Survey Of Adults Receiving Social Care And Support Services Shows Slight Rise In Reports Of Feeling Safe

70.1 per cent of people receiving social services care feel “as safe as they want” according to the results of a survey published by NHS Digital today.

This is an increase of 0.9 percentage points from the previous year’s report (2015-16).

Further to this, 86.4 per cent of service users reported that the care and support services they receive has helped them in feeling safe, up 1.0 percentage point from 2015-16 (85.4 per cent).

Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey (ASCS) England 2016-17 is an annual survey, which is conducted by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs).

The survey, which is in its seventh year, seeks the opinions of service users aged 18 and over, who are in receipt of long-term support services, which are funded or managed by social services.

Other key findings in this year’s report include:

• Overall satisfaction:7 per cent of service users were extremely or very satisfied with the care and support services they received.
• Activities of daily living: In 2016-17 there was a general increase in the proportion of service users who needed assistance with activities of daily living. This was statistically significant for six of the eight These activities include dealing with finances and paperwork, getting dressed and bathing.
• Choice:6 per cent of service users in the community reported that they have enough choice over the care and support services they receive and a further 6.3 per cent reported they don’t want or need choice.
• Social contact:4 per cent of service users reported they had as much social contact as they would like. Just over a fifth (21.6 per cent) reported that they did not have enough or had little social contact with 15.9 per cent reporting they had some social contact but not enough and 5.7 per cent reporting they had little social contact and felt socially isolated.

The survey includes questions on the impact that care and support services have on a service user’s quality of life.

It also collects information on the primary reasons for support and self-reported general health and well-being.

The report uses data collected from a sample of 72,600 service users who participated in the survey and these are weighted to make inferences (or estimates) about the questionnaire responses for the whole eligible population (653,000 service users).

The purpose of the survey is to improve the adult social care sector’s understanding of how services are affecting users’ lives.

The Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey is available on the NHS Digital website.