Social Care, Health Care & A Connected Community
Since the formation of the NHS, medical and nursing care have been kept separate from social care. Nursing care is defined as a healthcare need and is associated with the treatment, care or aftercare of someone with a disease, illness, injury or disability. Social care relates more to the assistance of daily living – maintaining independence, social interaction and supported accommodation such as a care home. As the population is aging, the number of persons living with multiple chronic conditions (also known as multi-morbidity) is expected to increase. What are their needs? With a divide in social care and health care,are these needs being met by the proper parties? How do we connect this care?
In reality, many vulnerable people in need of age related support are being cared for through the social care system. People spend far less time in hospital than they used to. Social care can be provided in people’s homes, to enable independent living or help with recovery after illness and, if home care is no longer an option, provide a safe space for people to live in supported housing, residential or nursing homes. Social care and support in its broadest sense comes from a range of sources and from informal help from family and friends is the largest.
Today, four million people over the age of 65 have a life-limiting illness. Old age does not automatically bring social care needs but makes them more likely. The growth of the ageing population has pushed up the cost of caring for older and disabled people, placing the social care system under huge strain. Social care resources are limited and as a result there are fewer beds in nursing homes and care homes. Staff turnover is high and has risen for the sixth year running. Unlike the NHS, in England social care is not free at the point of delivery - a lot of people have to pay for at least some of their care, and a lot of that care is delivered by private providers.
The pressures facing adult social care in England have been recognised by the government. In the NHS Long Term Plan, launched in January 2019, NHS England set out how the NHS will increasingly be more joined-up and coordinated in its care. The aim is to increase communication and break down existing barriers between care institutions, teams and funding streams to support the increasing number of people with long-term health conditions, rather than viewing each encounter with the health service as a single, unconnected ‘episode’ of care.
The NHS Long Term Plan includes an objective that integrated care systems (ICSs) will cover the whole country. In an integrated care system, partnerships of NHS organisations, local authorities , adult social care leaders, and others will take collective responsibility for, and make shared decisions about, managing resources, designing services and improving the health of the population they serve.
While we await this solution, caregivers have cited a lack of coordinated services in terms of formal support, home care services, and health maintenance activities available for older adults as a red flag for our communities. It has been suggested that having a point person to arrange care and provide continuity between health and social services would alleviate a lot of these issues. At Safe Steps we know that over 85% of falls happen at home. We have adapted our successful Falls Prevention app to work in a community setting. By establishing a “circle of care” around a vulnerable person, our technology communicates with the relevant carers and delivers a pathway of care that includes health and social services...all on one platform. The most advanced integrated care systems have a history of organisations working together. By integrating teams at a community level, Safe Steps hopes to eliminate the disconnect between social and health care.
