Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2000): Care of the Elderly - UK
BLUNKETT PLANS SUMMER SCHOOLS FOR ELDERLY
R. Sylvester
Daily Telegraph, Jan. 18th 2000, p.10
Reports that people approaching retirement may be offered state funded residential courses to learn new skills.
DEFUSING THE CLINICAL TIME BOMB
C. Bowman
Registered Homes and Services, vol. 4, 1999, p.119-120
Proposes the establishment of "Consortiums" made up of primary care groups, community trusts, hospital departments and social services to provide integrated care for the frail elderly. Consortium care would be funded through capitation payments from pooled health and social care budgets. The threshold for entering consortium care could initially be the need for complex nursing home care. Loss of health and social care budgets to a new pool could provide incentives for the development of preventative and rehabilitation services that would reduce the need for institutional care.
DEVELOPING A PREVENTIVE APPROACH WITH OLDER PEOPLE
E. Waddington and M. Godfrey
Managing Community Care, vol. 7, Dec. 1999, p.10-16
There has been a growing policy emphasis in prevention and the promotion of independence for older people. Article explores what is meant by 'prevention' and the extent to which authorities have begun to develop preventive strategies and services.
DIMENSIONS OF CHOICE IN THE ASSESSMENT AND CARE MANAGEMENT PROCESS: THE VIEW OF OLDER PEOPLE, CARERS AND CARE MANAGERS
B. Hardy, R. Young and G. Wistow
Health and Social Care in the Community, vol. 7, 1999, p.483-491
Paper sets out a typology of those key choices which users and carers are expected to be able to make within each stage of the care management and assessment process. Drawing on interview with 28 older service users, 20 informal carers and 72 care managers across four local authority areas in England, the paper goes on to describe the extent to which such choices have increased or decreased in practice. Results show a considerable gap between the ideal of user and carer involvement and the reality of everyday practice.
FORGET ME NOT: MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
Audit Commission
Audit Commission Publications
Finds that mental health services for older people are patchy and inconsistent, with many areas continuing to sink resources into hospital and residential care while failing to deliver joint working.
RE-DESIGNING HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE: MULTI-SKILL CASE TEAMS IN PRIMARY CARE
S. Cumella and N. Le Mesurier
Managing Community Care, vol. 7, Dec. 1999, p.17-
Article reviews the evidence on the benefits of innovative practice-based social work, in the context of attempts to improve multi-agency collaboration through structural change, procedural regulation and process redesign. It concludes that the model can generate improvements in productivity and in responses to customer needs.
TURNING YOUR BACK ON US: OLDER PEOPLE AND THE NHS
Age Concern England
London: 1999
Presents evidence of widespread discrimination against older people within the NHS. Older people are routinely denied treatment on grounds of age and are treated insensitively by NHS staff. They are often unwilling to complain for fear of reprisals or further discrimination.
INTERNATION MIGRATION IN LATER LIFE: SOCIAL CARE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
K. Blakemore
Ageing and Society, vol. 19, part 6, 1999, p.761-774
Article is concerned with the significance of migration in the ageing process, and, in particular, with the impact of migration on care of older people, together with related family and social policy issues.