Home care re-ablement services: investigating the longer-terms impacts

Re-ablement is a new, short-term intervention in English home care. It helps users to regain confidence and relearn self-care skills and aims to reduce needs for longer-term support. Home care re-ablement services are usually provided or commissioned by local authorities responsible for adult social care. Some services are selective, prioritising people discharged from hospital or recovering from illness and accidents, others are more inclusive, accepting almost all those referred for home care.

Research by the Social Policy Research Unit, University of York and the Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent examined the immediate and longer-term impacts of home care re-ablement, the cost-effectiveness of the service, and the content and organisation of re-ablement services. People who received home care re-ablement were compared with a group receiving conventional home care services, both groups were followed for up to one year.