1. Key messages for Northern Ireland
“An independent review of Shared Lives for older people and people living with dementia” – January 2018
Key messages for Northern Ireland
For more information, please find the full report at

2. - Unsustainable care market
- People not getting enough respite as they should be
- The Northern Ireland Human Right Commission published a report stating that more emphasis needs to be placed on providing support for carers
- Personalised care
- Flexible care
- Value for money
What the Shared Lives offer for respite care and day care means for N. Ireland
Challenges
Shared Lives offer
Outcomes
Family/unpaid carers
Service users
Commissioners
Increased wellbeing
Reduced social isolation
Reduced carer breakdown
Increased independence, wellbeing, choice
Reduced social isolation, confusion
Increased sustainability of care provision
Potential healthcare utilisation savings

3. Key message 1
Respite care is important; the challenge is that individuals are not getting as much respite as they should, with “traditional” respite not achieving its full potential
Personalised
A review of literature suggests that “traditional” respite is not achieving its full potential: greater personalisation is needed.
Variation
Whilst quality of care services have improved overall, there is significant variation in the quality of services.
The recent CQC State of Health and Care report stated that 25% of carers have not received a single day away from caring in five years.
Lack of access

4. Key message 2
Evidence shows that Shared Lives is able to offer a good quality, high impact solution to this challenge
Quality
Shared Lives respite care and day support provides a personalised, flexible service, which has been shown to deliver high quality care to service users, carers, and commissioners.
Carers
For carers, the Shared Lives model has been shown to deliver increased wellbeing, reduced feelings of social isolation, and reduced likelihood of carer breakdown.
For service users, the Shared Lives model has been shown to deliver a variety of benefits, including increased independence, choice, and control
Service users

5. Key message 3
The costs of the Shared Lives approach are in line with, or slightly more expensive than "traditional" respite provision, but may be more sustainable in the long-run
Comparable
Estimates suggest that if Shared Lives schemes were set up in Northern Ireland, they would be within 10% of the average costs that commissioners would expect to pay for “traditional” day care
Estimates suggest that if Shared Lives schemes were set up in Northern Ireland, they would be more expensive than commissioners would expect to pay for “traditional” respite care
Day care
£9.32 hourly cost for day care for a Shared Lives local authority-run scheme compared to £8.58 for "traditional" forms
£98.77 per short break for a Shared Lives scheme compared to £73.21 for "traditional" forms.
Costs

6. Key message 4
Shared Lives is likely to be an important option for commissioners seeking to meet their market sustainability duties
Duty of care
The Northern Ireland Human Right Commission published a report stating the more emphasis needs to be placed on providing support for carers
Comparison
Pricing approach offered by “traditional” providers of respite care may cross-subsidise, and not take into account the “true cost”,
Sustainable
Shared Lives’ approach focuses on ensuring costs are fully recovered so that the service can be both sustainable, and available

7. Key message 5
The Shared Lives approach has great potential to make savings in terms of reduced reliance on more expensive health services
Impact
Evidence suggests that carer breakdown or fatigue was a significant factor behind 62% of hospital readmissions
Solution
The positive outcomes from Shared Lives could lead to reduced requirement for health services
Savings
Reducing usage of health services has the potential to lead to cashable savings for health commissioners