completing the booking request form. 

Complete the booking request form