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Personal social services survey of home care users in England aged 65 and over, 2006-06
- Author:
- NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE. Information Centre for Health and Social Care
- Publisher:
- National Health Service. Information Centre for Health and Social Care
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 48p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The User Experience Survey is run on an annual basis and is used to target areas of particular interest within social services. Opinions are sought over a range of service areas to gain an understanding of users’ views rather than measuring quantities of care delivered. This survey is targeted at clients aged 65 and over receiving home care funded wholly or in part by Social Services. A survey of these clients was last conducted in 2002-03. This survey aims to see how the opinions of these clients have changed in the last 3 years and to gain a better understanding of how different factors effect the overall satisfaction.
Day care for the elderly part 1: definition, objectives and current level of provision for day care services
- Author:
- LENNON Joy
- Publisher:
- Cornwall Social Services Department
- Publication year:
- 1990
- Pagination:
- 74p., tables, diags., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Truro
Analyses who is in receipt of services; level of disability; complaints and dependency; day care in context; quality, quantity and level of service on offer by various agencies; assessing the service from the consumers perspective.
The welfare state, the individual and the needs for care: older people's views
- Author:
- GUNNARSSON Evy
- Journal article citation:
- International Journal of Social Welfare, 18(3), July 2009, pp.252-259.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim of this qualitative study was to study how older people experience aging and reflect on their need for care in the Swedish welfare context. Sixteen people were interviewed, aged between 77 and 92 years. Staying healthy and independent in their everyday lives were prized values for the informants. Some brushed aside thoughts of being in need of home help services in the future and others had a more reflecting attitude. The informants did not want to burden either society or their children. Through mass media and the experiences of their neighbours, they had gained a negative impression of eldercare. They were uncertain if there would be any helping hand of good quality in the future. On the other hand, informants who already had home help thought that it was helping them to maintain independence in everyday life and they were also satisfied with the help they received.
'There are wonderful social workers but it's a lottery': older people's views about social workers
- Authors:
- MANTHORPE Jill, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Social Work, 38(6), September 2008, pp.1132-1150.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This paper draws on the evaluation of the impact of the English National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) on the experiences and expectations of older people, four years into its ten-year programme. The NSFOP focuses on achieving cultural changes so that older people and their carers are treated with respect, dignity and fairness. The evaluation took a mixed methods consultation approach in ten localities. This paper focuses on what was said by older people, their carers and in voluntary sector groups about social workers’ roles and activities. The data suggest that they find social workers’ roles unclear and variable. They appreciate a person-centred approach, informed about older people’s needs in a confusing social care system. Their perceptions tally with those of social workers that the tasks of care management can be reductionist, but older people also desire specialist knowledge combined with a relationship that is ‘on their side’. Social workers’ roles in rationing support and means-testing did not seem to promote such models. At a time of rising expectations about the skills of social workers and of changes to social work roles in England and Scotland, this study provides one of the few examples of information directly gathered from older people themselves.
Receiving specialist welfare benefit advice within Social Services: a qualitative interview study of older people and their carers
- Authors:
- WINDER Rachel, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Research Policy and Planning, 26(1), 2008, pp.33-43.
- Publisher:
- Social Services Research Group
As there is little information on older people and/or their carers' experiences of receiving specialist welfare benefits advice within social services, this study undertook a qualitative interview study with service users and staff. Interviewees described difficult life circumstances around the time of referral. The complexities of accessing advice and of understanding the benefits system were recounted. Participants felt the advice was beneficial regardless of whether it resulted in additional income. The majority receiving additional benefits described a positive impact on life choices and control, quality of life, independence and health. Awareness of eligibility and availability of benefits and benefit advice remains low, and many older people and carers still feared the intrusion of benefit provision and advice. Whilst these findings confirm the valuable role of specialist benefits advice workers, more anticipatory rather than reactive approaches are needed to identify vulnerable adults who are not already known to the social care system.
