People requiring a social care assessment and care at home services

About this release

This publication by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents information on the total number of individuals waiting for an assessment for social care services, the number of people waiting for a package of care at home and the number of hours of care that are being waited for. 

Main points

• The number of people estimated to be waiting on a social care assessment to enable them to live independently at home or in the community was 6,027 on 4 November 2024.
• The estimated number of people assessed and waiting for a care at home package was 3,281 on 4 November 2024.

This is a line chart with two lines, one showing the trend in the number of people waiting for a social care assessment and the second the trend in the number of people waiting for a care at home package. The charts present information from 6 May to 4 November 2024.

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Number of People waiting for a social care assessment or assessed people waiting for a care at home package in Scotland (estimated)

Background

Local Authorities provide social care services to enable people to live independently and at home or in a homely setting in their community. This includes people who are frail, have long term conditions or disabilities.

Care at Home services are planned and delivered by Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), and are delivered through Local Authority in-house teams, independent providers, and the Third Sector. Each Partnership plans its services based on the needs of the local population and on the existing support services available in the Local Authority, such as housing services. Therefore, the services that come under the heading of Care at Home varies across the country.

Data quality

HSCPs provide PHS with a weekly aggregate snapshot of the number of people waiting on a social care assessment and the number of people waiting on Care at Home services. Details of known data issues are available in the Data Quality tab of the People requiring a social care assessment and Care at Home services Dashboard. Comparison between Partnerships should be treated with caution as the services can vary in each area. All data are labelled as provisional and subject to revision each week.  Figures may be revised when replacing missing data or when a data quality issue has been identified and rectified.

PHS has worked in collaboration with the Scottish Government and HSCPs to clarify the definitions of the items in this data collection to improve the consistency of recording. The definition changes came into effect from 15 January 2024. For more information on the definition changes please see the definition tab of the dashboard and the metadata document.

Please note prior to February 2024 this publication was titled Demand for Care at Home Services.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 17 December 2024.