Study title

Homecare is sometimes characterised by poor employment practices which hamper good care, leading to degrading work practices and high turnover. The sector faces rising demand / staff costs, reductions in public funding and rationing of care by LAs, with more people making private arrangements, often without support . Experts claim home care needs a ‘relationship-centred approach’, innovation including greater use of technology and skilled workers, yet the UK lags behind developments in other nations. Few studies have examined homecare provision and the social relations in which it is embedded. Specifically, how approaches to care, the use of technology and job design inter-relate in innovative provision and affect sustainable wellbeing, has not been adequately researched. This study contributes new knowledge by investigating the potential of innovative models of homecare to foster sustainable care relations, use technology and create job quality, by asking: What innovative home care models are emerging in different local and national UK contexts? What capacity do innovative home care models in the UK have to support sustainable wellbeing, and through which mechanisms is this achieved?Our programme focuses on the care needs of adults living at home with chronic health problems or disabilities, and seeks sustainable solutions to the UK's contemporary 'crisis of care'. It is distinctive in investigating sustainability and wellbeing in care holistically across care systems, work and relationships; addresses disconnection between theorisations of care in different disciplines; and locates all its research in the context of international scholarship, actively engaging with policy partners. It will fill knowledge gaps, contribute new theoretical ideas and data analyses, and provide useful, accurate evidence to inform care planning, provision and experience. It develops and critically engages with policy and theoretical debates about: care infrastructure (systems,...