BJSW Advance Access originally published online on July 25, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2005 35(7):1145-1161; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch207
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A Study of a Total Social Services Care Population and its Inter-Agency Shared Care Populations
Professor Jan Keene is Professor of Primary Care in the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Reading. She is a trained social worker with a background in social work teaching and research. She has written four books and twenty-six papers in the area of shared health and social care and inter-professional working.
Dr Xuefang Li is a lecturer in the School of Health and Social Care, her research area is patient pathways and intermediate care, and she has published in both of these areas. She is particularly interested in the interface between health and social care agencies.
Correspondence to Professor Jan Keene, Director, Centre for Primary Care and Public Health, The University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Earley, Reading RG6 1HY. Telephone: 0118 378 5841. E-mail: j.keene{at}reading.ac.uk
There are very few large population studies and little information about the characteristics of social services populations and the inter-agency populations that social services departments share with other agencies. This study fills this gap. It examines a total social services adult care population, excluding residential care homes (N = 19,461) in the context of its general co-terminous health authority population (N = 646,239). Approximately two-thirds (61 per cent) of the social services population were women, compared to the health authority population of 51 per cent. Sixty-two per cent were over sixty-five years compared to 23 per cent of the health authority. Age groupings and gendered patterns of service use are then identified for different care groups. The study then examines care populations shared between social services and other agencies, identifying the amount of shared care and the characteristics of specific shared care subgroups. Forty-two per cent of the social services population were shared with the community health trust and 19 per cent with the mental health trust. The proportion of the social services population in contact with Criminal Justice and accident and emergency was nearly twice that in the overall health authority population. The limitations of these data are examined and the potential of this method to inform inter-agency planning and shared care is discussed.
Keywords: social work, populations, shared care