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The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of housing with care schemes to act as community hubs. The analysis highlights a range of benefits, barriers and facilitators.

Data are presented from the Adult Social Services Environments and Settings project which used a mixed methods approach including a review of the literature, surveys and in-depth case study interviews.

Most housing with care schemes have a restaurant or café, communal lounge, garden, hairdresser, activity room and laundrette, while many also have a library, gym, computer access and a shop. Many of these facilities are open not just to residents but also to the wider community, reflecting a more integrated approach to community health and adult social care, by sharing access to primary health care and social services between people living in the scheme and those living nearby. Potential benefits of this approach include the integration of older people’s housing, reduced isolation and increased cost effectiveness of local services through economies of scale and by maximising preventative approaches to health and wellbeing. Successful implementation of the model depends on a range of criteria including being located within or close to a residential area and having on-site facilities that are accessible to the public.

This paper is part of a very new literature on community hub models of housing with care in the UK. In the light of new requirements under the Care Act to better coordinate community services, it provides insights into how this approach can work and offers an analysis of the benefits and challenges that will be of interest to commissioners and providers as well as planners. This was a small scale research project based on four case studies. Caution should be taken when considering the findings in different settings.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the process of commissioning adult social care services in England. It reflects the literature on commissioning at the strategic level followed by a section on operational or micro-commissioning. The rest of the paper focusses on the emergence of ideas about outcomes-based commissioning (OBC) in the field of adult social care and ends with critical consideration of the effectiveness of OBC in adult social care as applied to support and care provided in extra care housing.

The review of strategic and operational commissioning in adult social care in England (and Scotland in brief) is based on both policy documents and a review of the literature, as are the sources addressing OBC in adult social care particularly in extra care housing settings.

The core of this paper focusses on the challenges to the implementation of OBC in adult social care in the context of provision for residents in extra care housing. Of central importance are the impact of the squeeze on funding, increasing costs as a result of demographic change and the introduction of a national living wage plus the focus on the needs of service users through the idea of person-centred care and resistance to change on the part of adult social care staff and workers in other relevant settings.

Addressing the implementation of OBC in adult social care in England in the context of extra care housing.

The report Preventive Approaches in Housing follows a year‐long study looking at effective approaches in 16 housing settings, from sheltered and general needs housing, both RSL and local authority, to owner occupiers and private tenants. The aims of the work were to explore ways in which housing and related support services can have preventive outcomes and to describe good practice.

This article looks at the challenges for delivering personalisation across public services, the key for transformation of those services. Based on a recent publication, Housing Health and Care (Davis et al, 2009), it argues that the policy context, performance systems and local frameworks are now possibly better placed than ever before to deliver the integrated working that can underpin sustainable communities and allow for really personalised services.

Supporting People is arguably the most comprehensive and radical overhaul of housing‐related support services to date. Much of its success will depend on how providers take the policy forward in practice.

This article is based on the report Using Telecare: Exploring Technologies for Independent Living for Older People, which contains the findings of a lifestyle monitoring system. The report sets the project in the context of other work in the field of care of older people in the UK and of related health and social care initiatives. The authors identify the research agenda involved in the further development of lifestyle monitoring and that surrounding telecare in general.

THIS IS AN ACCOUNT of two projects initiated by Anchor Trust and funded by the Department of Health Community Care Development Programme for a period of two years ‐ 1996 to 1998. The projects, in Brighton and Hartlepool, were supported by the local authorities, health agencies and the voluntary sector, and worked in close collaboration with them to establish local service networks with older people. The projects were evaluated by the Nuffield Institute for Health, and this article is based on a forthcoming evaluation report.

In this article we first give the facts on what extra care is. Second, we make a few points on what really helps improve commissioning. The article draws on innovative and up‐to‐date material developed for the Department of Health's Housing Learning & Improvement Network by Moyra Riseborough from CURS at the University of Birmingham and Peter Fletcher of Peter Fletcher Associates. To see more about the Housing LIN and its work, readers should go to its website at www.doh.gov.uk/changeagentteam/housing‐lin.htm.

A survey of integrated working between primary care trusts (PCTs) and adult social services across England was undertaken in December 2009 and January 2010. The survey results are presented in the context of the history of integrated working between health and social care, and the recent policy announcements of the Conservative‐Liberal Democrat Coalition Government.

Appropriate housing for the growing population of older adults is becoming an international concern. The purpose of this paper is to report on a review of UK and international literature carried out as part of a project exploring the commissioning and delivery of social care in housing with care settings. The paper also considers housing with care in the context of UK policy and practice.

The peer literature review process used a range of academic databases as well as government and third sector web sites, drawing on relevant material in English published from 1990 to 2012.

Findings are presented within three main themes: how care and support is provided; the role of the built environment; and the benefits for resident well-being. The review found a paucity of literature focusing specifically on care and support in housing with care settings, particularly in terms of how social care is delivered, but the evidence base suggests that housing with care is in a strong position to deliver on most if not all UK government aspirations.

Despite a growing literature both in the UK and internationally exploring the characteristics and benefits of housing with care for older people, substantial gaps remain in the research evidence.

This paper presents an up to date review of the housing with care literature in the context of current UK policy.