Transforming social care provision
first steps towards sustained innovation
Expert InsightsPublished Aug 12, 2020
first steps towards sustained innovation
Expert InsightsPublished Aug 12, 2020
Long before the unprecedented pressures placed on adult social care by COVID19, it was evident that the challenges being faced by the sector were at risk of overwhelming it. Our targeted discussions on this topic predate COVID19, but we believe that recent events have made the conclusions presented here even more relevant. We are not focused on how to get ever more out of existing arrangements but, rather, on how to innovate. The demand for adult social care in the UK is rising and will continue to rise. But the supply of such care is struggling to keep up. The result is that increasing numbers of people are being left without some of the support they need. Part of the answer to matching supply to demand undoubtedly requires increased public funding. But another important contribution to more closely matching the provision of social care to the demand for it is innovation. Innovation in social care can enable more and better care to be delivered more cost-effectively. The main focus of this Perspective is on ideas to stimulate and sustain innovation in social care; and ideas for research to bring closer a system of sustainable social care innovation. These ideas were generated and discussed in a roundtable workshop organised for Power to Change and facilitated by the authors of this piece of work.
This publication is part of the RAND expert insights series. The expert insights series presents perspectives on timely policy issues.
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