As the UK’s largest charity working for the benefit of older people, Age UK have responded with the development of their Personalised Integrated Care programme. This scheme aims to bring together voluntary, health and social care services to improve the care that older people receive, with Age UK staff and volunteers working as an integral part of local care teams.
The process starts with a ‘guided conversation’ – Age UK staff seek to identify key desires that an individual has for their care and daily life. Care plans involving the necessary care sectors are then put in place, and volunteers are assigned to help with day-to-day support.
One of the aims of the programme is to deliver cost savings to local care economies in part by reducing unnecessary admissions to hospital. The Nuffield Trust have been commissioned to use data linkage techniques to give an independent assessment of whether the scheme does appear to impact on the use of hospital services. Our study will assess the progress of the scheme in eight local Age UK areas in England.
The findings from our evaluation of Age UK’s Integrated Care Programme were published in January 2019.