Lessons learned from the impact of Covid-19 on the work of disability support organisations that support employers of social care personal assistants in England.

Social care Personal Assistants (PAs) are directly employed by individuals to assist with activities of daily living such as help or support with personal care, shopping, household tasks and community participation. This option is encouraged by UK public funding. In England, disabled people's support organisations initially offered assistance with such arrangements, although numbers doing this have declined.

Experiences of adult social work addressing self-neglect during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Summary: Internationally there has been much interest in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care and support of older people including those with needs arising from self-neglect and/or hoarding. During the pandemic English local authorities' legal duties remained to respond to concerns about harm about people with care and support needs living in the community. This paper reports interviews with 44 participants working for adult safeguarding/adult protective services (APS) in 31 local authorities recruited from all English regions.

Adult safeguarding managers' understandings of self-neglect and hoarding.

Self-neglect and hoarding are behaviours that are hard to define, measure and address. They are more prevalent among older people because of bio-psycho-social factors, which may be exacerbated by advancing age. This paper aims to further understandings of self-neglect and hoarding in England's Care Act 2014 context, drawing on a study involving qualitative interviews with local authority adult safeguarding managers who play an important role in determining interventions with individuals who self-neglect and/or hoard.

Personal Assistants' role in infection prevention and control: Their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Personal Assistants (PA) or client-hired workers are directly employed by people needing care and support, often making use of government funding. In the context of Covid-19, questions emerged about how this workforce is supported to practice safely. This paper reports PAs' understanding and views of infection control during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in England.

Assistive technology and telecare to maintain independent living at home for people with dementia: the ATTILA RCT.

Background: Assistive technology and telecare have been promoted to manage the risks associated with independent living for people with dementia, but there is limited evidence of their effectiveness.

Objectives: This trial aimed to establish whether or not assistive technology and telecare assessments and interventions extend the time that people with dementia can continue to live independently at home and whether or not they are cost-effective. Caregiver burden, the quality of life of caregivers and of people with dementia and whether or not assistive technology and telecare reduce safety risks were also investigated.

Placing assistive technology and telecare in everyday practices of people with dementia and their caregivers: findings from an embedded ethnography of a national dementia trial.

Background: Policy makers and care providers see assistive technology and telecare as potential products to support people with dementia to live independently in their homes and communities. Previous research rarely examined how people with dementia and their caregivers actually use such technology. The study examined how and why people living with dementia and their caregivers used assistive technology and telecare in their own homes.

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of assistive technology and telecare for independent living in dementia: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: The use of assistive technology and telecare (ATT) has been promoted to manage risks associated with independent living in people with dementia but with little evidence for effectiveness.

Methods: Participants were randomly assigned to receive an ATT assessment followed by installation of all appropriate ATT devices or limited control of appropriate ATT. The primary outcomes were time to institutionalisation and cost-effectiveness.

The impact of assistive technology on burden and psychological well-being in informal caregivers of people with dementia (ATTILA Study).

Introduction: Assistive technology and telecare (ATT) may alleviate psychological burden in informal caregivers of people with dementia. This study assessed the impact of ATT on informal caregivers' burden and psychological well-being.

Methods: Individuals with dementia and their informal caregivers were recruited to a randomized-controlled trial assessing effectiveness of ATT.

Skill mix: The potential for personal assistants to undertake health-related tasks for people with personal health budgets.

Personal health budgets (PHBs) are being promoted in England as expanding the benefits of choice and control to individuals with healthcare needs. National Health Service (NHS) money is provided to eligible people to use as set out in approved care plans, including direct employment of personal assistants (PAs). The government plans to increase NHS-funded PHBs and to further introduce integrated personal budgets (IPBs).

Assessment of need and practice for assistive technology and telecare for people with dementia-The ATTILA (Assistive Technology and Telecare to maintain Independent Living At home for people with dementia) trial.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to define current assistive technology and telecare (ATT) practice for people with dementia living at home.

Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial (N = 495) of ATT assessment and ATT installation intervention, compared with control (restricted ATT package). ATT assessment and installation data were collected.

Does telecare prolong community living in dementia? A study protocol for a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial.

Background: Assistive technology and telecare (ATT) are relatively new ways of delivering care and support to people with social care needs. It is claimed that ATT reduces the need for community care, prevents unnecessary hospital admission, and delays or prevents admission into residential or nursing care. The current economic situation in England has renewed interest in ATT instead of community care packages.