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Reviewing residential care reviews for older people
- Author:
- SCOURFIELD Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Practice: Social Work in Action, 19(3), September 2007, pp.199-209.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Since the introduction of care management in the early 1990s, older people in care homes are supposed to have their 'care packages' reviewed on at least an annual basis. The current system of reviewing needs to be understood in the context of an increasingly bureaucratised, deskilled and routinised system of statutory social care. By taking a very narrow consumerist approach to reviews, not only are both Review Officer and service user often alienated from the process, but the system can often add to rather than combat disempowerment. Care home residents are one of the most powerless groups in society with few opportunities to gain control over their living circumstances. The discussion raises the issue of whether residential care home reviews should always seek to involve independent advocates; as policy allows but seldom happens in practice. If this is the case, then this raises further issues of how to ensure such a service is available to all.
Issues arising for older people at the 'interface' of intermediate care and social care issues
- Author:
- SCOURFIELD Peter
- Journal article citation:
- Research Policy and Planning, 25(1), 2007, pp.57-67.
- Publisher:
- Social Services Research Group
In recent years both the Health Act 1999 and the Health and Social Care Act 2001 have paved the way for the integrated care trusts with the aim of bringing about more flexible, person-centred services for older people. Concern to avoid both unnecessary hospital admissions and so called 'bed-blocking' has led to the expansion of intermediate care services. The National Service Framework for Older People, published in 2001, further articulated these ambitions. Evaluations to date have indicated that, whilst further research is still needed to see whether all the goals have been effectively realised, intermediate care is associated with a range of perceived benefits. However, this paper highlights the fact that, on the ground there remain certain unresolved difficulties at the point where intermediate care ends and where social care begins that needed further consideration before it can be said that services are properly 'joined-up and 'person-centred'. Implications for both practice and policy are considered.
Questions raised for local authorities when old people are evicted from their care homes
- Author:
- SCOURFIELD Peter
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 34(4), June 2004, pp.501-516.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Successive government policies have created a situation where most residential and nursing care is provided by the independent sector. It is in the nature of a marketized and privatized care system that homes will periodically close or change ownership. The physical and mental well-being of elderly residents experiencing eviction and relocation can be seriously damaged by the experience. No policy and practice guidelines have been issued from central government to cover how care home closures should be managed. Local authorities are therefore dealing with such events on an ad hoc basis. Understandably, the main emphasis is often put on actually finding appropriate alternative placements. Practices vary across different local authorities. This article asks whether the necessary work required to minimize the harmful effects caused by the stress of relocation is actually being carried out properly. It also raises the questions of what exactly should be offered to older people when they are given notice to quit, who is best qualified to do the work and whether care management as it has developed within the ‘purchaser/provider framework’, is adequate to the task. In short, where can social work for older people be found when it is needed?