Discovery Phase: Service Design for Embedding Positive Cultures in Care Settings across Wales

Tender description

*****THIS IS A CONTRACT AWARD*******Social Care Wales and Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) are collaborating to embed positive cultures in care settings, aiming to improve care quality and wellbeing for individuals and staff.This contract focuses exclusively on Discovery, which involves generating insights to inform the design and development of subsequent phases.Aims & ObjectivesThe overall aim of this contract is to understand the current state, context, and needs of care providers and stakeholders in relation to embedding positive cultures in care settings.The contract objectives are to:- Conduct desk research on existing models and frameworks of positive culture, and current support offers.- Undertake qualitative and participatory research (interviews, focus groups) to understand experiences, needs, and pain points.- Engage Responsible Individuals, Registered Managers, staff, commissioners, regulators, and people who use care services.- Map stakeholders and develop personas and journey maps.- Identify barriers and enablers to embedding positive cultures.- Produce hypotheses and recommendations to inform later design phases.What is required / ‘The Requirements’The Supplier will:- Conduct desk research and comparative analysis of positive culture frameworks, existing models of support, and gaps in support in Wales and beyond.- Initiate evaluation framework, measures and activities to enable effective evaluation of the user-research and its impact.- Map stakeholders and develop a recruitment strategy.- Conduct interviews and/or focus groups with stakeholders including Responsible Individuals (RIs), Registered Managers (RMs), staff, and people who draw on care. Including commissioners and regulators. We anticipate approx. 15–20 interviews and 3–4 focus groups across different regions in Wales. These can take place online or in-person. Social Care Wales can support the sourcing of subjects, but the supplier will be required to identify and manage the subjects.- Develop evidence-based personas and journey maps.- Report on final insights, gaps, findings, and recommendations- Present final insights, gaps, findings, and recommendations to Social Care Wales and CIW, bilingually.The Supplier must possess demonstrable expertise in user research and insight generation within social care or comparable complex systems. The Supplier must evidence capability in the following areas:- Proven experience in qualitative research methodologies, including participatory and co-design approaches.- Ability to engage diverse stakeholders effectively within complex care environments.- Capacity to produce clear, actionable insights supported by robust analysis.- Development of visual artefacts such as personas, journey maps, and other tools to communicate findings effectively.- Comprehensive understanding of ethical research practices, safeguarding requirements, and adherence to GDPR and data protection legislation.- Demonstrated experience of working in partnership with public sector organisations, ensuring transparency and alignment with organisational objectives.