Hard_Edges_Mapping_SMD_FINAL_VERSION_Web

38 Hard edges
System and service response
In this section we focus on the question of
outcomes, particularly the outcomes which
agencies working with people experiencing
SMD are seeking to achieve from their
interventions. However, it must be stressed that
this current study was not designed to evaluate
specific services or systems performance.
For one thing, the kinds of data analysed for
our profiling work, limited mainly to snapshots
or relatively short records on episodes, falls
far short of the longer-term tracking data
which would ideally be looked at in detailed
evaluation studies. That said, there are
indications provided below of some encouraging
short‐term outcomes from these services, but
with much poorer results reported for people
experiencing SMD2 and SMD3.
utcomes achieved for five
Figure 13 shows two findings clearly.
Firstly, there is considerable variation in the
achievement of target outcomes between
different types of need. Thus a large majority
of clients with needs in the mental health,
offending (avoid harm to others) and housing
(avoid eviction) fields achieved some short-term
positive goals, whereas for substance misuse
the level of positive achievement was somewhat
lower and, for ‘paid work’ only a minority
achieved a positive outcome (though given their
enduring labour market barriers even this
last result may be more promising than could
perhaps have reasonably been expected, see
also Johnsen & Watts, 2014).
Secondly, it shows clearly that the pattern
of lower positive outcome achievement
with higher SMD level applies more or less
outcomes Homelessness by service broad outcomesSMD group, across the range. It is not possible from the
The SP dataset contains a lot of detailed data on quantitative data analysis alone to specify why
g People
needs and short-term
clients
outcomes
2010/11
across a wide this is the case, but clearly it is a matter that
range of domains, such as health, debt, work, warrants further in-depth investigation.
housing, substance misuse, and harm to others.
Figure 13 summarises the pattern of outcomes
in relation to five of the 17 categories of need
covered by SP outcomes, by broad SMD level.
Figure 13: Positive outcomes achieved for five selected outcomes by broad SMD group,
Supporting People clients 2010/11
AVOID EVICTION
SUBSTANCE MISUSE
HARM TO OTHERS
MENTAL HEALTH
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
PAID WORK
SMD 1
SMD 2
SMD 3
Source: Authors’ analyses of SP Short-term Outcomes 2010–11, cases with IDs only