Making care homes part of the community? An evaluation of the Gloucestershire Partnerships for Older People Project

Authors:
EVANS Simon, MEANS Robin, POWELL Jane
Journal article citation:
Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, 14(1), 2013, pp.66-74.
Publisher:
Emerald

The 'Care Homes, part of our community' initiative in Gloucestershire was one of 29 Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs) funded by the Department of Health between 2006 and 2009 with an emphasis on prevention and improved outcomes for older people. This paper provides an overview of the policy context and the project, which aimed to improve the integration of care homes with health and social care services and the wider community. It describes the local evaluation of the project, which adopted a mixed methods approach combining quantitative performance data with semi-structured stakeholder interviews and emergency bed use costings. It presents the findings in 3 specific areas: integrating care homes with the health community, improving links with the local public community, and the economic evaluation of its contribution to reducing overnight stays in hospital. It reports that the evaluation results suggest that the project made significant steps towards integrating care homes with the health and social care community, that training and support was provided to a large number of care homes and new integrated working practices were developed, and that cost savings were demonstrated through reduced hospital bed use.

Subject terms:
integrated services, older people, prevention, social care provision, care homes, health care;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
England
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
2042-8766
ISSN print:
1471-7794

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