The Scottish Government

Listen

Statistics Release
HOME CARE SERVICES, SCOTLAND 2003

This document is also available in pdf format (49k)

Introduction

The purpose of this Statistics Release is to present the latest national figures for home care services provided or purchased by local authorities in Scotland. All local authorities in Scotland provide Home Care services which give people the support, practical help and personal care that they need to live as independently as possible in the community.

All figures relate to the week ending 31 March 2003 and are provisional, as such, may be subject to change. The final figures will be published in 'Scottish Community Care Statistics 2003'.

Main points

Comparisons with 2002 show that: -

• The number of home care clients has increased by 4 per cent this year. The number of hours provided to clients has also increased (by 11 per cent). This has resulted in the overall hours per client increasing from 7.0 in 2002 to 7.4 in 2003 (an increase of 6 per cent).
• The estimated number of older people (aged 65 and over) receiving intensive home care (more than 10 hours per week) has increased from 14.2 clients per 1,000 population of older people in 2002 to 15.7 in 2003 (an increase of 11 per cent).
• The proportion of service provided solely by the voluntary and private sectors has continued to increase for the fifth year running. It rose from 18 per cent in 2002 to 22 per cent in 2003 (See chart one).

Information collected on home care services shows that: -

• 23 per cent of all clients received a service of 10 hours or more per week.
• The majority of clients (58 per cent) received services on weekdays only. This is down from 64 per cent in 2002. 40 per cent of clients received services on weekdays and at the weekend (up from 35 per cent last year).
• Two thirds of services were provided in the morning / early afternoon (between 7am and 2pm).

The groups of people who used home care services in 2003 are similar to last year: -

• 83 per cent of clients were aged 65 years and over.
• Gender splits show 71 per cent were female and 29 per cent were male
• Over three-quarters (76 per cent) of clients had physical disabilities (including frailty associated with ageing).
• Most people using the service (68 per cent) lived alone.

An estimated 12,256 whole-time equivalent home care staff were directly employed by local authorities. They gave 368,222 hours of direct contact. That represents a 16 per cent increase in staffing levels in the past year.

Provider and Purpose of Home Care Services

There was an estimated 501,030 hours of service provided to around 67,266 clients in 2003. The number of home care clients has increased for the first time since 1998. The number of client hours dropped initially but has since increased to a maximum over this period. Despite an initial fall in 1999, the number of client hours has increased by 25 per cent since 1998. In 1998 and 1999 clients received, on average, 5.1 hours of home care per week. This has risen steadily to 7.4 hours for 2003 (See Table 1).

Table 1: Number of Home Care Clients and Hours Provided / Purchased

Source: Home Care Statistical Return H1

The estimated number of older people receiving intensive home care (more than 10 hours per week) has increased over the 5-year period. In 2003, 15.7 clients per 1,000 population aged 65 or over received intensive home care - compared with 14.2 in 2002 and 9.6 in 1998 (See Table 1).

Of the estimated 67,266 clients who received a home care service provided or purchased by a local authority in 2003, 16 per cent received at least part of their home care service from a private or voluntary provider - compared to 15 per cent in 2002. (See Table 2).

The average number of contact hours per client for those receiving local authority provided services only was 6.1 hours per week, compared to 14.7 hours for those receiving home care from a private or voluntary provider only (See Table 2).

Table 2: Number of Home Care Clients and Hours Provided / Purchased by Provider of Service

110,999 hours were provided to clients receiving home care services solely from the private or voluntary sector. This has increased by a third since 2002 when 83,372 hours were provided.

Additionally, over 45,700 hours (9 per cent) were provided by some combination of local authority, private and voluntary provision (See Table 2 & Chart 1).

The proportion of service provided solely by local authorities has been decreasing steadily from 89 per cent in 1998 to 69 per cent in 2003. The majority of this decrease is due to the increase in service provided or purchased solely from the voluntary and private sectors (see Table 3).

Table 3: Distribution of Home Care Hours Provided / Purchased by Provider of Service, 1998 - 2003

Source: Home Care Statistical Return H1

Profile of Clients Receiving Home Care Services

Approximately 76 per cent of clients receiving home care services provided or purchased by local authorities were people with physical disabilities (including frailty associated with ageing). An estimated 71 per cent of clients were female and 83 per cent of all clients were aged 65 years or over. Both figures are unchanged from last year (See Table 4).

