5.6 Variations in service
delivery
Could the Department provide figures showing
how the delivery of non-residential social services has changed
over the last 5 years and comment on these trends?
1. Table 5.6.1 presents information on home
help/care, meals services and day centre provision for the period
from 1995 to 2000. Information is derived from the statistical
collections for a sample week in September/October each year.
Fuller information is published in the statistical publication
Community Care Statistics 2000 Home Care/home help services
for adults, England which is available at http://www.doh.gov.uk/public/hh2000.htm.
HOME HELP/CARE
CONTACT HOURS
2. Between 1995 and 2000 the total number
of contact hours provided during the survey week increased by
around 17 per cent, from 2.4 million to 2.8 million hours. By
contrast, the number of households receiving home help/care dropped
from around 514,000 in 1995 to around 398,000 in 2000 suggesting
a more intensive service is being provided to fewer households.
The increase in the provision of home help/home care services
was in the independent sector, whilst, correspondingly, the number
of contact hours provided directly by Local Authorities has fallen
by 27 per cent. This emphasises that Local Authorities are continuing
to make more use of the independent sector.
3. In 2000, 36 per cent of households received
a fairly intensive service of home care (of more than 5 hours
and 6 or more visits), compared to 21 per cent in 1995. The proportion
of households receiving a "low" intensity service (just
one visit lasting less than 2 hours) was around 32 per cent in
1995, dropping to 19 per cent in 2000.
MEALS SERVICE
4. The total number of meals provided (either
in luncheon clubs, day centres or to clients' own homes) fell
from 1995 to 1998, with just over a million meals being provided
in 1998. Similarly, the number of people receiving meals dropped
over the period from just over 267,000 in 1995 to 248,000 in 1997.
(The number of meals served at luncheon clubs was not collected
in 1998, therefore comparable figures for 1998 are unavailable).
The number of meals served to clients' homes in 1998 was 180,000.
The Local Authority sector accounted for the majority of all meals
provided—60 per cent in 1998. However, the proportion of
meals supplied by the independent sector increased from 37 per
cent in 1995 to 40 per cent in 1998. Collection of this information
was discontinued from 1998.
DAY CENTRE
PLACES
5. The number of available day centre places
(days per week) increased by 3 per cent from 602,000 in 1994 to
621,000 in 1997. The 683,000 day centres places for 1998 included
day care facilities within residential accommodation which also
catered for non-residents. The figures for 1998 are not directly
comparable with earlier years. The number of attendances at day
centres increased from around 464,000 in 1995 to 469,000 in 1997,
the last year for which information on attendances was collected.
For 1998, this information was replaced by data on the number
of clients attending day centres during the survey week, which
for 1998 was 253,000. From 1995 to 1998, the Local Authority share
of places provision dropped steadily from 82 per cent to 74 per
cent of the total, with a corresponding increase in the number
of places provided by the independent sector. Collection of this
information was discontinued from 1998.
NUMBER OF
PEOPLE RECEIVING
COMMUNITY-BASED
SERVICES
6. A new data collection on Referrals, Assessments
and Packages of care (RAP) for all adults has been introduced.
This collection provides better, more client- focused, aggregated
information on the numbers of clients receiving services provided
or commissioned by Councils with Social Services Responsibility.
Dress rehearsal data has been collected and published on an annual
basis for the full 12 months for the year ending 31 March 2000
and is presented in Table 5.6.2. In 1999-2000 an estimated 1.5
million service users were receiving community-based care.
7. Although RAP gives an indication of the
number of people receiving non-residential services—which
are termed community-based services, it does not provide details
of which sector provided the service. It should be noted that
the dress rehearsal data is incomplete and there are concerns
about the accuracy of this information. The information from RAP
on home care/meals and day care is not directly comparable with
information from other collections on home help/home care, day
care and meals.
Table 5.6.1
NON-RESIDENTIAL SOCIAL SERVICES FOR ADULTS,
AUTUMN SURVEY WEEK, 1995 TO 2000, ENGLAND1
Footnotes:
1 Data are collected on DH annual returns
HH1 (home help/care), MS1 (meals service) and DC3 (day centres)
for a survey WEEK during the Autumn. The figures are shown rounded
to the nearest hundred. Components may not therefore add to the
totals. Returns MS1 and DC3 ceased to be collected from 1999.
2 Meals to peoples' homes as meals-on-wheels,
at luncheon clubs, or at day centres.
3 Figures are whole-day equivalent places.
1998 data now includes day care facilites within residential accommodation
which also cater for non-residents.
4 For 1998, this refers to the number of
people receiving meals at home only.
5 In 1998, a change of collection occurred
for day centres, attendees are now collected as opposed to attendances.
- Not applicable.
.. No longer collected.
R Revised Data.
