MANAGEMENT
down by the effort required to access support. Many accepted these experiences as inevitable consequences of an overstretched system, yet the cumulative impact was profound: diminished confidence, lower expectations, reduced choice and, in some cases, withdrawal from seeking formal support altogether. Crucially, our research concludes that access to good care is strongly shaped not only by financial means and geography, but by a person’s ability to understand and navigate the system. Participants who could self-advocate, pay privately or draw on strong family support generally experienced greater control, while those facing cognitive impairment, fluctuating conditions, language barriers or limited support networks experienced significantly greater difficulty. These findings closely align with what we
found as part of our efforts to help design and deliver a framework for national standards of care, which we know will underpin this government’s National Care Service. In our report ‘Towards a National Care Service: raising national standards of care‘, we suggest that national standards are best understood as a mechanism for clarifying expectations - anchored in lived experience outcomes. One of those expectations is ‘a system that is easy to understand and to navigate’. Any future National Care Service must consolidate and clarify people’s rights and responsibilities into a coherent, recognisable framework that makes sense to people who draw on care and support, their unpaid family carers, as well as care professionals. For independent care providers, this presents an important opportunity.
Access to good care is strongly shaped not only by financial means and geography, but by a person’s ability to understand and navigate the system.
Although providers cannot remove every source
of system complexity, they can significantly reduce the navigation burden experienced by residents and relatives through everyday practice.
The role care providers can play Care providers often sit at the interface between residents, relatives, health and local government, so you have a role to play in reducing some of the navigation work placed on families and people who draw on care and support. For most people, accessing formal care is only one part of a much longer journey. It often follows or interacts with months or years of interactions with hospitals, GPs, community services, local authorities, assessors and voluntary organisations. By the time someone receives social care, families may already be exhausted by the work of coordinating support.
One of the simplest but most powerful interventions is providing a consistent point of contact SCIE’s research on inequities identifies a named point of contact as one of the strongest priorities for creating a more equitable system. People wanted someone who understood their circumstances, could explain what was happening and help them navigate unfamiliar processes. For a care service, this does not necessarily
THE CARE HOME INDUSTRY HANDBOOK 2027 15
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