Supporting people to live at home

Carelink in North Somerset

Dave Ostry, Customer Insight team, North Somerset Council

What is Carelink?

• Support for vulnerable people to help them to live independently in their home.

• Easy-to-use, monitored, alarm. • Pushing the alarm connects the

customer to the council’s monitoring centre via a telephone line.

• Speak to a ‘real person’ with specialist training and qualifications, able to call up the support services the customer needs.

What is Carelink?

The challenge

• Demographic situation (especially in North Somerset)• Retirement area, with wide catchment• Decrease in self-funded retirement• 1996: 10% of spend on adult care. Now closer to 20%.

Older people as a % of total population(Department of Health, accessed Feb 2011. www.poppi.org.uk)

20.34%

26%

16.45%

21.66%

3.19%5.34%

2.29% 4.02%0

20

40

2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

% North Somerset 65 and over

England 65 and over

North Somerset 85 and over

England 85 and over

'Gap'=3.89%

'Gap'=4.34%

The challenge

• Service was ticking over• Needed some rigour, focus and funding

0

1000

2000

May 2008

Jun 2008

Jul 2008

Aug 2008

Sep 2008

Oct 2008

Nov 2008

Dec 2008

Jan 2009

Feb 2009

Mar 2009

Apr 2009

May 2009

Jun 2009

Jul 2009

Aug 2009

Sep 2009

Oct 2009

Nov 2009

Dec 2009

North Somerset: number of carelink customers May 2008 to Dec 2009

1,9082,043

The solution• Small research and marketing investment • Pre-existing resources = 2 researchers and Mosaic.

4 main steps

The solution1. Introduce some rigour into customer

record-keeping

2. Profile customers

3. Based on profile, choose 4 ‘most likely’ target groups

4. Quantify and characterise those target groups

5. Design the marketing material, channels and approach around the four groups: lifestyle, hobbies, demographics, location

The solution

The solution

As well as profiling, survey of residents, which said:

1. Untapped mass market

2. Massive appreciation of the concept but lack of information

3. Cost (and/or lack of info about cost)

4. Rather than niche marketing, task was which mass market to focus on

Impact• Large number of new customers

• Insight into what marketing works

0

1000

2000

May

200

8

Jun

2008

Jul 2

008

Aug

200

8

Sep

2008

Oct

200

8

Nov

200

8

Dec

200

8Ja

n 20

09

Feb

2009

Mar

200

9

Apr

200

9

May

200

9

Jun

2009

Jul 2

009

Aug

200

9

Sep

2009

Oct

200

9

Nov

200

9

Dec

200

9

Jan

2010

Feb

2010

Mar

201

0

Apr

201

0M

ay 2

010

Jun

2010

Jul 2

010

Aug

201

0

Sep

2010

Oct

201

0

Nov

201

0

Dec

201

0

Jan

2011

North Somerset: number of carelink customers May 2008 to Jan 2011

Actual number of Carelink users

Notional number of Carelink users assuming 'natural growth' i.e. based on growth rate pre Oct 2010

A B C

A: Carelink web pages and leaflet redesigned (Sep/Oct 2009)B: Customer Insight pproject starts( funding received, recruitment completed, preparatory work starts Jan 2010)C: Large scale and concerted marketing activity gets going (Apr/May 2010)

323 'extra' customers (i.e. 15% extra than if

'natural' growth rate had been maintained).

Notional annual saving of over £4m

2,452 customers (at

• Customer satisfaction survey 95%+ satisfied, despite increase in customer base

The impact - money

• LGCIF grant = £80k (of which 9% spent on research)

• Residential care costs council £15k p.a pp• Carelink costs council £2k p.a. pp• Making some big assumptions…• …each Carelink customer ‘saves’ £13k p.a.• 323 X £13k =£4.2m p.a.• Assumptions cut both ways but even

discounting savings by say 50%. £80k investment saves £2.1m p.a.

The other type of impact• Giving people what they want• Strengthened and modelled relationships with all

sorts of interest groups and partners• Modelled a CI project for other council services

For Carelink: • Sky high satisfaction with the service • Legacy of CI and marketing knowledge for the

future• Instilled more of a focus on

– Efficiency– Customer needs

• …and how information can help support these