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Supported housing for older people in the UK: an evidence review: summary
- Authors:
- PANNELL Jenny, BLOOD Imogen
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Sheltered housing has changed significantly over the past decade, yet has received little attention from researchers and policy-makers. Changes to funding and benefits for older people's housing and support services need underpinning by robust evidence. This study examines existing evidence about the quality of life offered by sheltered and retirement housing and identifies factors that may improve or reduce quality of life. Eighty publications with material on housing with support and further background publications were included, along with a detailed analysis of 24 academic and resident-led research reports. Key points suggest that: there is limited recent research evidence on the quality of accommodation, services and residents in the UK's 550,000 units of housing with support for older people; this lack of evidence is a cause for concern for residents, providers and commissioners of housing, support and care; and diminishing levels of on-site staffing have affected quality of life for some residents.
Findings from housing with care research: practice examples
- Authors:
- BLOOD Imogen, PANELL Jenny, COPEMAN Ian
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 28p.
- Place of publication:
- York
This report draws together practical examples of ways of working from two reports: “Boundaries of roles and responsibilities in housing with care” and “Affordability, choices and quality of life in housing with care”. It highlights ways of working in different housing with care schemes, drawing on the two studies and considering their implications in very practical terms. The practice guide is aimed at people managing frontline housing with care schemes, commissioners and senior managers in housing organisations, social services and health, and frontline staff, older people and their relatives. The practice guide: identifies five key topics in housing with care which could benefit from improvement; summarises what older people and their relatives say they value in housing with care; and presents practical examples.
Supported housing for older people in the UK: evidence review: report
- Authors:
- PANNELL Jenny, BLOOD Imogen
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 68p.
- Place of publication:
- York
Sheltered housing has changed significantly over the past decade, yet has received little attention from researchers and policy-makers. Changes to funding and benefits for older people's housing and support services need underpinning by robust evidence. This study examines existing evidence about the quality of life offered by sheltered and retirement housing and identifies factors that may improve or reduce quality of life. Eighty publications with material on housing with support and further background publications were included, along with a detailed analysis of 24 academic and resident-led research reports. Key points suggest that: there is limited recent research evidence on the quality of accommodation, services and residents in the UK's 550,000 units of housing with support for older people; this lack of evidence is a cause for concern for residents, providers and commissioners of housing, support and care; and diminishing levels of on-site staffing have affected quality of life for some residents.
The marketisation of care: rationales and consequences in Nordic and liberal care regimes
- Authors:
- BRENNAN Deborah, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of European Social Policy, 22(4), 2012, pp.377-391.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The use of markets and market mechanisms to deliver care is one of the most significant and contentious ways in which welfare states have been transformed. This article examines debates and policies concerning the marketisation of eldercare and childcare in Sweden, England and Australia. It shows how market discourses and practices intersect with, reinforce or challenge traditions and existing policies and examines whether care markets deliver user empowerment and greater efficiency. Markets for eldercare and childcare have developed in uneven and context specific ways with varying consequences. Both politics and policy history help to shape market outcomes.
Bridging the gap: ensuring local authority fee levels reflect the real costs of caring for older people
- Author:
- BUPA
- Publisher:
- Bupa
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 16p.
- Place of publication:
- London
In each of the last three annual rounds of fee setting, local authorities have failed to raise fees by a sufficient amount to cover care homes’ increased costs. In the financial year 2010/11, baseline fee rates paid by local authorities increased on average by 0.7%, compared with estimated care home cost increases of 2.1%. In the financial year 2011/12, the funding gap widened with average local authority increases of just 0.3% compared with estimated care home cost increases of 2.8%. This reports suggests that the failure to agree a sustainable funding structure for the future of social care has added a further £26 million to the financial black hole in just 12 months. The funding shortfall, which now stands at £892 million for this year, is the gap between the true cost of providing high quality care and the fees paid by local authorities to care home providers in England. Central Government funding cuts and the increasing needs of an ageing population has meant that many councils are paying below-inflation care home fees for the fourth year running.
