Written by Dr. Gemma Spiers, Principal Research Associate

An unmet social care need arises when people could benefit from help with their day-to-day activities, but do not receive support. Such activities include, for example, using the toilet, getting washed and dressed, shopping for groceries, or getting around safely outdoors.

There is growing evidence that when we do not get the help we need with these day-to-day activities, our health suffers. This makes sense: many of our day-to-day activities are underpinned by physical, cognitive and social activity, all of which are important for healthy ageing.

Despite the growing evidence in this space, there is still much that we do not know about the relationship between unmet social care needs and healthy ageing. In particular, it is not yet clear whether certain types of unmet social care needs are more consequential for our health than others. This is important as it may not be realistic for all needs to be addressed by resource-stretched care services.

Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing we attempted to explore this question. We found some interesting patterns about the associations between individual unmet social care needs and health in older populations. However, limitations to the data made it difficult to find clear answers. Our paper, recently published in BMJ Open, describes our findings in detail, alongside the methodological challenges we faced when trying to answer this question. We also pose suggestions for how national data could be optimised to address some of these challenges.

Going forward, we need a better understanding of the longer-term health consequences of unmet social care needs. This is important to inform not only policy around healthy ageing but also health equity in later life.  

Read more about this research project here

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