Waiting Well in Social Care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Waiting Well in Social Care
IRAS ID
368614
Contact name
Jed Graham Meers
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of York
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 29 days
Research summary
Waiting lists in social care are a critical challenge, with 470,576 individuals currently awaiting assessments, reviews, or care commencement. How people wait matters: it impacts their health and wellbeing, independence, and experience of the social care system.
However, working alongside members of the public and social care users through Healthwatch York and the University of York Curious Minds public involvement group, we have identified three problems:
1. Many people waiting for social care have poor experiences: People often face a lack of communication, do not always receive support while waiting, and are uncertain about where they stand in the system.
2. There is considerable variation in practice between Local Authorities: From priority rating systems and waiting list management techniques to digital tools, there is huge variation in approaches. What best practice looks like is not clear.
3. Those waiting longest have increased: The number of people waiting longer than six months for an assessment more than doubled between November 2021 and August 2023 (from 41,000 to 85,000).To tackle these problems, this project has three aims:
1. To understand how Local Authorities manage social care waiting lists and why they adopt the approaches they do.
2. To understand the experiences of those waiting for a social care needs assessment or support.
3. To make waiting better for social care users by identifying best practice and developing actionable recommendations.To answer these questions, the project will undertake:
1. Interviews with staff at 10 Local Authority areas (20-30 interviews) to examine approaches to waiting list management, communication, and interim support, alongside a desk-based review of all 152 English Local Authorities.
2. Interviews with people at three stages of the care pathway (36-45 in total) to understand their experiences of waiting.
3. A survey experiment with a representative sample of 1,000 UK adults exploring which process qualities matter most to people while waiting.REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
26/WA/0067
Date of REC Opinion
10 Apr 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion