Table 3: Summary of aggregate and individual variables available from the SCHC data.

Aggregate variables
Variable name	Definition/explanation
Subtype (of care)	Older people; learning disabilities; mental health problems; physical & sensory impairment; physical disabilities
Service type (provision)	Private; local authority; voluntary or not for profit; health board
Local authority area	Location of care home
Health board area	Location of care home
Capacity	Registered total number of beds
Main provision	Main client group for whom the care home can provide care, entered as part of the annual return to the Care Inspectorate
Client needs	Seventeen categories of ‘client need’ from which the care homes are asked to select all those relevant, entered as part of the annual return to the Care Inspectorate. Categories include: Alcohol, alcohol brain injury, acquired brain injury, autism, blood borne viruses, dementia, drug dependency, Korsakoffs, learning disabilities, mental health (not dementia), mothers and children, older people, older people (dementia), older people (frailty), palliative care, physical disability or illness, visual impairment
Weekly charges	Includes charge for those self-funding versus local authority funding and those with and without nursing care
No of admissions	Totals requested for short stay, long stay and respite care
No of discharges	Totals requested for short stay, long stay and respite care
No of deaths	Totals requested for short stay, long stay and respite care
Residents (at census)	Totals requested for short stay, long stay and respite care

Individual long-stay resident variables
Variable name	Definition/explanation
Date of birth	Month/year
Sex	Female, Male, Other
Ethnicity	White, Other Ethnic Group; Not Disclosed; Not Known
Date of admission	Month/year
Source of admission	Another care home, hospital, other/not known, own home, and sheltered/supported accommodation
Date of discharge	Month/year
Reason for discharge	Another care home, death, hospital, other/not known, own home, and sheltered/supported accommodation
Mainly or wholly funded	Source of funding for placement providing majority or all of the costs
Free personal care & free nursing care	If individuals are privately funding their care, are they receiving the free personal care allowance and the free nursing care allowance
Local authority funding placement	If individuals are funded by their local authority, which one funds their placement
Clinical variables	Requires nursing care; dementia medically diagnosed; dementia not medically diagnosed; visual impairment; hearing impairment; acquired brain injury; learning disability; other physical disability or chronic illness; mental health problems; alcohol dependency; drug dependency; none of these