Category: Social Care

Promoting independence through intermediate care: A quick guide for staff delivering intermediate care services

Social Care Institute for Excellence, December 2018
Intermediate care involves working closely with people to agree what intensive support they need to improve their independence.  This quick guide from the Social Care Institute for Excellence outlines how intermediate care functions.
Click here to view the guide.

Fair care: A workforce strategy for social care

Institute for Public Policy Research, December 2018
Adult social care is an essential public service and a growing part of our economy. However, the social care system in England faces a workforce crisis which is set to grow in the coming years; by 2028, we estimate there will be a shortage of over 400,000 workers in social care.
The challenges of recruiting and retaining workers in the sector is inextricably linked to low pay and poor working conditions. This is itself related to the under-funding of social care and a commissioning and delivery model based on cost not quality. Providers have competed by driving down pay and conditions, and they have faced little resistance given the limited bargaining power of the workforce and the limited enforcement of employment rights. These factors are combining to create a social care workforce crisis.
The solution is a sustainable long-term funding settlement for social care and a transformation of the social care workforce model. This should be based on the establishment of decent pay and terms and conditions through sectoral collective bargaining, and a professionalisation of the social care workforce. These measures would help ensure high-quality work for care workers, and high-quality care for those who need it.
Click here to view the full report.

Priorities for Adult Social Work Research: Results from the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for adult social work

Department of Health and Social Care, November 2018
This report sets out the top ten priorities for adult social work research. It aims to help make sure future research answers the questions that are important to social workers and those who are in contact with them. The priorities cover a broad range of themes and issues for adult social workers. These will help to improve understanding of the social work approaches and interventions that work and why, and help to achieve the best outcomes for people and their carers.
Click here to view the report.

Interface between health and adult social care: Sixty-Third Report of Session 2017–19: Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report

House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts, October 2018
Outlines the widespread consensus that integration and joint working is the right way forward for the health and social care system to deliver the best and most effective outcomes for people and their families. However, it concludes that the Government still lacks an effective overall strategy or plan to achieve its long-held aim to integrate these two sectors.
Click here to view the full report.