Discuss the key issues in service provision for the elderly
Discuss the key issues in service provision for the elderly
Key issues:
demographics will effect service provision
organisation - lack of co-ordination see Victor p 9
costs
Older people are the largest group of recipients of care in the community (BMA 1992). Following the Griffiths Report (1988), the incumbent government published a white paper entitled ‘Caring for people’ (1989) outlining their objectives for care in the community. They proposed that community care arrangements should enable people to live as independently as possible. By encouraging the use of both private and voluntary sectors in the provision of services the government hoped to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness. The following NHS and Community Care Act (1990) required local authorities to spend 85% of their funds in the independent sector; this was to a shift in role for Las, from being largely service providers to largely service purchasers. Many commentators have argued that this represented a shift in the meaning of care in the community to care by the community (Johnson 1999(powell). Since Labour’s election to power, little attention has been paid to the issue of community care for the elderly compared to other social policies such as social exclusion (Johnson 1999 powell). Legislation remains unchanged and whilst both governments have emphasised the development of needs-led services, what remains is still a resources-led service with older people having to ‘make do’ (Johnson 1999).
