We examine a process for involving service users and carers in a social work programme in Scotland and include the perspective of a service user involved in the development. We note the extent of service user and carer involvement within Scottish social work education. The Dundee system involves a regulated process of academics liaising with service user and carer groups in the locality, so that the expertise of service users and carers informs and influences social work qualifying training. The model is built on current ideas surrounding communication networks that work in non-hierarchical ways. The paper emphasises the importance of basing a system on shared values and overcoming tokenistic approaches to involvement.

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This paper discusses an innovative approach connecting service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education to social work practice. The research team, comprised of service users, carers, social work students and module leader, worked collaboratively democratising the research process. At the University of Dundee a core social work module facilitates for students to spend 15 hours with a service user and/or carer (host) gaining a unique insight into their everyday lives. During this time hosts and students discuss two policy practice questions, responses to these questions are generating annual qualitative data, with study findings being disseminated at local and national level. The experiential learning students acquire from spending time with their host becomes the site of knowledge creation through involvement that is applied to practice. This paper reports on the narratives emerging from the longitudinal data (2012-15, n = 90) on the changing landscape of social care in Scotland and the dissemination of project findings. We explore the intersection where the voices of service users and carers, student learning and social work practice coalesce. A model of outcomes focused SUCI is introduced as a template for meaningful, sustainable and outcomes focused SUCI in social work education.

This paper discusses an innovative approach connecting service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education to social work practice. The research team, comprised of service users, carers, social work students and module leader, worked collaboratively democratising the research process. At the University of Dundee a core social work module facilitates for students to spend 15 hours with a service user and/or carer (host) gaining a unique insight into their everyday lives. During this time hosts and students discuss two policy practice questions, responses to these questions are generating annual qualitative data, with study findings being disseminated at local and national level. The experiential learning students acquire from spending time with their host becomes the site of knowledge creation through involvement that is applied to practice. This paper reports on the narratives emerging from the longitudinal data (2012-15, n = 90) on the changing landscape of social care in Scotland and the dissemination of project findings. We explore the intersection where the voices of service users and carers, student learning and social work practice coalesce. A model of outcomes focused SUCI is introduced as a template for meaningful, sustainable and outcomes focused SUCI in social work education. Key Words: Social work education; User involvement; Knowledge; Outcomes; Social work practice IntroductionDebate around service user and carer involvement (SUCI) in social work education is maturing as the process of involvement is problematized. The context of involvement is being revisited through calls to broaden the focus on the 'how' of involvement to also include the 'impact' of involvement on student learning, social work practice and, ultimately the lives of service users and carers. The genesis of the SUCI in social work education debate is threefold, located in the mandatory requirement for SUCI in social work education (Scottish Executive, 2003), epistemological debates around knowledge production and what is valued as knowledge for social work education and practice (Beresford and Boxall, 2012), and outcomes of involvement in practice. Robinson and Webber's (2013) review of the SUCI literature found no empirical evidence on outcomes in practice, however, a recent paper by Tanner et al. (2015) has begun to address this omission.

This special issue emphasises how the ‘whole system’ of care is becoming even more complex. With the pending implementation of the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act 2003, there are pressures on strategic health authorities and local councils to reach agreement on eligibility criteria for continuing health care. But in the wake of a special report from the Health Service Ombudsman, there is still plenty of room for debate about the lawfulness of the criteria.