Social Care Linked Data Lab (CARE Lab)

The Social Care Linked Data Lab (CARE Lab) aims are to advance understanding of the population receiving care and support, to inform service planning and strategies to reduce inequalities, and to demonstrate the value of linked administrative data for adult social care research, whilst also assessing limitations. The research questions can be summarised by the overall question: What inequalities of access to adult social care provision can be seen across Wales, by health condition/impairment and protected characteristics? Very little is known about current adult social care provision at a national level, in particular, access inequalities and support deficits. This is in the context of high staff turnover, increased demand and the impact of austerity. Bringing information together across sectors can provide powerful insights, as already demonstrated for children s social care sector and in the health sector. Nationally standardised data on adults receiving care and support is now available across the UK, however linkage of this data is not yet in place despite Government ambitions for this. In Wales, the opportunity to securely access population level data, linked at an individual level across sectors, is already realised, with the absence of adult social care. This proposed study will integrate the recently established Welsh Adults Receiving Care and Support census (ARCS) with other data from health and social care services. Over three years and across five work packages we will address the aims above. In year 1 we will receive a standalone version of the 2023-24 ARCS data (n≈50,000), enabling rapid briefings on the population by key characteristics and type of need. Linked data within the trusted research environment in years 2 and 3 will enable further description of this population through linkage to (ONS) Census data, allow comparison with the wider Welsh population, and follow individual's journeys through health and social care, in particular from children's social care. Qualitative interviews (n=60) will be conducted in parallel to explore with social care staff, service users and carers the barriers to, and enablers of, accessing support. These interviews will enable a deeper understanding and interpretation of the emerging quantitative findings. Public involvement input from a CARE Lab Lived-Experience Group will be embedded across all work packages, and particularly in supporting the qualitative work package delivery. We will also test the feasibility of evaluating care models using linked data. Finally, we will make recommendations for future data collection in Wales and engage with key stakeholders across the UK to support the development of similar resources in the other three nations. The results produced from this study will directly inform service planning and strategies to reduce inequalities in Wales. They will also be highly relevant and translational to other UK nations.