Social Care: a new initiative in England to fill evidence gaps.

12 SNAPSHOTS Many millions of adults in Europe are receiving social care, which can be defined as support for individuals with the activities of their daily lives, which can range across personal needs, domestic tasks, social activities and friendship. Most of this support is unpaid care from family and friends, but there are also large numbers of community organisations, charities, for-profit (private) companies and state bodies delivering 'organised' care services. With the ageing of populations in European countries, and indeed with the longer survival into old age of increasing numbers of people with disabilities and enduring illnesses (people who, in previous generations, would generally not have lived for as long), the future social care challenge facing Europe is clearly enormous. The largest groups of users are older people, children and adolescents, people with long-term disabilities or conditions, and those with sensory impairments. Depending on the country, other groups might be using social care services. Indeed, the term 'social care' is not universally applied: other common terms are 'welfare services', 'personal social services', and 'social services'. Unlike health care, there is less international consensus not only about terminology, but about what is included in the sector, and certainly there is less awareness among the general population of the social care needs of individuals or what services can do to meet them. Again, in contrast to health and health care, the evidence base upon which practice and policy decisions are taken in social care is rather less well developed. Although hard to substantiate with figures, it would generally be recognised that there has not been the same level of investment in robust research. Consequently, governments , state agencies, community organisations and others do not have much of a platform of evidence about how to meet needs, improve quality of life, or pursue cost-effectiveness. Challenges It is an enormous task to ensure that support and care are available for people who need them, and that the arrangements are what those individuals want. So too is the task of generating and organising resources so as to achieve the best outcomes in an efficient, equitable manner. Another challenge is to dovetail responses and activities across different sectors – making sure that central, regional and local government agencies work effectively with the voluntary and community sector, as well as with for-profit entities. Most importantly, responses must be planned sensitively and appropriately with families and other unpaid …