This edited book provides a comprehensive international survey of long-term care provision and regulation, built around a series of case studies from Europe, North America and Asia. The analytical framework allows the different approaches that countries have adopted to be compared side by side and readers are encouraged to consider which quality assurance approaches might best meet their own country's needs. Wider issues underpinning the need to regulate the quality of long-term care are also discussed. The book is aimed at policymakers working in the health care sector, researchers and students taking graduate courses on health policy and management.
(Edited publisher abstract)
This edited book provides a comprehensive international survey of long-term care provision and regulation, built around a series of case studies from Europe, North America and Asia. The analytical framework allows the different approaches that countries have adopted to be compared side by side and readers are encouraged to consider which quality assurance approaches might best meet their own country's needs. Wider issues underpinning the need to regulate the quality of long-term care are also discussed. The book is aimed at policymakers working in the health care sector, researchers and students taking graduate courses on health policy and management.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
long term care, quality assurance, regulation, comparative studies, older people, case studies;
Location(s):
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, England, Netherlands, Spain, Finland, United States, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, China
This study compared how older people use quality information to choose residential care providers in England, the Netherlands and Spain (Catalonia). The availability of information varies between each country, from detailed inspection and survey information in the Netherlands, through to a lack of publicly available information in Catalonia. We used semi-structured interviews and group workshops with older people, families and professionals to compare experiences of the decision-making process and quality information, and also to explore what quality information might be used in the future. We found that most aspects of the decision-making experience and preferences for future indicators were similar across the three countries. The use of quality information was minimal across all three, even in England and the Netherlands where information was widely available. Differences arose mainly from factors with the supply of care. Older people were most interested in the subjective experiences of other residents and relatives, rather than ‘hard’ objective indicators of aspects such as clinical care. We find that the amount of publicly available quality information does not in itself influence the decisions or the decision-making processes of older people and their carers. To improve the quality of decisions, more effort needs to be taken to increase awareness and to communicate quality in more accessible ways, including significant support from professionals and better design of quality information.
(Edited publisher abstract)
This study compared how older people use quality information to choose residential care providers in England, the Netherlands and Spain (Catalonia). The availability of information varies between each country, from detailed inspection and survey information in the Netherlands, through to a lack of publicly available information in Catalonia. We used semi-structured interviews and group workshops with older people, families and professionals to compare experiences of the decision-making process and quality information, and also to explore what quality information might be used in the future. We found that most aspects of the decision-making experience and preferences for future indicators were similar across the three countries. The use of quality information was minimal across all three, even in England and the Netherlands where information was widely available. Differences arose mainly from factors with the supply of care. Older people were most interested in the subjective experiences of other residents and relatives, rather than ‘hard’ objective indicators of aspects such as clinical care. We find that the amount of publicly available quality information does not in itself influence the decisions or the decision-making processes of older people and their carers. To improve the quality of decisions, more effort needs to be taken to increase awareness and to communicate quality in more accessible ways, including significant support from professionals and better design of quality information.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
choice, decision making, older people, residential care, access to information, information needs, comparative studies, quality assurance;
Post general election edition including many of the concerns raised in the 1997 election campaign. Section 1 looks at current welfare policy and provision in Britain and section 2 examines international developments. Includes papers on: social policy under the Major governments; welfare to work; towards a learning society or towards 'learningfare'; the Family Law Act 1996; charging for community care; funding long-term care; issues facing the social services workforce; the experience of black workers in the social care workforce; the new boundaries of health and welfare in collaborative care; quality services in quasi markets; the relationship between social policy, its producers and consumers; the future of the welfare state; comparing welfare states; family-state boundaries in Europe; familism and selectivism in community care for the elderly - a comparison of the Republic of Ireland and the UK; social policy in Portugal; the welfare state and the Spanish socialists; and East Asian social policy.
Post general election edition including many of the concerns raised in the 1997 election campaign. Section 1 looks at current welfare policy and provision in Britain and section 2 examines international developments. Includes papers on: social policy under the Major governments; welfare to work; towards a learning society or towards 'learningfare'; the Family Law Act 1996; charging for community care; funding long-term care; issues facing the social services workforce; the experience of black workers in the social care workforce; the new boundaries of health and welfare in collaborative care; quality services in quasi markets; the relationship between social policy, its producers and consumers; the future of the welfare state; comparing welfare states; family-state boundaries in Europe; familism and selectivism in community care for the elderly - a comparison of the Republic of Ireland and the UK; social policy in Portugal; the welfare state and the Spanish socialists; and East Asian social policy.
Subject terms:
interagency cooperation, long term care, multidisciplinary services, older people, policy formulation, quality assurance, service users, social policy, social workers, staff, training, welfare state, black and minority ethnic people, central government, charges, community care, comparative studies, education, families, employment, financing;