Care systems

What features of care systems contribute to sustainable wellbeing for users and providers of care?

The Sustainable Care programme’s work on Care Systems is co-directed by Professor Sue Yeandle and Professor Jon Glasby. It aims to theorise the relationship between care systems and their ability to be sustainable with wellbeing outcomes.

Our researchers studying Care Systems will

  • compare the care systems which have developed in the four nations of the UK

  • explore, model and identify relationships between care system costs and contributions

  • clarify the role and potential of technology in creating sustainable pathways for care system development

  • build understanding of the relationship between mobility and migration and the sustainability of care systems, with particular reference to population diversity and change.

Working in four teams, researchers in the programme’s Care Systems strand are studying:

  • Comparative analysis of policy and practice developments and outcomes in the four UK nations since care responsibilities were devolved to the UK’s national governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, supported by our international partners’ analyses of their own systems.

  • Extended, innovative work on care costs and contributions in England’s care system, using existing datasets, analytical innovations developed by Canadian academics, and insights from analysis of data available in other nations.

  • Exploring emerging care technologies and their potential to reshape care systems and deliver wellbeing outcomes.

  • Innovative statistical analysis, supported by new qualitative research, on the changing role of migrant care labour in the UK’s care system, and its attendant risks and benefits.

Work packages