Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2005): Care of the Elderly - UK
THE FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF A SPECIALIST HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE TEAM FOR THE PROMOTION OF HEALTH AND INDEPENDENCE IN "AT RISK" OLDER ADULTS
V. Drennan and others
Health and Social Care in the Community, vol.13, 2005, p.136-144
In England, the National Service Framework for Older People explicitly demands that the NHS and local authorities work together in partnership to promote healthy ageing and to prevent disease in older people. Paper describes an evaluation of the work of an experimental health and social care multidisciplinary team working in an inner London Borough. Team members visited and assessed the needs of older people identified as being at risk by their GP and referred them to a range of services as appropriate. The project demonstrated that multidisciplinary teams have the potential to improve the quality of life of older people, particularly through income generation but also through identification of medical problems.
HOUSING DECISIONS IN LATER LIFE
R. Clough and others
Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005
Deciding where to live at any age is stressful and complex. In later life people imagine their own aging and whether they will be able to cope in their current house. People cannot know their future: some move early to houses that will be easier to manage; others avoid thinking of a life that appears problematic or painful. This book is for those who want to understand better the housing experiences of older people, the involvement of older people in research, the place of emotions in decision-making and aging itself. Older people demand more space in specialist housing to live fulfilled lives rather than solely to manage decline.
THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF CHANGES IN PUBLIC FUNDING FOR RESIDENTIAL AND NURSING HOME CARE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: THE RESIDENTIAL ALLOWANCE
P. Clarkson, J. Hughes and D. Challis
Ageing and Society, vol.25, 2005, p.159-180
The New Labour government's objective of enabling older people to stay in their own homes is being compromised by the Residential Allowance. This is a component of social security payable to residents in independent sector care homes and could be seen as an incentive to place older people in residential care. In order to remove the incentive, government proposed abolishing the allowance and transferring resources via a grant to local authorities to be used to pay for domiciliary care. Paper examines the potential impact of the proposal from the point of view of frontline practitioners and managers.
THE SAME OLD PROCESS? OLDER PEOPLE, PARTICIPATION AND DELIBERATION
M. Barnes
Ageing and Society, vol.25, 2005, p.245-259
Opportunities for older people to take part in decision-making about public policies and services are expanding in the UK. Paper considers the potential of older people's participation in policy processes for both transforming the policy process and for achieving socially just outcomes. Presents case studies of participation initiatives which have involved "active" older people and those who are users of social care services. In one, active facilitation enables individual stories of ageing and service use to be woven into collective narratives that offer an alternative vision of care services. In another, a strong emphasis on "greeting" enables conflicting views to be expressed without participants falling out. In the third, styles of exchange familiar in formal debate limit the development of an alternative discourse.