This research programme brought together teams of researchers from social sciences, management science and complexity science to develop a suite of models to represent the socio-economic and demographic processes and organisations implicated in the UK’s health and social care provision. Integral to the project was working with our partners in the public sector and communicating the results of these models to policymakers allowing them to effectively plan for the future.
Care Life Cycle
Society's health and social care needs are determined by a complex set of interacting and interrelated factors, which together may be thought of as the Care Life Cycle (CLC).
An individual's need for care is influenced both by their own characteristics (eg age, gender, health, education, occupation) but also by their family circumstances and wider social networks. These in turn are influenced by their own and their (adult) children's resources(employment, wages, pensions) and patterns of mobility. Migration also influences the supply of the health and social workforce, which is also affected by patterns of education and training as well as relative wages in the labour market. Thus the Care Life Cycle operates at both the individual and society level.
Our research programme collected data on the factors affecting the supply and demand of social and health care services, paying particular attention to the interactions between the Care Life Cycle components. We generated a suite of Care Life Cycle models, engaged with stakeholders and planners both throughout the development process, and gained an understanding of the role these models can play in influencing relevant policy.
Workstreams
Our research programme was split into 3 workstreams
1. Care Drivers - explored the factors affecting the supply and demand for health and social care
2. Care Modelling - developed a suite of models capturing the interactions of these factors
3. Care Policy Impact - ensured our models were developed in collaboration with stakeholders and policymakers to ensure impact in the real world