The aims of the research were to explore and understand the significant issues arising when older home owners enter long term residential and nursing home care. The key people and organisations involved are the older home owners themselves, their relatives, local authorities and independent sector care home providers. Specific objectives of this research were to gain greater understanding of: local authority policies and practices in respect to home owner occupiers entering long term care homes; the concerns within authorities about those policies and practices; the consequences for older home owners entering care homes; significant issues for home providers accepting privately paying older people as residents.
The aims of the research were to explore and understand the significant issues arising when older home owners enter long term residential and nursing home care. The key people and organisations involved are the older home owners themselves, their relatives, local authorities and independent sector care home providers. Specific objectives of this research were to gain greater understanding of: local authority policies and practices in respect to home owner occupiers entering long term care homes; the concerns within authorities about those policies and practices; the consequences for older home owners entering care homes; significant issues for home providers accepting privately paying older people as residents.
Extended abstract:
Author
WRIGHT Fay;
Title
Capital offences: variations in local authority treatment of older home owners entering residential care: a summary of some key research findings.
Publisher
The Nuffield Foundation and Age Concern Institute of Gerontology, King's College London, 2000.
Summary
The aims of the research were toexplore and understand the significant issues arising when older home owners enter long term residential and nursing home care. The key people and organisations involved are the older home owners themselves, their relatives, local authorities and independent sector care home providers. Specific objectives of this research were to gain greater understanding of: local authority policies and practices in respect to home owner occupiers entering long term care homes; the concerns within authorities about those policies and practices; the consequences for older home owners entering care homes; significant issues for home providers accepting privately paying older people as residents.
Context
Government figures show that since 1951, numbers of old people have increased significantly, there has been a 61% increase in those aged 80-84 and an 81% increase in those aged 85 and over. As very old people are more likely than those who are younger to suffer physical and mental ill health, this has significant public expenditure implications for health and social services as well as for state pensions and other social security benefits. There are also implications for long term care costs. Although relatively few people above retirement age (approx 5%) live permanently in institutional care, over a fifth of those aged 85 or over do so. Unless the proportion of people entering care homes in the last phase of their lives declines, the issue of using a home to meet care home charges will continue to be a significant concern to older people and their relatives in the future.
Method
The study had three phases, (1) a national postal survey of senior finance officers in English and Welsh social service departments (response rate 77%). (2) Structured telephone follow-up interviews with a stratified sample of approximately one in four responding finance officers (28 interviews). (3) Case studies in five English local authority areas. Factors in choosing the five were the level of home ownership amongst older people and the level of deliberate deprivation of assets to avoid care home charges reported in the postal survey. Questionnaires were piloted in one of the case study areas. Each case study included interviews with: SSD staff involved in financial assessments of older home owners seeking care home admission; independent sector care home providers, 9 in the voluntary, and 19 in the for-profit, sector; residents recently admitted to independent sector residential or nursing homes who had previously owned their own homes; and relatives recently involved in disposing of property after an older home owner has been admitted to long term care. The postal survey and the structured interviews were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Data from qualitative interviews was analysed with Ethnograph.
Contents
This ten page booklet is divided into five sections. Section one gives background information on the numbers of older people in care homes, the means test for long term care and the issues surrounding selling a home to meet care home charges. Section two describes the aims and objectives of the research. Section three sets out the methodology and the research process. The fourth section is on the main findings of the study and is divided into eight parts each part dealing with the main findings, which are: variations in local authority community care packages; local variations in assessing financial situations; older home owners failing to obtain needs assessments; variations in obtaining a local authority contract; problems with entering a care home without a local authority contract; local variations in the treatment of a carer remaining in a property; a strained relationship between local authorities and independent sector providers; and a lack of impartial advice for frail older home owners. Section five draws together conclusions from the study. The appendix gives a summary of means-testing for residential and nursing home care, the current arrangements and government proposals for change.
Conclusion
"Most authorities operate ceilings to care packages in the community. In some areas these are very stringent. Older people needing significant support at home but with insufficient income or savings to purchase additional support privately will be pressurised into moving into care homes. Home owners are particularly vulnerable to these pressures as they will usually have to sell their homes and meet care home charges themselves."
15 references
Subject terms:
income, literature reviews, long term care, nursing homes, older people, pensions, care homes;
York Publishing Service/Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Publication year:
1998
Pagination:
154p.,bibliog.
