We have detected that you are using Internet Explorer to visit this website. Internet Explorer is now being phased out by Microsoft. As a result, NHS Digital no longer supports any version of Internet Explorer for our web-based products, as it involves considerable extra effort and expense, which cannot be justified from public funds. Some features on this site will not work. You should use a modern browser such as Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. If you have difficulty installing or accessing a different browser, contact your IT support team.
Publication, Part of Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey
Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England - 2014-15
Official statistics, Survey- Publication Date:
- 6 Oct 2015
- Geographic Coverage:
- England
- Geographical Granularity:
- Country, Regions, Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), Local Authorities
- Date Range:
- Snapshot on 06 Oct 2015
Summary
The Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey (ASCS) is an annual survey for England that took place for the fifth time in 2014-15. The survey covers all service users aged 18 and over in receipt, at the point that data are extracted, of long-term support services funded or managed by the social services following a full assessment of need. It seeks to learn more about how effectively services are helping service users to live safely and independently in their own homes, and the impact that these services have on their quality of life. Service users were sent questionnaires, issued by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs), in the period January to March 2015. Further information about the survey, including the methodology, can be found in the 'Methodology and Further Information' document in the Resources section of this page.
The numbers in the report are rounded to the nearest five.
The percentages in the report are rounded to the nearest whole number thus the figures given for each question may not add up to 100 per cent. National-level information is provided in this report. Further national-level data, data for all CASSRs in England and final, national-level data for the ASCS for 2010-11 to 2014-15 are provided as annex files.
The data used to produce the report are available in a CSV file. These are available in the Resources section below.
There have been a number of changes to the survey methodology for 2014-15 which are detailed in full in the methodological change notice that was published by the HSCIC in July 2015, which is available via the Related Links section of this page. The text of the methodological change notice is reproduced in Appendix C of the report. The most important changes to note are:
• The population covered by the survey now includes only those in receipt of long-term support services; those in receipt of low-level support only (e.g. equipment and adaptations, professional support, short-term residential care) are not included in the survey population or sample.
• The population covered by the survey now includes those service users who receive support from CASSRs in terms of assessment and care management but who pay in full for the cost of their services (full cost clients); previously service users were included only where the CASSR made a contribution towards the costs of services received.
• The methodology used to weight the results has been enhanced to improve the accuracy of the estimates presented.
Because of these changes, it is not possible to make direct comparisons between data for 2014-15 and previous years.
Therefore, comparisons are not included in this report. The effects of the above changes, in reference to 2013-14 and 2014-15 data, are described in Appendix B of the report.
Findings from the survey are used to populate a number of measures in the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework; these outcome scores have been published and can be found in the 'Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework, England - 2014-15' report, a link to which is provided in the Related Links section.
CASSRs reported that at the point that data for the survey were extracted from local systems, there were 673,860 service users aged 18 and over in receipt of long-term support services funded or managed by the social services following a full assessment of need. 69,510 out of a sample of 192,995 service users responded to the survey, which is a response rate of 36 per cent (whereas it was 38 per cent in 2013-14).
UPDATE: The comma-separated values (CSV) data file was enhanced in December 2015 to include fields showing all of the categories in Support Setting and Mechanism of Delivery. These fields ('SupportSetting' and 'MechanismDelivery') are described in the CSV guidance and data dictionary workbook.
Please note: (15/02/16). The 'CSV guidance and data dictionary' annex for this publication has been replaced in order to correct the labelling of the 'Variable Descriptions' columns for gender, ethnicity and age in the 'DataDictionary' worksheet. The HSCIC would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Highlights
In response to question 1 ('Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the care and support services you receive?'), 65 per cent of service users who responded said that overall they were 'extremely satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with the care and support services they received. 26 per cent reported that they were 'quite satisfied'. Six per cent said they were 'neither satisfied nor dissatisfied', two per cent were 'quite dissatisfied' and two per cent reported that they were 'extremely dissatisfied' or 'very dissatisfied'.
In response to question 2 ('Thinking about the good and bad things that make up your quality of life, how would you rate the quality of your life as a whole?'), 31 per cent of respondents said that it was 'so good, it could not be better', or 'very good'. 32 per cent said it was 'good' and 28 reported that it was 'alright'. Six per cent said that their quality of life was 'bad' and the remaining three per cent said it was 'very bad' or 'so bad, it could not be worse'.
57 per cent of respondents to question 4a ('Thinking about keeping clean and presentable in appearance, which of the following statements best describes your situation?') reported that they felt clean and were able to present themselves in the way they liked. 37 per cent felt adequately clean and presentable. However, five per cent of respondents felt less than adequately clean or presentable and one per cent did not feel at all clean or presentable.
The proportion of respondents to question 5a ('Thinking about the food and drink you get, which of the following statements best describes your situation?') who reported getting all the food and drink they liked when they wanted was 64 per cent. 31 per cent said that they got 'adequate food and drink at OK times' and five per cent said they did not always get adequate or timely food and drink. One per cent reported that they did not always get adequate or timely food and drink and they thought there was a risk to their health.
69 per cent of respondents to question 7a ('Which of the following statements best describes how safe you feel?') said that they felt as safe as they wanted. 26 per cent said that generally they felt safe but not as safe as they would like and four per cent felt less than adequately safe. Two per cent reported that they did not feel safe at all.
When asked whether care and support services helped them in feeling safe (question 7b: 'Do care and support services help you in feeling safe?'), 85 per cent of service users who responded said 'yes', and 15 per cent said 'no'.
When asked how having help made them feel and think about themselves (question 10: 'Which of these statements best describes how having help to do things makes you think and feel about yourself?'), 60 per cent of respondents felt and thought better about themselves and 29 per cent said that it did not affect the way they think and feel about themselves. Nine per cent reported that having help to do things sometimes undermined the way they think and feel about themselves, and one per cent reported that having help to do things completely undermined the way they think and feel about themselves.
61 per cent of service users who responded to question 11 ('Which of these statements best describes how the way you are helped and treated makes you think and feel about yourself?') reported that the way they were helped and treated made them think and feel better about themselves, 30 per cent said it did not affect the way they think or feel about themselves. Eight per cent said that the way they were helped and treated sometimes undermined the way they think and feel about themselves, and one per cent said that the way they were helped and treated completely undermined the way they think and feel about themselves.
Resources
Last edited: 13 September 2019 8:00 am