Looks the introduction of free nursing and personal care for older people by Scotland's local authorities and explains why the approach seems to be working.
Looks the introduction of free nursing and personal care for older people by Scotland's local authorities and explains why the approach seems to be working.
Subject terms:
local authorities, long term care, older people, policy, financing;
After years of broken promises and missed deadlines, the final brutal reminders of the Victorian lunatic asylums will have been swept into history. Few will mourn the demise of the monolithic institutions that, for so long, were used to house, care for and often detain people with learning difficulties. However, many will be asking what exactly has happened to the vulnerable and marginalised people who once lived there? The answer may lie in the recent growth of private sector provision for people with learning difficulties; or in the use of campus-style NHS hospitals; or in out-of-area placements which may be community-based, but sited so far from the placed person's friends and family that they become institutional in all but name. According to latest figures there are still 10 NHS long-stay hospitals in operation. Between them they provide 239 beds for people with learning difficulties. This is a decrease from 752 beds in 2003 and reflects the government's ponderous progress towards its 2004 deadline (set in 2001's Valuing People report and later put back to 2006), by which all these long-stay hospitals were to have closed. By contrast, the private sector is booming. The Healthcare Commission estimates there are now at least 40 private providers of accommodation for people with learning difficulties offering more than 1,000 beds.
After years of broken promises and missed deadlines, the final brutal reminders of the Victorian lunatic asylums will have been swept into history. Few will mourn the demise of the monolithic institutions that, for so long, were used to house, care for and often detain people with learning difficulties. However, many will be asking what exactly has happened to the vulnerable and marginalised people who once lived there? The answer may lie in the recent growth of private sector provision for people with learning difficulties; or in the use of campus-style NHS hospitals; or in out-of-area placements which may be community-based, but sited so far from the placed person's friends and family that they become institutional in all but name. According to latest figures there are still 10 NHS long-stay hospitals in operation. Between them they provide 239 beds for people with learning difficulties. This is a decrease from 752 beds in 2003 and reflects the government's ponderous progress towards its 2004 deadline (set in 2001's Valuing People report and later put back to 2006), by which all these long-stay hospitals were to have closed. By contrast, the private sector is booming. The Healthcare Commission estimates there are now at least 40 private providers of accommodation for people with learning difficulties offering more than 1,000 beds.
Subject terms:
hospitals, institutionalisation, learning disabilities, long term care, NHS, private sector, social care provision;
The first author reviews the issues behind the Pamela Coughlan "home for life" case, while the second author explains the ruling.
The first author reviews the issues behind the Pamela Coughlan "home for life" case, while the second author explains the ruling.
Subject terms:
law, legal proceedings, local authorities, long term care, NHS, needs, social care provision, decision making, eligibility criteria, financing, health authorities, health care;