Place of publication:
York
Uses interviews with over sixty carers to explore the consequences for relatives following a dependent persons admission to a residential or nursing home. Focuses on how a care home is chosen; the financial consequences for family members; and on the extent to which they wish, and are able to, engage in care giving activities in a residential setting.
Uses interviews with over sixty carers to explore the consequences for relatives following a dependent persons admission to a residential or nursing home. Focuses on how a care home is chosen; the financial consequences for family members; and on the extent to which they wish, and are able to, engage in care giving activities in a residential setting.
Subject terms:
nursing homes, older people, relatives, user views, carers, care homes, children;
Research study gauging the extent to which a sample of charities were helping elderly people on income support to meet their fees in independent sector homes, to identify the type of people being helped, and to examine the extent and impact of fee shortfalls on a sample of voluntary organisations.
Research study gauging the extent to which a sample of charities were helping elderly people on income support to meet their fees in independent sector homes, to identify the type of people being helped, and to examine the extent and impact of fee shortfalls on a sample of voluntary organisations.
Reports on research carried out by Age Concern into the numbers and variety of multi-purpose resource centres for elderly providing day care and home care services to the wider community.
Reports on research carried out by Age Concern into the numbers and variety of multi-purpose resource centres for elderly providing day care and home care services to the wider community.
Subject terms:
home care, older people, residential care, resource centres, surveys, care homes, day services;
This article looks at a small piece of research, funded by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation, that looked at the provision of relevant and appropriate information about assistive technology (AT) for older people. It the study the definition of assistive technology included: housing adaptations, aids for daily living and electronic assistive technology. The research involved mapping both AT and information sources, focus groups with 28 users aged 75 and over and 12 carers, interviews with 40 professionals and information providers and a postal questionnaire to 131 care home managers (response rate of 45 percent). The findings point to the large volume of available information, but suggest that there are problems in identifying needs and in accessing all necessary information. Professionals share these problems and organisational issues impact on professional capacity to provide satisfactory information. The situation in care homes appears to be ambiguous in terms of responsibility for AT provision for residence and hence for information. The researchers concluded that there is considerable scope for improving both access to information and the design of that information.
This article looks at a small piece of research, funded by the Helen Hamlyn Foundation, that looked at the provision of relevant and appropriate information about assistive technology (AT) for older people. It the study the definition of assistive technology included: housing adaptations, aids for daily living and electronic assistive technology. The research involved mapping both AT and information sources, focus groups with 28 users aged 75 and over and 12 carers, interviews with 40 professionals and information providers and a postal questionnaire to 131 care home managers (response rate of 45 percent). The findings point to the large volume of available information, but suggest that there are problems in identifying needs and in accessing all necessary information. Professionals share these problems and organisational issues impact on professional capacity to provide satisfactory information. The situation in care homes appears to be ambiguous in terms of responsibility for AT provision for residence and hence for information. The researchers concluded that there is considerable scope for improving both access to information and the design of that information.
Subject terms:
home adaptations, mobility aids, older people, social care professionals, user views, access to information, assistive technology, care homes;
Finding a fair and equitable system of paying for long term residential or nursing home care is a major policy issue. This report explores the experiences of older people who self fund their residential or nursing home care. It finds that for frail older people and their relatives, choosing and paying for long term care is fraught with confusion over the legal complexities. The study also finds: a wide variation in local authority policies and practices; conflicts between local authorities and independent sector care home providers; and a lack of impartial advice for older homeowners about the alternatives to care home admission and about the different types of care home.
Finding a fair and equitable system of paying for long term residential or nursing home care is a major policy issue. This report explores the experiences of older people who self fund their residential or nursing home care. It finds that for frail older people and their relatives, choosing and paying for long term care is fraught with confusion over the legal complexities. The study also finds: a wide variation in local authority policies and practices; conflicts between local authorities and independent sector care home providers; and a lack of impartial advice for older homeowners about the alternatives to care home admission and about the different types of care home.
Subject terms:
home ownership, income, local authorities, nursing homes, older people, self-funders, care homes, financing;
British Journal of Social Work, 30(5), October 2000, pp.649-661.
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
A sample of 61 residents admitted during the preceding three years to 35 independent sector nursing or residential care homes in four local authority areas was interviewed. Five discrete roles for family care-givers in the care homes were described: checking the quality of care, companionship, handling the cared-for person's finances, giving the cared-for person practical help, and assisting the cared-for person with personal care. Although family care-givers described themselves as very satisfied with the care homes as a whole, as many as half were worried about some aspect of care. The research has implications for social workers, care home proprietors and registration and inspection units in encouraging care homes to adopt more 'relative friendly' policies.