Understanding and improving transitions of older people: a user and carer centred approach
- Authors:
- ELLINS Jo, et al
- Publisher:
- National Institute for Health Research
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 169p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This project focuses on older people and their transition between different services and agencies in health and social care. Research studies and reports from inspectors have shown that older people experience many problems before, during and after transitions. This project had two key aims. First, it explored what information, support and care is needed by older people and their carers as they go through a transition. Second, the project team worked with people and organisations in four local areas to put the findings into practice. Care transitions involve far more than a move across services or settings. Participants in this study experienced transitions on a number of different levels: physical, including bodily changes as well as use of services; psychological, with changes in their identity or sense of self; and social, with changes in their relationships with partners, family and friends. These different transitions often happened simultaneously and if circumstances made coping difficult in one type of transition then it was likely to have an effect on others. Most of the suggestions participants made for improving services called for ‘micro-changes’ in the care environment and in interpersonal relationships. There was little suggestion that what was needed was new or different services; easier and earlier access to existing services emerged as a far greater priority. While these micro-changes may not cost large amounts of money, they do require committed and sustained effort to challenge existing ways of working that may be deeply ingrained in organisational and professional cultures.
Together in song
- Authors:
- CRAMPTON Jane, TAYLOR Fiona, GRADY Maggie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Dementia Care, 20(6), November 2012, pp.12-13.
- Publisher:
- Hawker
Mindsong is a social inclusion project set up in 2006 by Three Choirs Plus, the community and outreach arm of Gloucester Three Choirs Festival. The project offers music therapy to people with dementia who are either living in residential care or attending a day centre in the county. This article describes a singing event organised by Mindsong which brought together over 100 people from care home communities. ‘Together in Song’ took place in the Chapter House of Gloucester Cathedral in April 2012 with 52 residents and 49 carers and relatives and 10 Mindsong volunteers. The event was led by the music therapists and aimed to be a coming together in song rather than a performance. The pace was matched to the feel of the group, with flexibility for people to sing solos or to cut out entire songs in order to match the mood of the room. The result was an afternoon with an immense amount of community feeling and sense of togetherness. The plan is to run this event bi-annually.
Is social exclusion still important for older people?
- Author:
- KNEALE Dylan
- Publisher:
- Age UK
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 124p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Social exclusion among older people has received little attention, despite the fact that older people are at high risk of social isolation and loneliness, as well as exhibiting substantial inequalities in income and housing. The study analysed data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), collected in 2002 and 2008, to examine how patterns of social exclusion have changed. Social exclusion was measured across 7 domains including exclusion from social relationships, local amenities, financial products, civic activities and access to information, decent housing and public transport, cultural activities, and common consumer goods. The report discusses: how social exclusion can be measured among older people; factors associated with the risk of being socially excluded in 2008; how exclusion status changes over time for individuals; and the impact social exclusion has on people’s lives. The findings show that levels of social exclusion rose slightly between 2002 and 2008 among people aged 50 and above. In 2002, 54.4% were not excluded on any domain, reducing to 52.3% in 2008. The report highlights how an older person’s demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics are associated with whether or not they are socially excluded. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Older people's experience of emergency hospital readmission: research report
- Authors:
- LAWRIE Michael, BATTYE Fraser
- Publisher:
- Age UK
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 41p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Reducing the occurrence of emergency hospital readmission (an unplanned readmission within 28 days of leaving) for older people is a key issue for the NHS. Over the past decade, rates of emergency hospital readmission have risen, particularly for those over the age of 75. The aim of this study was to investigate older people’s experience of emergency readmission to hospital. The study comprised: qualitative interviews with 18 older people who have experienced an emergency readmission (and in several cases their families); a brief review of key policy documents and research; and 4 semi-structured interviews with senior stakeholders. Interviewees were asked to share their experience, beginning from their first admission to hospital through to the discharge and return home, and then their experience of the readmission to hospital. The findings show that emergency hospital readmission is a complex issue with multiple potential causes which range across an individual’s care pathway. However there are particular challenges to be addressed in the transition between secondary and primary care, and ensuring that a personalised care package is put in place in the community. Implications for Age UK both at the local and national levels are discussed.
Mapping the future of family care: receipt of informal care by older people with disabilities in England to 2032
- Authors:
- PICKARD Linda, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Society, 11(4), October 2012, pp.533-545.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
Today, in many economically developed countries, long-term care systems are reliant on informal care. However, in the context of population ageing, there are concerns about the future supply of informal care. This article reports on projections of informal care receipt by older people with disabilities from spouses and adult children to 2032 in England. The current projections show that the relative numbers of older people with disabilities who have a child will fall by 2032, and that the extent of informal care in future may be lower than previously estimated. The policy implications for England are discussed.