“I Never Thought I’d See the Day That I Would Be Doing Things on Zoom”: Reimagining Day Care for Older People and Unpaid Carers in the Context of COVID-19

Abstract

This paper considers the role of collective forms of day care for older people and their carers during the enforced closure of services in 2020 due to COVID-19. The study provides a unique opportunity to examine how the sector adapted to these unprecedented times. The paper draws on qualitative data collected from 8 case studies conducted in England, during which 120 interviews were held with older people, their carers, staff, and managers of services and local stakeholders. The findings demonstrate how day centres reimagined their services to meet the needs of older people and their carers in new and imaginative ways. They offer insights into the potential role day care centres could play in the new place-based partnerships envisaged in recent legislation. The study provides an opportunity to consider the importance of day care services in the light of their enforced closure, providing a more nuanced understanding of day care provision. The impact of COVID-19 on the social care sector meant that many day care centres were not fully operational and consequently the samples may not reflect the experiences of all centres.