Presentation for Department of Health (DH) Showcase event on DH funded research

1. RESEARCH ON CARERS’ SUPPORT
JO MORIARTY

2. OUTLINE
FOCUS ON SOME OF THE NIHR SSCR FUNDED RESEARCH ON CARERS
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3. CONTEXT
 Courtin et al (2014) cross-EU
comparison
 England has:
 Specific policies to support carers
 Specific legal entitlements for
carers
 National data on who is caring
and support they provide
 No cause for complacency but
opportunity to acknowledge
impact of DH policy and DH
funded research
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4. NIHR SSCR RESEARCH ON CARERS
 Research on caring shows multiple impacts on people’s lives
 Reflected in different NIHR SSCR projects
 Range from
 Large scale survey data to improve identification of carers
(Netten et al)
 Studies of carers and paid employment (Pickard et al)
 Studies of carers’ experiences (Mitchell et al, 2013, Moriarty et
al, 2014)
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5. IDENTIFYING CARERS
The problem
Research highlighting
the number of carers
who care for many years
without any support
(Carers UK, 2014;
Moriarty et al, 2014, plus
virtually every other
study!)
Where research is helping
 Secondary analysis of two
surveys
 Survey of Carers in Households
(2009-10)
 Personal Social Services Survey
of Adult Carers in England
(2009-10)
 Compare those who are visible
to local councils
 Look at factors influencing carer
quality of life
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6. CARERS AND PAID EMPLOYMENT
The problem
 An estimated 315,000
people (mainly women)
aged 16-64 have left paid
employment to care
 Impact on their own careers
 Impact on skills levels within
workforce
 Impact on household
income now and in
retirement
Where research is helping
Identified low
‘thresholds’ at which
carers leave paid
employment
 <10 hours likely to stay
 >10 hours likely to leave
Implications of Care Act
2014
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7. PERSONALISATION
The problem
Policies on
personalisation and carer
support don’t seem to
have developed in
tandem (Glendinning et
al, 2013)
Where research is helping
Shows lack of clarity that
continues to exist among
practitioners and carers
about carer assessments
and carer involvement in
assessments of person
cared for
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8. SOCIAL CARE PRACTICE WITH CARERS
The problem
New roles for carer
support workers have
developed but under-evaluated
Major changes in way
social care is arranged
and provided
Where research is helping
 Positively evaluated by carers
 Undertaking multiple roles
 Carers don’t want more
information; they want better
quality, better targeted
information
 Understanding impact on
markets especially in role of
voluntary sector
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9. CHALLENGE IN EMBEDDING RESEARCH
FINDINGS
If professionals don’t know what carers
need by now they never [will] … You
know new people take over, ‘Ooh, we
want to know about the care…’ Can you
imagine after twenty odd years how
many meetings of professionals I’ve sat
[in]? And it’s very simple what carers
want. (Una, CARER09)
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10. CONCLUSION
Move from ‘problems’ to greater precision about what
is working for whom and in what circumstances
Recognising continuities in some aspects
 Impact on social support
 Long term impact of caring
Identifying where changes are having an impact
 Nuanced impacts of personal budgets
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11. DISCLAIMER
The preparation of this presentation was made possible
by a grant from the National Institute for Health
Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research on
Social Care Practice with Carers. The views expressed in
this presentation are those of the authors and not
necessarily those of the NIHR School for Social Care
Research or the Department of Health/NIHR
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12. IMAGES AND REFERENCES
Slide number Reference
1 Photograph of carers who have taken Caring with
Confidence course in Grimsby via Carers Trust
3 Courtin, E., Jemiai, N. and Mossialos, E. (1 August 2014)
'Mapping support policies for informal carers across the
European Union', Health Policy.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2014.07.013
5 Using recent surveys to improve support for unpaid carers
http://www.sscr.nihr.ac.uk/PDF/ProjectOutlines/PO33.pdf
6 Unpaid care and employment in England
http://www.sscr.nihr.ac.uk/PDF/Findings/Findings_10_carers
-employment_web.pdf
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13. IMAGES AND REFERENCES (2)
Slide number Reference
7 Carers and personalisation
http://sscr.nihr.ac.uk/PDF/Findings/SSCRResearchFindings_
12_.pdf
8 Social care practice with carers
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/vsr/2014/000
00005/00000002/art00007
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