Project 10: How are the health and social care costs of dementia impacted by the intersection of inequality and ethnicity?  

Background:

Like the rest of the population, people living with dementia use healthcare in different ways. Some people rely more on planned care (such as regular outpatient appointments), while others use more unplanned care services (such as going to A&E or a walk-in centre). Previous research indicates that how people use care may be linked to factors such as gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. More research is needed about whether geographic differences, including how ethnically diverse an area is has any impact on how healthcare is used. We also know very little about whether there are inequalities in accessing social care based on deprivation and ethnicity. As a result, we don’t yet understand the cost implications of targeted planned care interventions and services and their potential to reduce rates of unplanned care. 

Aims and objectives:

We want to explore the relationship between deprivation, health and social care resource use and ethnicity and see if it differs by how ethnically diverse an area is. We also want to calculate cost of care for people living with dementia to see whether deprivation or ethnicity impacts the rates of planned and unplanned care. After completing this analysis for people living with dementia, we will look at whether we could extend it to include other neurodegenerative diseases.  

Methods:

We will start by identifying datasets that capture the data we need about geographical diversity, ethnicity, and how health and social care services are used. Once we have this data, we will look specifically at the people living with dementia, how they use services and the associated costs. We will explore the relationship between cost, deprivation, and ethnicity.  

Policy relevance and dissemination:

This research aims to improve access to health and social care by identifying groups of people with dementia who might benefit from additional support to access planned care. This is important because planned care can help people to reduce their risk of developing additional health problems as well as potentially reducing avoidable emergency care. We also hope to provide evidence on the cost differences associated with different levels of service engagement, potentially highlighting cost-saving benefits of proactive service engagement. 
 
The findings will be disseminated through engagement with people with lived experience and relevant charities, reports for health and social care policymakers and commissioners, presentations at conferences, and academic publications.