The Big Conversation
In Nottinghamshire, lots of people need support to live their best life. Social care is personal, emotional, and practical support for people who need it. It works alongside health care.
We know that everyone’s social care experience is different, and the system can feel complicated. We want every person in the county to live in the place they call home with the people and things that they love, in communities where they look out for one another, doing the things that matter to them. This vision for Adult Social Care has been developed by a national organisation called Social Care Future.
The Big Conversation about social care
From the 20 February to 22 March 2023, we held a 'Big Conversation' to ask people who use social care and their carers about the vision, the challenges, and what they want in the future. Community Catalysts and the local 'Our Voice' co-production group helped us to do this.
542 people and carers with lived experience got involved and shared their experiences and ideas with us.
The Big Conversation report has been produced in a half-easy read format [PDF], which means that it is even more accessible to all. We want to make it as easy as possible for everyone to understand and engage with the report's contents, and it is a significant step towards promoting inclusivity and accessibility.
Other formats
The Big Conversation report is also available in other formats:
Big Conversation report [Word]
Big Conversation report [Word - full Easy Read]
Below is a video of the Big Conversation report feedback in British Sign Language (BLS).
In these sections, you can find out more about the Big Conversation feedback, report and our new Adult Social Care Strategy, which we've called our Nottinghamshire Local Account.
Alongside the Big Conversation report we have produced a visual graphic illustration of each of the face to face listening events we did across Nottinghamshire. The graphic illustrations highlight the themes we heard from local people and carers who draw upon social care services.
Ashfield event comments
Ashfield event (accessible version)
Bassetlaw event comments
Bassetlaw event (accessible version)
Broxtowe event comments
Broxtowe event (accessible version)
Gedling event comments
Gedling event (accessible version)
Mansfield event comments
Mansfield event (accessible version)
Newark event comments
Newark event (accessible version)
Rushcliffe event comments
Rushcliffe event (accessible version)
The Nottinghamshire summary summarises the themes we heard across all the listening events we did across Nottinghamshire.
Nottinghamshire summary
Nottinghamshire summary (accessible version)
Melanie Williams, Corporate Director Adult Social Care and Heath
"I am pleased to share our Big Conversation report with you. We successfully spoke and listened to 542 people, including carers and those who draw on social care, and we want to keep the conversation going. I truly believe by talking with our communities; we can make meaningful changes and improve our services.
"To assist us with these important conversations, we partnered with Community Catalysts and Our Voice Group, and we found out that we need to enable social care workers, support carers better, and make things more accessible.
"We listened to people's positive and negative experiences and learned a lot. So, we will use this report to make things better by addressing some of the themes mentioned through our joint health and wellbeing strategy and our joint carers' strategy.
"We are committed to using the report to drive continuous improvement and create a social care system in Nottinghamshire where we value, support, and enable people.
"Thank you to everyone who took part in the Big Conversation events."
Cllr Matt Barney, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health
"We talked to people who use social care, carers, and other stakeholders to create a report about social care in Nottinghamshire.
"The report talks about the important role of social care workers, support for carers, accessibility, gaps in services, and disparities.
"We want to improve social care in Nottinghamshire, and this report will help us do that. We're already working on solutions with carers, health partners, and Nottingham City colleagues, including a joint carers' strategy for the next five years and new carer support services by October 2023. The Big Conversation is important because it helps us make inclusive, representative, and well-informed decisions for the future of our county.
"The Big Conversation is a key step in our commitment to making Nottinghamshire healthy, prosperous, and green. By making decision-making inclusive, representative, and well-informed, we can ensure that everyone has a say in shaping the future of our county.
"Thank you to everyone who has participated so far."
Ed Lowe, Chair Our Voice Co-production Group
"When Our Voice was asked to help design the Big Conversation, we wanted to make sure that as many people as possible had a chance to get involved. We wanted it to feel like a genuine conversation, not just a tick-box exercise.
"We know social care is not perfect and wanted the report to truly reflect what people in Nottinghamshire think and feel. Working together with Community Catalysts and the Council, we feel we managed to get the approach right. We hope you do too. We think the report is honest and open and this is a good first step. We know the report is just the beginning of doing things differently and we will keep working with the Council as it develops its next steps.
"We encourage other people and carers with experience of adult social care to get involved too. We can only find the best solutions if we work together and share our different views and skills as equals."
The Local Account [PDF] is our new Adult Social Care Strategy. It has been co-produced through the listening we did during our Big Conversation with people and carers who draw on social care in Nottinghamshire. The Local Account describes the social care priorities we will focus on during 2024 and shares real stories, insights and what matters to local people.
Other formats
The Local Account is also available in other formats:
Local Account [Word]
Local Account [Word - Easy Read]
We worked with a group of people and carers called Our Voice to write and co-produce the Local Account.
Our Making it Real Forum will help us check how well we are doing against the Local Account by identifying where things are going well and areas that need improvement. The forum is co-chaired by members of the public who draw on care and meets bi-monthly. For more information, see our Making it Real page coming soon.
Further information on the Big Conversation
Watch these videos to find out more about the Big Conversation
BSL version
