Building better social care in Wales
Doing Adult Safeguarding with Service Users and Carers Presented by: Dr Jeremy Dixon, University of Bath *A discount code will be provided to attendees for those who wish to purchase Jeremy’s book, Adult Safeguarding Observed* This presentation describes social workers’ accounts of doing adult safeguarding work with service users, family carers and paid carers. It… Read More
Championing a research culture within Adult Social Care – How are we making robust decisions without calling upon the research base? Research enriched practice has always been a gold standard within social care. However, making it a natural part of practice within busy frontline local authority teams dealing with complex and fluid situations has always… Read More
Find out more about our upcoming events and webinars, and how you can sign up, on this page. For a list of past events, visit our archive.
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At a time of crisis and reform for children's social care in England, the need to reinvest in services that support families has never been more pressing. In this seminar, Calum Webb will present findings from an extensive analysis of the association between spending on preventative and supportive children and family services and rates of child welfare interventions in England. This will be followed by a discussion on the potential consequences and relevance of the findings for Wales.
Online, Teams
13:00
- 30/04/2025
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Children receiving care and support (CRCS) from the child welfare system represent a vulnerable subpopulation who often face complex and multifaceted challenges, usually stemming from abuse, neglect, or disability. Despite the significant health disparities associated with this group, limited research has explored how these outcomes differ across ethnic and religious identities. This paper addresses this gap by examining ethnic and religious differences in healthcare utilisation among CRCS children using comprehensive linked administrative data from Wales. We linked CRCS records from 2017 to 2019 with the 2011 and 2021 Office for National Statistics Census data to identify the child’s religious affiliation and improve ethnicity completeness. Additionally, we integrated these records with primary and secondary care health data for the corresponding years. Leveraging these innovative data linkages, we assessed ethnic and religious variations in two key areas: (1) the likelihood of accessing different healthcare services (General Practitioner [GP], hospital inpatient care, and Accident & Emergency [A&E]) and (2) the probability of using healthcare for common conditions, like mental health issues and injuries.
Online, Teams
12:00
- 07/05/2025
There is growing awareness of the need for better dementia research to improve the support given to people living with dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society has estimated that 1 in 3 people born in the UK will be diagnosed with dementia…
ExChange Wales brings leading researchers together with practitioners and service users to share expertise, research evidence and care experiences.
Through our conferences, workshops, lectures and seminars, ExChange provides free, high-quality training to support the ongoing development of social care professionals across Wales. Attracting leading national speakers, together we learn and advise on research, impacting both policy and practice. Our events and resources enrich skills while foregrounding the lived experience of care-experienced people.
We have a range of ways that you can work with ExChange. If you wish to host an ExChange workshop, webinar, podcast or blog, simply contact us.
Our third webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health “Supporting people with mental health problems to build social networks and reduce loneliness: lessons for practice and research from intervention trials” Abstract People with mental health problems are more likely to have smaller networks and experience loneliness and social isolation than… Read More
Our fourth webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract The ability to form strong relationships is viewed as central to mental health recovery. Few studies have explored the experiences of people with mental health problems in forming or maintaining romantic relationships. This study addressed this gap through conducting focus… Read More
Our second webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health “Webinar: What works to improve the mental health of care-experienced children and young people: Systematic review evidence” Abstract The mental health and wellbeing of care-experienced children and young people remains a major concern. To date, it has not been clear which… Read More
Our first Webinar in our conference series – On the Journey: Navigating Mental Health Abstract In this presentation, offered as a basis for discussion, Peter, drawing on his own and other people’s lived experience, aims to help us rethink both understandings of mental wellbeing and distress and helpful ways of addressing the difficulties we may… Read More
Last year, a group of hosts in and around Cardiff, some from CASCADE, worked together to provide Christmas dinner and a celebration for care-experienced people. The team were filled with nerves ahead of the big day, with referrals still coming in up to the week before Christmas. A chef volunteered three days of their time… Read More
** WALES ONLY** Parent Advocacy Online Workshop (Wales) We are inviting social work practitioners and managers, parental advocates, parents, advocacy managers, family support workers and academics in Wales to participate in an online workshop on parental advocacy and its effectiveness in supporting parents whose children are open to social care. The event is part of… Read More
Understanding care pathways and placement stability for infants in Wales with Dr Laura Cowley from Population Data Science, Swansea University on 4 October 12:30-14:00. This presentation provides new empirical evidence about entry routes to care, pathways through care, and placement outcomes for the very youngest children in the care system in Wales. By addressing questions about… Read More
