The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the University of Kent (the leading UK research body on personal social services) are undertaking a series of studies on the outcomes of adult social care services, as part of the MOPSU project. There are four main stages to the work:
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Conceptual work to develop an understanding of the concept of ‘value’ and a practical approach to measurement – the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT)
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Fieldwork to test the toolkit and provide outcomes information for a sample of care home residents and low-level service users
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Comparison of research measures with routine low-burden indicators, for example information collected by the regulator
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Development of the toolkit
PSSRU is also leading on a population preference study to gauge the relative importance of different outcome domains. This will enable the inclusion of preference weights in the toolkit. A separate study is being undertaken to explore the complex issue of defining and measuring outcomes of information and advice services.
This work-strand feeds into the work being conducted by the UK Centre for the Measurement of Government Activity (UKCeMGA) as it could provide a way forward for quality-adjusting adult social care in the National Accounts. This could improve the current measure , which does not fully capture changes in output as it takes no consideration of:
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the level of need or dependency of those receiving the services
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the quality of the services, particularly in terms of the impact they have on service users
This section contains reports from PSSRU which have been produced as part of the MOPSU project. Overviews of the reports are provided below.
Measuring Outcomes in Social Care: Conceptual Development and Empirical Design (published October 2007) 671.8 Kb Pdf document
This report describes the progress made in developing a conceptual framework for measurement of outcomes of adult social care, addressing the questions of what ‘value’ is and how it can be measured. The conclusions of this work are then discussed in terms of their implications for the research design and plans regarding the empirical work are set out.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/methodology-and-quality/measuring...
PDF version NHS resources could be directed at funding social care support for people leaving hospital, according to NHS guidance published today.
A revised NHS operating framework for 2010-11 said the government is planning changes to the way hospitals are paid for treatment from 2011-12 so that it covers reablement and post-discharge support.
This could see hospitals receiving money from health commissioners to fund domiciliary care, home adaptations and telecare, as well as community health services.
The 14-page Department of Health document said: "Such an approach creates real opportunities for acute providers to work with GPs and local authorities and would require the full engagement of the wider health and care economy before discharging patients."
The announcement builds on health secretary Andrew Lansley's announcement earlier this month that hospitals would have to fund community services to avoid costly readmissions.
As restated in the operating framework, this would involve hospitals being responsible for patients in the 30 days following discharge, which means they would not receive payment for treatments if people are readmitted within a month.
Jo Webber, deputy policy director for the NHS Confederation, said the ideas around the tariff and the 30-day discharge implicitly suggested movement of health resources to social care but said the details needed to be worked through.
She said: "You would expect that linkage of money from one to the other. It still needs quite a lot of work on it."
Peter Hay, vice-president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said it was too early to say if it would mean health money being used to support social care, but it did mean a "very strong shift" in emphasis.
He added: "Clearly what's being envisaged is something that deals with acute episodes and then hands back into community life."
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