Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Most social care departments have a ‘front-door’: a single access point where people seeking support first contact their local authority. In theory this makes it easier for people to contact us. A single phone number. A sole email address. One doorway. One way in. In reality, channelling everyone through a single point of entry makes it easier for us to screen and triage, to signpost people towards someone else’s door or refer them on to another part of our system – often with its own front door.

Instead of multiple doors into teams in communities – close to people’s lives and their own support networks, and close to others offering support – our centralised front door is separate. It’s removed from neighbourhoods, reliant on people coming to us rather than us making the effort to get closer to them. Call the single phone number and more often than not you’ll get a recorded message. Email the sole email address and you’ll probably get an automatic reply acknowledging receipt. Join the queue. We’ll add you to our waiting list. You’re not really welcome here.