Impact report: Improved access to day opportunity services in Birmingham

In July 2022, Healthwatch Birmingham published a report Experiences of day opportunity services in Birmingham highlighting service users and their carers/families’ overall views on the day opportunity services they access. We found that day opportunity services have a positive impact day opportunity services have on the health and wellbeing of users, but people also face difficulties around issues such as getting assessments and accessing support.

Taking into account these findings and following engagement with service users, their families/ carers and staff, BCC has made a number of important improvements to day opportunity service provision in Birmingham. These include:

• Improved quality of care and support
• Better communication
• More engagement and better involvement of service users and carers/families
• Increased use of feedback
• Co-production with service users and families
• Improved access to services that accommodate personal preferences, cultural and lifestyle needs
• More choice and flexibility

A key outcome is that service users will be involved in the co-production of a commissioning strategy for day opportunity services and co-producing a service improvement plan for internal day centres. The findings of these reviews are to be presented to BCC Cabinet by December 2023.