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When practical help is valued so much by older people, why do professionals fail to recognise its value?
- Authors:
- BRANNELLY Tula, MATTHEWS Bob
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Integrated Care, 18(2), April 2010, pp.33-40.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article, drawing on the evaluation of a handyperson service which augments health and social services to enable older frail people to remain living at home, considers current trends and policy, and asks why practical help is under-valued by professionals caring for older people. While policy has promoted needs led services, research has found that services are risk-led and responsive to crisis rather than need. The Birmingham Handyperson Service, established as a response to unmet needs, and eventually receiving health and social service funding, provides free home maintenance by the organisation, with service users being required to meet the cost of materials. The authors surveyed 75 older people receiving the service. Findings highlighted the: cost effectiveness, especially to the NHS (where the cost of a single hip fracture offsets the schemes annual running cost); fears of older people in letting in strangers; changes to family models; complexity of need; recognition of dependency; health and gender inequality; and training and responsibility of the handy-people. Nearly 83% of the respondents thought that the Handyperson scheme was an important reason they were still living in their own home. The scheme also installed safety features into homes aimed at preventing falls, a responsibility that social services failed to provide within reasonable timescales. The authors conclude that the more informed policy makers are about practical solutions the better the situation and choices for older people.
They've had a good innings: can the NHS cope with an ageing population?
- Authors:
- EVANS John Grimley, et al
- Publisher:
- Civitas
- Publication year:
- 2003
- Pagination:
- 70p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Elderly patients are systematically discriminated against in the NHS. This report reveals that victims of heart disease, stroke and breast cancer die early and unnecessarily in Britain compared with most other Western European countries, and access to care is limited by age. One explanation for this worrying situation is that some doctors take the view that the elderly have had a ‘good innings' and prefer to spend their limited budgets on younger people. This view is reinforced by the tendency to treat individuals as if the average characteristics of their group, the old, applied to every individual. However, medical decisions should be based on an individual assessment of each patient, and the physical condition of people of the same chronological age varies substantially. However, age discrimination is the inevitable legacy of decades of rationing health care in a state-run, tax-funded system. 'If there are too few doctors to go around, even the most dedicated will find themselves routinely concocting excuses for not providing clinically necessary treatments'.
How to ensure your service is responsive to the needs of carers: a guide and action planning tool for managers and staff working in the health service in Newcastle
- Author:
- NEWCASTLE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE. Newcastle Carers project
- Publisher:
- Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service. Newcastle Carers Project
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 20p.
- Place of publication:
- Newcastle upon Tyne
This guide and action planning tool aims to assist staff working in the health service to implement carer related elements in various government guidance. This includes 'Caring for carers', 'National framework for mental health', 'National framework for older people', NHS plan 2001 and 'Valuing people'.
Lost and confused
- Authors:
- JANZON Karin, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health Service Journal, 9.11.00, 2000, pp.26-29.
- Publisher:
- Emap Healthcare
Little is known about the needs of people entering nursing and residential homes. Reports on research at Barking and Havering health authority which suggests the NHS may be failing them.
Delayed discharge, a solvable problem?: the place of intermediate care in mental health care of older people
- Authors:
- PATON J. M., FAHY M. A., LIVINGSTONE G. A.
- Journal article citation:
- Aging and Mental Health, 8(1), January 2004, pp.34-39.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
The National Service Framework for Older People envisages the development of intermediate care for older people. This study examined the possible role of intermediate care beds within mental health trusts. We interviewed senior clinicians in an inner city old age psychiatry service about the 91 current in-patients on the old age psychiatric wards. Sixty-five were classified as acute patients and the remaining 26 were continuing care patients. Structured instruments were used to collect information regarding neuropsychiatric symptoms, activities of daily living and current met and unmet needs. Where discharge was delayed an assessment was made regarding the appropriateness for an intermediate care setting according to the criteria set by the Department of Health guidelines. A total of 30 (46%) patients' discharges were delayed. Of these, 19 (29%) patients met the DOH criteria for intermediate care; 10 (53%) had dementia, five (26%) affective disorder, and four (21%) with schizophrenia. The 11 other delayed discharges were because of lack of availability of finance for placements. The study found that the prompt discharge of older patients from acute psychiatric care was a significant problem and many of those patients may benefit from the therapeutic and rehabilitative process afforded by intermediate care.
Educating nursing staff involved in the provision of dementia care
- Authors:
- BURGESS Lorraine, PAGE Sean
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 18.11.03, 2003, pp.34-37.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Evidence from several studies suggests that general nurses and acute health care staff do not always have an adequate understanding of the needs of people with dementia. This has major implications for the quality of care that is delivered and the well-being of people with dementia and a concurrent medical or surgical condition. This article describes how the creation of the role of nurse educator in dementia care helped to address this problem in one NHS trust. Outlines the training and provides and evaluation of the strategy.
Recognising mental health problems in older patients
- Author:
- SAYERS Jayne
- Journal article citation:
- Nursing Times, 30.11.00, 2000, pp.41-42.
- Publisher:
- Nursing Times
Mental ill health is not an inevitable part of growing old, yet all too often the needs of older people are overlooked. Describes how one trust is tackling this problem.
Health care needs in later life: consumer views; a literature review focusing on the unmet health needs and the untreated health problems identified by older people and their carers
- Author:
- HADRIDGE Philip
- Publisher:
- East Anglian Regional Health Authority
- Publication year:
- 1993
- Pagination:
- 104p.,list of orgs.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
Contains sections on: primary health care services; care at home; professions allied to medicine (chiropody, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dietetics, hearing services); institutional care; carers; mental health; responsiveness; and access to services.
A new generational contract: the final report of the Intergenerational Commission
- Author:
- RESOLUTION FOUNDATION
- Publisher:
- Resolution Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2018
- Pagination:
- 229
- Place of publication:
- London
The final report of the Intergenerational Commission, which was convened by the Resolution Foundation to explore questions of intergenerational fairness in Britain. It provides an analysis of the intergenerational challenges the country faces and sets out a policy programme to tackle them. It draws on an examination of the experiences and prospects of different generations in Britain covering the areas of jobs and pay; housing; pensions, and living standards. The findings include that young adults have experienced poor pay outcomes, in contrast to older generations and young adults are making no income progress and accumulating much less wealth. The report also highlights risk for older people, due increasing need for health and social care services. Recommendations for policy include an increase in public funding for social care of more than £2 billion from reformed taxation of property, alongside property-based private contributions towards care costs; and the introduction of an ‘NHS levy’ via National Insurance on the earnings of those above State Pension age and limited National Insurance on occupational pension income. (Edited publisher abstract)