Preventing carer breakdown in a County Council
Spotlight on: Identifying carers at risk of breakdown using joined up data and AI Unpaid carers play a vital role. In this council there are 92,000 carers, and 2% of the county’s population care for 50 hours or more. A survey conducted by a local carer support service found that as a result of caring: 52% of carers said they felt more anxious 60% of carers said they felt more stressed 1 in 3 carers said they have had or have been close to a carer breakdown. When caring arrangements break down there can be profound consequences for both the carer and the person they’re caring for. To best support carers and avoid breakdown, the council needed a way to identify carers most at risk. Xantura’s OneView platform is being used to join up data from across services and bring visibility to previously unknown unpaid carers. It provides an in- depth and holistic understanding of their circumstances – including the nature of their caring relationship and risk factors. Using advanced analytics and machine learning, and with 65% precision in predicting a future carer breakdown, the council can now intervene early to ensure that carers are being supported. Outreach is delivered through a local carer support service, and ranges from practical advice to emotional wellbeing checks.
The challenge Like many local authorities, this council has been facing significant pressures in the delivery of adult social care. Demand for support is rising, driven by an ageing population, increasing complexity of need, and they are specifically seeing a growing number of unpaid carers reaching crisis point. Despite a strong ambition to innovate and become more preventative, the adult social care service in this county was stuck in a cycle of reacting to presenting demand. In 2023, the Council commissioned Newton to conduct a diagnostic review which showed that they could improve outcomes for residents, an opportunity worth £24.8m in annualised savings. One aspect of this involved taking a targeted approach to preventing carer breakdown.
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