9 per cent of home care clients were classified as being in 'other vulnerable groups'. It is expected that this group will include some clients who would have been classified as 'older people' under the previous classification system (See Table 4).

Table 4: Age, Client Group and Gender of Clients Receiving Home Care Services

Approximately 68 per cent of clients in receipt of a home care service were living alone; an additional 9 per cent were living in households where 2 or more people received the service (See Table 5).

Table 5: Living Arrangements of Clients Receiving Home Care Services

Levels and Timing of Home Care Services Provided

23 per cent of clients of home care services received at least 10 hours of service provided or purchased by a local authority in 2003. This has increased by 3 per cent since 2002 (See table 6). This percentage has gradually increased over the last 6 years. The number of clients receiving less than 4 hours has decreased over the same period (See Chart 2). This indicates a gradual shift towards a more intensive level of service.

Table 6: Number of Home Care Clients by Level of Service Received

Chart 3 and Table 7 illustrate the provision of home care services by time of day and part of week.

58 per cent of clients received a home care service on weekdays only. This figure has been decreasing since 1999 when it stood at 80 per cent. The number of clients receiving a service during both weekdays and weekends has increased to a maximum since 1998 of 40 per cent. Only 2 per cent received services at the weekends only (See Chart 3).

Two thirds (66 per cent) of hours of service were delivered in the morning / lunchtime period, i.e. between 7am and 2pm. This is down from 68 per cent in 2002. An additional 16 per cent were delivered in the evening / overnight period, i.e. between 7pm and 7am. This is up from 14 per cent in 2002 (See Table 7).

Table 7: Provision of Home Care Service Hours by Time of Day and Part of Week

Staff Providing Home Care Services

There were 12,256 whole-time equivalent (WTE) staff employed within Scottish local authorities to provide home care services. This has increased by 16 per cent since 2002 (10,533 WTE staff). They provided a total of 368,222 direct contact hours (See Table 8).

Table 8: Local Authority Employed Home Care Staff

Source: Home Care Statistical Return H1

For local authority staff providing home care services, the average number of client contact hours per whole-time equivalent staff was estimated to be 30 hours in 2003. The average standard working week for corresponding staff was around 37 hours.

Equivalent information on staffing within private and voluntary organisations providing home care services is not available.

Background Information on the Collection of Home Care Services

Data was collected with respect to the week ending 31 March 2003, although some local authorities provided information for a different week, which was thought to be more typical.

A revised home care statistical collection was introduced in 1998. Local authorities are asked to provide details of all home care services provided by their own staff, and in addition, services bought in from other local authorities, and private / voluntary organisations. Further information on home care services is published in 'Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002'.

A return was received from each local authority in Scotland. A small amount of information on the number of client/hour data had to be estimated for some local authorities. Six local authorities had difficulty in providing information on the gender of clients. Gender splits were included in the return for the first time in 2002. Care should therefore be taken when interpreting figures in this area of provision as a considerable amount of data has been estimated.

Care should also be taken when comparing this Statistics release with the 2002 issue, published on the 27 November 2002. A number of quoted figures relating to 2002 have been revised due to a new estimation of the figures for Glasgow local authority. The new 2002 figures will be available in detail in 'Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002'. This is due to be published in December 2003.

There is external evidence that the amount of home care services provided without local authority involvement, e.g. purchased privately by families, has grown significantly in recent years. Statistical information on such activity in Scotland is not currently available, and therefore is not included in this analysis.

Unpaid carers also provide help and care for disabled and older people. Information on carers is available in Chapter 6 of 'Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002'.

Further Information

Further details and analysis of the data presented in this Statistics Release are available on request from the address given below. The Statistics Release is available on the Internet by accessing the Scottish Executive web site ( www.scotland.gov.uk).

Information at a disaggregate local authority level showing number of clients receiving a service and number of hours service provided or purchased is shown in annex 1 to this Statistics Release.

Social Work Statistics
Room 3.WR
St Andrew's House
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG

Contact: Steven Gillespie
Tel: 0131 244 3777
E-mail: SWStat@scotland.gov.uk

This statistics release was published on 17 December 2003.

Source: Home Care Statistical Return H1