PRO-HEALTH: Homecare Workers as Proxy Healthcare Professionals
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Homecare Workers as Proxy Healthcare Professionals: Evaluating Appropriateness, Acceptability, and Impact
IRAS ID
360095
Contact name
Cat Forward
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Background: Homecare workers support people living at home and may be asked to carry out healthcare interventions that they are not trained, supported, or monitored to do. With rising pressures on health services and older people choosing to live at home with complex health-needs, there is a growing need for homecare workers to have the skills and knowledge to support certain healthcare interventions. This provides an opportunity for homecare workforce role expansion at the interface of health and social care, specifically addressing the evidence behind, experiences of, and appetite for healthcare delegation in homecare.
Methods: This mixed-methods study will use complementary and triangulated methods to answer our RQs across four phases of work. Phase 1: a scoping review of national and international approaches to integrating healthcare provision within homecare for older people. Phase 2: consultations with professionals involved in the planning, commissioning, and regulating of homecare services, plus a nationwide homecare provider survey. Phase 3: qualitative work with diverse homecare providers, including interviews with homecare staff and people using homecare services, and diary entries with a sub-sample of care workers. These will be analysed together with care workers’ job descriptions and anonymised client care plans. Phase 4: cross-cutting co-design workshops to develop practical outputs for homecare providers, focusing on impact and knowledge mobilisation. In addition to updating the evidence base, we will produce a competency framework for homecare providers and interactive vignettes on healthcare delegation for homecare staff training.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
25/IEC08/0028
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion