Care Practice and Provision

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Chloe Maria Brierley        UNIT 10: Care Practice and Provision        AO1

AO1

Introduction

I am going to describe how demographic characteristics influence the provision of local services in the area of Eastleigh. Demographic factors have a direct impact on the planning and delivery of all types of services, non-statutory and statutory. Analysis of these characteristics will enable planners to plan the delivery of health, social, educational and early-years services to meet the needs of service users at a local level. Effective planning of care practice and provision of services aims to respond to the changing needs and priorities at a local level, but also takes into consideration national priorities. Service providers will work together to ensure they understand the requirements.

The local planning at Eastleigh Borough Council is influenced by demographic characteristics, including trends and how they compare to national statistics. It is also influenced by national standards, targets and objectives which are set by the government.

Demographic influences include the following: health needs of the population; disability; age distribution of the population; unemployment; number of single parent families; the number of older people. I will investigate two of those demographic influences, namely the age distribution and the health needs of the population.

Planners will use and establish targets or objectives against which progress or success can be measured. These will include national minimum standards, national service frameworks, strategic health authority targets and local health strategy targets.

In the document “Eastleigh Borough Community Plan 2004” the council sets out its vision for the future of Eastleigh. It recognises that the changing age structure of the population will have an effect on the population’s need for services. What is to be done about it is the remit of the Eastleigh Strategic Partnership. Their stated aim is to improve the quality of life of everyone and includes achieving a healthier Eastleigh.

Age distribution of the population

The number of people in different age ranges can be used to plan for services in the future.  Knowing the age profile of a population also helps to project the cost of health and social care services, since that cost varies with age. This will help the planning departments when applying for government funding.

 Each different age has specific needs, and knowing the future age distribution will enable service providers to plan for the future. Knowing for example how many children are going to be of primary school age in 5 years time can allow planners to determine how many school places are needed at a local level. Birth rates can also help to plan for pre-and school places. The number of babies and children in the local population will help plan for primary health care services such as general hospital services including maternity services, mental health care, speech therapy and dentistry. Social care service needs are going to include services such as fostering, child protection and family support groups’ services. The early year services needs, will include child minders, preschool/nursery places, family centres, crèches, parent and toddler support groups.

The number of adolescents in the population will be needed to plan for other aspects of health care services such as, health care school medical services, dentistry, including orthodontics, mental health care and health promotion, including looking at smoking, drugs and alcohol.  Social care services will need to plan additionally for say youth offending centres, child protection work, youth work and support groups services.

Social care services that will need to be planned according to the adult population include housing services, residential care, refuges, counselling, information and advice services.  The care needs for older people are significantly more than those of younger people. The average cost of treatment for an individual over 85 is five times that of someone in the 45-64 age bracket. The proportion of older people in the population and how it is changing will be needed to plan additional health care needs that will include many specialist hospital services, nursing homes and hospices. At that age, the availability of complementary therapies such as chiropractic needs to be considered. Social care services will need to plan for sheltered /supported housing, residential care, home help and day centres for example.

I have looked at the distribution of the population of Eastleigh looking at the most recent data available which come from the 2001 census. (See graph below)

Graph comparing population distribution of Eastleigh Borough council to national distribution. Source of data: 2001 census.

The significant points, in addition to total population in each group, which would provide important information for future health and social care service provision, are the following:

  • The proportion of population 60-80+ is less than average.
  • The proportion of population 5-14 is greater than average.
  • The proportion of population 20-34 is less than average (particularly 20-24)
  • The proportion  of population 35-49 greater than average (40-49 particularly)
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This would have several implications for planners. There needs to be planning for more than an average number adolescent linked services such as those above. Development of maternity services do not need to be a priority since the women in the age range who are most likely to be giving birth in the next few years are underrepresented (20-24). The lower than average elderly population will mean that services catering for older people are going to be needed less than on average nationally. However if the population is assumed to be static, and the peak at middle age was to ...

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

A good essay that looks at how planning is made for care provision. There are a few areas that are out of date due to the current Government legislation but the essay makes good use of data to support the ideas. It is a middle band essay at times that could be easily extended by the writer including more explanation in certain areas. ****