Exploring the difference made by Support at home 37 impacts on the desired outcomes for older > Collate evidence on the needs of our service people in the population. users. The Red Cross would benefit from accurately and routinely collected information > Consider the creation of a different service on the needs of service users, in order to delivery model. Time spent working with develop a service that is responsive to these people with more complex needs often changing needs. This will also enable us to demands more staff input. This can be a play a critical role with our commissioners, challenge to the way some of our services informing them on the changing needs currently operate and the Red Cross principle landscape as well as provide essential of being a volunteer-run organisation. This evidence for our work. (See direct link with indicates a need to consider creating a recommendation 5) different, higher-spec service for this group of people with more complex needs, with a > Provide training for staff and volunteers to clear focus and approach distinguished from meet the rising needs of our service users. Staff our “traditional” role supporting people with and volunteers would benefit from consistently lower-level needs. acquiring the correct type of training to meet the needs of service users with more complex > Clarify our current role and aims for people needs. From the research, the observed skills with increased needs and longer-term issues. that would be particularly useful include: There is an immediate need to acknowledge psychosocial skills to learn how best to work explicitly the changing needs of our service with our service users who have mental health users with front-line staff and volunteers, and issues and sometimes people with suicidal to clarify what this means for them and their thoughts; specific health knowledge to support roles. They need to understand what we are service users to manage the common health seeking to achieve for people with increased conditions we see25; and advocacy skills to needs and/or longer-term health issues, and ensure service users get the support they need. what elements of these needs can realistically (See direct link with recommendation 7) be met. 25 See section 4.2.2 of this report for a discussion of Red Cross service user’s health conditions highlighted in this study.