Creating Alternative Pathways - Project update December 2024

This report explores the co-design of an alternative support pathway for older informal carers in the UK, focusing on the role of Third Sector organisations such as older adult daycare centres. Through a series of workshops, we highlight unmet needs, the emotional toll of caregiving, and the importance of culturally relevant resources. We present the informational resources and services co-designed with participants, which integrate into a support pathway based on a six-phase caregiving journey.

The UK population is rapidly ageing, with one in seven people projected to be over 75 years old by 2040. While it is positive that we are living longer than ever, this does mean that more people are ageing with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC or multimorbidity). MLTC can have a negative impact on all aspects of a person’s life, including their quality of life and mental health and their ability to function independently. People with MLTC often depend on additional informal or unpaid support from family and friends to maintain their independence and quality of life. 

Providing such care can negatively affect carers’ health and wellbeing, especially the growing number of older carers who live with long-term conditions themselves. Considering the increasing dependency on informal care to support an ageing population, providing accessible and tailored support services to older informal carers is critical.

Adult day-care centres offer vital support for people living with MLTC and disabilities while also providing essential respite for their carers. These centres are well placed to offer carers the necessary resources, skills, and support to enhance their wellbeing — addressing the urgent and often overlooked challenges of caregiving. 

In partnering with a day-care centre and a community organisation supporting South Asian communities living with MLTC, we hosted four co-design workshops to identify unmet support needs and priorities of older informal carers. We explored potential support pathways and produced an intervention with supporting resources.  Through this collaborative process, we created an alternative support pathway prototype, which includes the following components:

• Resources: Personalised materials and resources, which make part of a ‘Carer Box’, focused on signposting carers to local support services and providing practical tools to improve self-care and overall health and wellbeing.
• Services: A combination of group-based educational and psychosocial services concepts, with accompanying manuals and informational materials.