The Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduce the most dramatic change in the landscape for health and social care provision in England in the last sixty years.
Carers UK has utilised its unique position as both an influencer of policy and an early interpreter of the practical implications of legislative change, to partner with local authorities and their health partners to:
- Support a London borough to better understand their carer population needs, review existing support, develop a joint approach to carers’ support, integrating carer identification and support across health and social care delivery. Read more
- Develop the evidence base and build an assessment framework to help a County Council and their health counterparts to evaluate the impact of a service delivery model and drive out and deliver a new 3 year Carers’ Strategy. Read more
- Map a London borough’s carer’s assessment pathway, evaluate against a developed best practice assessment framework and deliver recommendations. Read more
- Develop a hospital discharge assessment framework to evaluate impact on carers and formulate recommendations. Read more
- Design and deliver an impact assessment framework to evaluate the impact of a new commissioning model on different groups of carers. Read more
In delivering these solutions Carers UK has worked in partnership with the Cass Business School, to develop the necessary, robust local evidence base through the combined data analysis of national and local datasets.
The UK Care Economy: Improving outcomes for carers is a report by Professor Les Mayhew of the Cass Business School and was commissioned by Carers UK. It looks at new demographic pressures and the various challenges that families with caring responsibilities are facing, exploring the various contexts and opportunities for improving outcomes for carers.
This approach has emphasised that key gaps in intelligence exist around:
- Up-to-date national data on the demand for and supply of care and the impacts of caring
- Comprehensive national picture of service delivery models and outcomes
- Accessible tools and guidance on how to effectively use national and local data to understand and compare local carers and caring
- A single source of demographic, service level and outcomes ‘intelligence’ on carers and services that gives both a national and local picture
Carers UK has now undertaken a unique, innovative, national solution to close these intelligence gaps through its Carers Intelligence and Improvement Initiative. Underpinning this initiative is an evidence base collection process, comprising a series of dialogues with local authorities and health partners through structured surveys and feedbacks to the survey respondees.
Read the results of our latest survey on evidence-based planning and delivery of local support for carers.
For more information on Carers UK, and its work within the current changing landscape of health and social care provision email: consultancy@carersuk.org
