Older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions

Why this is important

While there was some evidence on the experiences of older people with social care needs and multiple long‑term conditions, there were gaps in relation to people's lived experience of how such conditions impact on their life in their own words. Research could be qualitative, ethnographic or could use cross‑sectional surveys using open‑ended questions to gather views and experiences, in particular on:

Why this is important

There was a lack of evidence about different models of support provision for older people with social care needs and multiple long‑term conditions. There is a need for robust evaluations of different approaches to service delivery comparing, for example:

Outcomes could include social care‑ and health‑related quality of life, satisfaction, carer's health, number of unpaid care hours provided and health and social care resource use. Outcomes and service use should be measured over 1 or 2 years to enable assessment of the health and economic impact of different models of service delivery in the short and longer term.

Why this is important

There is a need for robust evaluation of different interventions for supporting older people with social care needs and multiple long‑term conditions in care homes. The Committee thought it particularly important to ensure that future studies evaluate how people living in care homes can best be supported to participate in social and leisure activities. This is important given that views data, Committee members' experiences and expert witness testimonies indicated that people living in care homes can feel particularly isolated and unable to take part in activities of their choice.

A range of study designs could be used, including randomised controlled trials, quantitative and qualitative evaluations of different packages of social and leisure activities, and their impact on social care‑ and health‑related quality of life, satisfaction and participation in and experience of meaningful social and leisure activities.

Why this is important

The Committee noted that people take informed risks as part of normal everyday life, but for older people who need support, their ability to take these risks can be limited. Helping older people exercise choice and control, therefore, relies on a 'risk positive' approach. The Committee identified a gap in the literature about what works well in care homes in this respect. Studies are needed to explore different types of approaches to managing risk in care homes, for example looking at:

Why this is important

The Guideline Committee highlighted a lack of evidence on the impact of different approaches to self‑management, particularly those aimed at helping older people with social care needs and multiple long‑term conditions to continue living independently for as long as possible. They highlighted the need to understand better the type of interventions and strategies available, and then to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of the impacts on outcomes for older people and their carers.

Future research should compare different approaches to self‑management and their impact on social care‑related quality of life and wellbeing in addition to physical health, acceptability and accessibility. It should also look at the views, experiences and potential impact on carers.