Innovations in adult social care can improve people's quality of life

A new POSTnote briefing co-authored by Nuffield Foundation POST Fellow, Katherine Davis, finds that innovations in adult social care can deliver improved quality of life, less need for health or social care support and greater carer satisfaction.

The UK government’s 2021 People at the Heart of Care white paper identified innovation as key to delivering “outstanding quality” in adult social care in England. This POSTnote gives an overview of innovation in adult social care. It provides a summary of the types of innovation in the sector and evidence on key barriers to and facilitators of innovation. The briefing focuses on England but includes examples from all four UK nations and also presents lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adult social care involves supporting adults living with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and physical and mental health conditions so that they can lead a fulfilling life. It can include care given at home (domiciliary or home care), at day centres, through reablement services, or in care and nursing homes (residential care), as well as provision of advice, information, aids, home adaptations and support for carers. Adult social care includes formal care services that are paid for by the individual or funded by their Local Authority as well as unpaid care given by family or friends.

Adult social care is devolved and policy and services vary across the four nations. In England, the Department for Health and Social Care has identified innovation as key to improving adult social care. This includes technological innovation, as well as innovation in policy, service delivery and commissioning. Unpaid (family and friends) carers are also key in developing and adopting innovation.

Key findings

Innovations in adult social care can deliver improved quality of life, less need for health or social care support and greater carer satisfaction.
Many innovations exist in adult social care, but there is often little robust evidence about their effectiveness and successful ideas may not be widely adopted.
Enhanced staff retention, better training and less risk averse leadership may increase levels of innovation.
Building data and digital capacity, such as improving internet connections and digital skills, would facilitate innovation.
Collaboration between organisations, financial stability and regulator support can boost innovation.
Extensive innovation has been achieved during the pandemic but infrastructure, pay, funding and data are key to sustaining this.

Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

The pandemic had many negative impacts on adult social care, but it also spurred positive change. Stakeholders, including the Local Government Association and the Social Care Institute for Excellence, have identified lessons from the pandemic including:

Extensive innovation is possible when there is a sense of urgency and collective identity, as demonstrated by the rapid uptake of new digital communications technology.
Funding challenges and lack of infrastructure, such as broadband can critically impede new ways of working.
Leadership can empower the care workforce to innovate, but pay and support are key to staff retention.
Timely data are vital to assessing the impact of innovation on care outcomes, such as hospital discharges.

The POSTnote is based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and has been externally peer-reviewed.