A sample of 61 residents admitted during the preceding three years to 35 independent sector nursing or residential care homes in four local authority areas was interviewed. Five discrete roles for family care-givers in the care homes were described: checking the quality of care, companionship, handling the cared-for person's finances, giving the cared-for person practical help, and assisting the cared-for person with personal care. Although family care-givers described themselves as very satisfied with the care homes as a whole, as many as half were worried about some aspect of care. The research has implications for social workers, care home proprietors and registration and inspection units in encouraging care homes to adopt more 'relative friendly' policies.
Subject terms:
nursing homes, older people, relatives, residents, surveys, user views, attitudes, carers, care homes;
This research report looks at the effects of the "liable relative" rules relating to the spuses of people in long-term care. This rule allows local authorities and the Department of Social Security to request (and if necessary enforce) payments from spouses if residents in residential or nursing care receive state funding. Currently 11% of individuals in care homes (approximately 50,000 people)are married, of which 33,500 are estimated to be receiving state funding. The research examined current local authority practices by undertaking a postal survey of all local authorities in England, telephone follow-up interviews with selected social services finance officers, and interviews with a small number of spouses of affected by this rule. The research found that there was a wide variation in how this rule was implemented between authorities, and that it was often only the most vulnerable spouses, who through guilt and a lack of information, who ended up paying the most. The recommendations of the report are that it should be legally impossible for the DSS or local authorities to demand payment from the spouse of a person in long-term state-funded residential or nursing care.
This research report looks at the effects of the "liable relative" rules relating to the spuses of people in long-term care. This rule allows local authorities and the Department of Social Security to request (and if necessary enforce) payments from spouses if residents in residential or nursing care receive state funding. Currently 11% of individuals in care homes (approximately 50,000 people)are married, of which 33,500 are estimated to be receiving state funding. The research examined current local authority practices by undertaking a postal survey of all local authorities in England, telephone follow-up interviews with selected social services finance officers, and interviews with a small number of spouses of affected by this rule. The research found that there was a wide variation in how this rule was implemented between authorities, and that it was often only the most vulnerable spouses, who through guilt and a lack of information, who ended up paying the most. The recommendations of the report are that it should be legally impossible for the DSS or local authorities to demand payment from the spouse of a person in long-term state-funded residential or nursing care.
Subject terms:
marriage, long term care, nursing homes, older people, payments, partners, residential care, social services, care homes;
Ageing and Society, 19(2), March 1999, pp.209-237.
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
A minority of older people who move into long-term institutional care are married and have spouses who continue living in the community. This article uses data from the Family Expenditure Survey on the incomes of older married couples to examine the financial implications for couples of one spouse entering residential or nursing home care, taking into account local authority procedures for assessing residents' contributions to charges and Income Support rules as they apply to both spouse. It looks in particular at the consequences of alternative ways couples might share their incomes, and alternative treatments of such sharing by local authorities and the Department of Social Security.
A minority of older people who move into long-term institutional care are married and have spouses who continue living in the community. This article uses data from the Family Expenditure Survey on the incomes of older married couples to examine the financial implications for couples of one spouse entering residential or nursing home care, taking into account local authority procedures for assessing residents' contributions to charges and Income Support rules as they apply to both spouse. It looks in particular at the consequences of alternative ways couples might share their incomes, and alternative treatments of such sharing by local authorities and the Department of Social Security.
Subject terms:
income, long term care, nursing homes, older people, partners, benefits, care homes, financing;
Research study looking at: mechanisms in the private, voluntary and public sectors for residents' fees being paid; whether or not residents on income support or sponsored by a local or health authority were being paid a personal expenses allowance; issues arising from someone else handling a resident's financial affairs; and what opportunities exist for residents to spend personal monies in homes.
Research study looking at: mechanisms in the private, voluntary and public sectors for residents' fees being paid; whether or not residents on income support or sponsored by a local or health authority were being paid a personal expenses allowance; issues arising from someone else handling a resident's financial affairs; and what opportunities exist for residents to spend personal monies in homes.
Subject terms:
nursing homes, older people, private sector, public sector, residential care, voluntary sector, care homes, financing;