People requiring a social care assessment and care at home services

About this release

This publication by Public Health Scotland (PHS) was previously titled Demand for Care at Home Services. The title has been updated to better reflect the content within the publication. This includes 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. 

PHS has worked in collaboration with the Scottish Government and Health and Social Care Partnerships (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 and as a result figures presented for some HSCPs will differ from information presented prior to this date.  Details of the definitions are included in the definition tab of the dashboard. The measures presented in this publication have not changed and figures using the revised definitions are presented in the charts alongside the historical data collected using the old definitions.

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 just over 6,850 on 5 February 2024.
• The estimated number of people assessed and waiting for a care at home package was just over 3,525 on 5 February 2024.

Please note that due to the data collection being paused over the festive period there are no data for 25 December 2023 or 1 January 2024 in the chart below.

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 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.

Health and Social Care partnerships provide PHS with a weekly snapshot of the number of people waiting on a social care assessment and the number of people waiting on Care at Home services. Comparison between Partnerships should be treated with caution as the services can vary in each area. Details of known issues and (if applicable) impacts of the definitions changes are available in the Data Quality tab of the Care at Home Dashboard.

For more information on the definition changes please see the definition tab on the publication dashboard and the metadata document.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be 26 March 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. In relation to the number of people waiting on a social care assessment there has been some fluctuation between 17 July 2023 when an estimated 6,300 people where waiting on an assessment and 5 February 2024 when just over 6,850 were waiting on an assessment. In relation to the number of people waiting for a care at home package. There has generally been a decrease, with some fluctuation, from just under 3,900 on 17 July 2023 to just under 3,525 on 5 February 2024. Please note there was a definition change on 15 January 2024. This has not affected the overall count of the number of people waiting for a social care assessment. However, the definition change has had a small impact on the number of people waiting for a care at home package where there was a small decrease in figures between 8 January 2024 and 15 January 2024.

Close

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