Patient views of social service provision for older people with advanced heart failure
- Authors:
- GOTT Merryn, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 15(4), July 2007, pp.333-342.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The objective of the present paper is to explore levels of social service provision, the barriers to receiving these services and the experiences of social service provision amongst older people with heart failure. Five hundred and forty-two people aged over 60 years with heart failure were recruited from UK general practices in four areas of the UK, and these subjects completed quality-of-life and service-use questionnaires every 3 months for 24 months, or until death. Forty patients participated in in-depth interviews. Data collection was conducted between September 2003 and March 2006. Only 24% (n = 127) of the 460 participants who had provided information about social services contact reported having received social services during the past 24 months. Significant associations between the level of social services contact and participant characteristics were identified, with women, participants over 75 years of age, participants living alone, and those with two or more comorbidities being more likely to report receipt of social services. The qualitative data identified key barriers to using social services, including: access problems; not wanting additional help; the negative experiences of friends; and carers substituting for statutory services. The few participants interviewed who had received social services reported mixed experiences, including problems with inappropriate and insufficient services. This study indicates that only a minority of older people with heart failure have contact with social services. Improving provision for this group involves tackling the barriers to access identified above, as well as ensuring that their views influence service planning and delivery.
Using older home care user experiences in performance monitoring
- Authors:
- JONES Karen, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 15(4), July 2007, pp.322-332.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Home care services play a fundamental role in England in supporting older and disabled people in their own homes. In order to identify and monitor the degree to which these services are providing good quality services, in 2003 the government required all councils with social services responsibilities (CSSR) to undertake user experience surveys among older service users. The questionnaire was required to include four questions, two of which were designed to be used as Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) reflecting the quality of home care of older people. Thirty-four local authorities participated in an extension study providing data from 21,350 home care users. The aim of the study was to answer three questions: (1) Do the performance indicators reflect home care quality? (2) Are the performance indicators using the most appropriate cut-off points? (3) What are the underlying constructs of home care quality? Evidence was found to support the use of two of the performance indicators and the current cut-off point being used for the satisfaction indicator. Factor analysis identified indicators of important dimensions of quality that were associated with overall satisfaction.
Flexible, person-centred home care for older people
- Authors:
- PATMORE Charles, McNULTY Alison
- Publisher:
- Social Policy Research Unit. University of York
- Publication year:
- 2005
- Pagination:
- 4p.
- Place of publication:
- York
This research project interviewed older service users, home care staff, managers and social services purchasers to explore the factors which make possible a flexible, person-centred approach. The findings highlight factors which: influenced flexible, person centred help at independent agencies; led to purchasers promoting flexible, person-centred care; let purchasers to discourage the provision of flexible, person- centred care.
Improving home care quality: an individual-centred approach
- Author:
- PATMORE Charles
- Journal article citation:
- Quality in Ageing, 2(3), September 2001, pp.15-24.
- Publisher:
- Pier Professional
- Place of publication:
- Brighton
This article presents evidence for important individual differences between older people concerning what they value as high quality service from home care. A case is made for improving service quality through systematically consulting each service user about their own preferences and seeking to fulfil these requests on an individual basis. This contrasts with setting uniform quality standards for all older home care clients, based on their most commonly expressed preferences. Evidence is cited from individual interviews with older home care service users and from an experiment in modifying older people's services through briefing home care staff on the preferences of individual clients. Issues in developing this approach are discussed.
Satisfaction with the care-managed support of older people: an empirical analysis
- Authors:
- CHESTERMAN John, BAULD Linda, JUDGE Ken
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 9(1), January 2001, pp.31-42.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Using data from the study Evaluating Community Care for Elderly People (ECCEP), of physically and/or mentally frail community-based older people in England and Wales receiving community care services, this study examines three crucial aspects of user satisfaction. The measures were: initial satisfaction with the assessment process and help provided by social services; satisfaction with service levels and with the experience of social services. Examination of overall satisfaction levels provided only a partial picture, due to their association with both user characteristics and the effect of life satisfaction. Arthritis, loneliness, problems keeping warm and an inner city location were all characteristics associated with reduced satisfaction, while most resource inputs, including social work involvement, were positively related to satisfaction. General life satisfaction was also associated with increased satisfaction levels. Findings from this study highlight the complexity of interpreting satisfaction data and suggest that those responsible for designing and conducting surveys need to be aware of both the potential and pitfalls associated with using them as a means of assessing the quality of social services for older people.