24 Exploring the difference made by Support at home Regarding housing, London and Wales service Appendix C provides more data on the users in the study also differed by tenure to those demographic profile of the service users we in Yorkshire, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The interviewed. This overall profile broadly aligns majority in London (79%) and Wales (89%) rent with the findings from a 2010 internal review from a social landlord (local authority or housing of service user feedback forms. In this review of association tenants). By contrast, service users in over 5,000 service users, the majority were over the other three sites predominantly owned their 75 years (67%), women (61%) and classified own homes (over 80% were owner occupiers). themselves as white (93%). The majority of our sample of service users live 4.2.2 Health alone – almost seven in 10 in four sites, and a higher nine in 10, in Wales. This is significantly Not unexpectedly, many individuals (74%) higher than the general population estimate – the reported having significant health issues that affect proportion living alone is 37% for people aged their day-to-day lives. People most commonly 65 and over, and 49% for people aged 75 and expressed a difficulty with mobility (60%). Fifty- over (Age UK, 2013). five per cent considered themselves as having a disability. Some of the main health conditions FIGuRE 1 DIAGNOSTIC HISTORIES OF BRITISH RED CROSS SERVICE uSERS – CO-MORBIDITIES OBSERVED IN THE TWO YEARS PRIOR TO REFERRAL TO SuPPORT AT HOME Hypertension 66% Injury 52% Falls 37% Mental Health disorders 33% Peripheral vascular disease 25% Ischaemic heart disease 25% Atrial Fibrillation 25% Cardiovascular disease 23% Diabetes 23% Anaemia 21% Congestive heart failure 19% Respiratory Infection 19% Cancer 18% Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease 17% Angina 13% Asthma 12% Renal Fail 10% Alcohol misuse 8% Heart valve disorders 8% Latrogenic problems 8% Connective tissue disease/Rheumatoid Arthiritis 6% MildLiver 3% Cancer Benign 3% Congenitive heart disease 1% Drug misuse 0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Source: NHS HES data – (n=1573) Note: Dementia and Alzheimer’s are coded in the Mental Health category.