New research and data round up 17 December 2020

The University of Birmingham have completed a study looking into the experiences of older people who self-fund their care. Further information.

The Government has responded to the Joint Committee on Human Rights report on COVID-19, including recommendation related to the Care Act easements, support for local authorities and care providers, PPE and the use of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resucitation decisions.

The House of Lords Economics Affairs Committee have published a report on Employment and COVID-19. The report calls on the Government to "significantly expand the number of social care workers by increasing funding in the sector with stipulations that funding should be used to raise wages and improve training and conditions."

PSSRU have published their Unit Costs for Health and Social Care 2020.

National Audit Office reports which may be of interest include:

• An interim report on the government's approach to test and trace in England.
• Investigation into preparations for potential COVID-19 vaccines.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's Human Rights Tracker is showing regression in the realisation of rights in relation to social care and independent living.

The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman has published its annual report.

A number of new statistics have been published by NHS Digital including:

• The Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England 2019-20. This report summarises the findings of a survey of a sample of 62,520 adult social care service users. The majority of service users were very or extremely satisfied with the cae and support they received.
• Mid-Year 2020-21 Adult Social Care Activity - this is a mid-financial year collection on social care provision based on data from local authorities.
• Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, England 2019-20 - this pulls together key data from local authorities in England on social care financing and activity in the 2019-20 financial year.
• Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework, England 2019-20 - this examines performance of care and support services against priority outcomes for care and support users.

The ONS have published data on estimating the prevalence of long COVID symptons and COVID-19 complications and report that 1 in 5 people still have symptoms after 5 weeks.

The ONS have produced an interactive tool to explore the latest Coronavirus insights.

The ONS have also collected data on what we know so far about ethnicity and COVID-19.

The Welsh Government and the Wales Cooperative Centre have published a report on Supporting Care Commissioners and Procurers to promote "social value" models of delivery.

Kent and Medway CCG have announced the mobilisation of an integrated health and social care record system.

ARCO and the LLA have published a report outlining survey findings exploring older people's housing and care needs suggesting demand for a wider range of options.