National Care Service - health and demographic profile: evidence

2. Factors associated with Demand for Social Care

Accurately forecasting demands for social care is highly complex, given that there is a vast range of mental and physical illnesses and conditions associated with need for social care, a range of associated treatments and services, and the factors which interplay with demand are wide-reaching and challenging to predict (including technological developments in healthcare and treatment)^[1]. Factors which have been noted as associated with demand for social care in the previous literature include prevalence rates of disease^[2], mortality rates^[3], cultural attitudes towards social care of older adults^[4], future health profile projections^[5], living arrangements^[6] and the socio-economic profile of the population^[7]. However, making projections based on current rates of social care utilisation, or by the current health profile of the population is complex and uncertain.