Join us for a webinar on Tuesday, 20 May, 11:00 - 12:30 - Care Co-operatives in Ireland and the UK: A model for designing and delivering home care that respects and empowers care recipients, family carers and care workers.
The Centre for Co-operative Studies, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, in association with the Society for Co-operative Studies in Ireland (SCSI) and the UK Society for Co-operative Studies (UKSCS) presents a webinar on Care Co-operatives in Ireland and the UK: A model for designing and delivering home care that respects and empowers care recipients, family carers and care workers.
Please click here to register for this online event.
The UK and Ireland share in common a crisis in home care services. Our ageing populations are leading to growing demand for care, which current systems are unable to meet. Outsourcing through competitive tendering has resulted in the marketisation of care, which can have negative impacts for those receiving care and for workers at the frontline of care delivery.
Care co-operatives offer a potential solution to some of the problems inherent in the current home care system. Care co-operatives are owned, governed and operated by people who use care services and/or care workers and other stakeholders. They are designed not for profit, but for service to their members. As member-driven organisations, they can empower older people and their families to shape the design and delivery of care services, while simultaneously providing better working conditions and offering potential to improve the job satisfaction of care workers.
In this webinar, we will hear from Emma Back, Equal Care Co-op, Yorkshire and Aoife Smith, The Great Care Co-op, Dublin, who will tell their stories about setting up a home care co-operative and how the co-operative model can provide home care in a way that respects and empowers those who matter most - people receiving care, family carers and care workers.
This will be followed by a discussion to assess how co-operative models might provide a solution to the growing challenges in care. Joining us on the panel will be Professor Emeritus Colin Talbot, University of Manchester; Dr Gerard Doyle, Technological University Dublin; and Professor Julien Mercille, University College Dublin.
The webinar will be chaired by Dr Carol Power and Dr Caroline Crowley, co-authors of the CO-AGE report, which explored the potential to develop care co-operatives in Ireland.
This collaboration between UCC Centre for Co-operative Studies, the SCSI and UKSCS, is intended to foster awareness and understanding of the potential of the co-operative model to address key societal challenges during the UN International Year of Co-operatives 2025.