The Northern Ireland Executive announced its intention to create a Northern Ireland Commissioner for Older People.
Source: Press release 18 December 2007, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 0500)
Links: NIE press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
A report published by the social care inspectorate examined the use of restraint in the care of older people. Clear guidelines and well resourced services were needed to ensure dignity of care for people who used social services.
Source: Rights, Risks and Restraints: An exploration into the use of restraint in the care of older people, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | Counsel and Care press release | RRA press release | Telegraph report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Dec
A paper examined a survey of older people's experiences of home care services. No significant change in satisfaction between 2003 and 2006 was found.
Source: Juliettte Malley, Ann Netten and Karen Jones, Using Survey Data to Measure Changes in the Quality of Home Care: Analysis of the Older People's User Experience Survey 2006, Discussion Paper 2417/2, Personal Social Services Research Unit/University of Kent (01227 823963)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the public's awareness of 'elder abuse'. Older people believed that there was less neglect and mistreatment of older people than younger people; women perceived it more than men; and there were regional variations in these perceptions. One-quarter said that they knew an older person who had experienced neglect or mistreatment, and such reports were most likely among the middle-aged and women. The most frequently reported locations of abuse were care homes and hospitals, and the most commonly reported form was inadequate or insufficient personal care.
Source: Shereen Hussein, Jill Manthorpe and Bridget Penhale, 'Public perceptions of the neglect and mistreatment of older people: findings of a United Kingdom survey', Ageing and Society, Volume 27 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
A report said that basic standards of dignity and respect were being ignored in the care of dementia sufferers in residential homes. Families were often wary of complaining in case their relatives suffered reprisals.
Source: Home From Home: Quality of care for people with dementia living in care homes, Alzheimer's Society (020 7306 0606)
Links: Report | Alzheimer's Society press release | ADASS press release | Help the Aged press release | Counsel and Care press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Community Care report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Nov
A literature review examined interventions that were available for adults 'at risk' of abuse and harm. It looked at those relating to different types of harm against adults (physical; psychological; financial; sexual; discriminatory; and neglect). It highlighted interventions used at three different stages in relation to abuse (prevention; responding to allegations; and remedying harm). There were a number of common themes across the interventions which suggested transferability between types of abuse and stage of intervention.
Source: Halina Kalaga and Paul Kingston with Bridget Penhale and JoyAnn Andrews, A Review of Literature on Effective Interventions that Prevent and Respond to Harm Against Adults, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Nov
A report evaluated the 'partnerships for older people' projects (designed to encourage early interventions in the community in order to promote independence, health, and well-being for older people, and to prevent or delay the need for residential alternatives). Early indications were that pilot sites were having a significant effect on reducing hospital emergency bed day use compared with non-pilot sites. Pilot sites were reporting improved access for excluded groups through pro-active case finding, greater publicity, and links with the voluntary sector.
Source: National Evaluation of Partnerships for Older People Projects: Interim Report of Progress, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | Counsel and Care press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Nov
A paper examined the economic benefits of LinkAge Plus, a programme aimed at improving the provision of services and benefits to older people.
Source: Peter Watt and Ian Blair, with Howard Davis and Katrina Ritters, Towards a Business Case for LinkAge Plus, Working Paper 42, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2007-Nov
A study examined the evidence of long-term reductions in the need for homecare by people who had had experience of re-ablement services. There was a compelling case for local councils to consider the introduction of homecare re-ablement (services for people with poor physical or mental health, designed to help them accommodate their illness by learning or re-learning the skills necessary for daily living).
Source: Elizabeth Newbronner et al., Homecare Re-ablement: Retrospective Longitudinal Study, Care Services Efficiency Delivery Programme/Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Nov
An article examined the impact of the National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) on the experiences and expectations of older people, 4 years into its 10-year programme. If asked, older people did not perceive improvements as the result of a NSFOP: but nonetheless they did perceive improvements in systems.
Source: Jill Manthorpe et al., 'Four years on: the impact of the National Service Framework for Older People on the experiences, expectations and views of older people', Age and Ageing, Volume 36 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
The social care inspectorate said that although care homes were improving the information they gave to prospective residents, advertised fees for places in the same care home could vary hugely, sometimes from £650 to £1,500 a week – and without a clear explanation of why some people paid more than others, or of what their money would buy.
Source: A Fair Contract with Older People? A special study of people's experiences when finding a care home, Commission for Social Care Inspection (0845 015 0120)
Links: Report | CSCI press release | RNHA press release | NCF press release | ECCA press release | Help the Aged press release | Age Concern press release | LGA press release | Community Care report | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined how moves to bring older people into deliberative democratic processes had tended to exclude those in institutional settings. Without a significant investment in independent advocacy services, the government could not deliver on its own agenda of empowerment, active citizenship, and inclusion.
Source: Peter Scourfield, 'Helping older people in residential care remain full citizens', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 37 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
A report examined the civil and social justice needs of people in later life. Over a 3-year survey period, just over one-quarter of older people (aged 50 or over) reported having encountered one or more civil law problems. Having a long-term illness or disability, being in receipt of benefits, or having a very low income were particularly associated with civil justice problems in later life.
Source: Civil and Social Justice Needs of Older People, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Report | ASA press release
Date: 2007-Oct
An annual report on the care market said that the elderly care population had fallen slightly between 2006 and 2007, from 421,000 to 420,000. The 1993 figure was 511,000, since when numbers had fallen each year.
Source: William Laing, Care of Elderly People Market Survey 2007, Laing & Buisson (020 7833 9123)
Links: L&B press release | Help the Aged press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Sep
An independent inquiry said that more than 3.5 million older people with mental health problems did not receive adequate services and support.
Source: Michele Lee, Improving Services and Support for Older People with Mental Health Problems, UK Inquiry Into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life, c/o Age Concern England (020 8765 7434)
Links: Report | Summary | Age Concern press release | Mind press release | NHS Confederation press release | NCF press release | RCP press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that many hospitals and care homes were failing to protect the human rights of older people in their care.
Source: The Human Rights of Older People in Healthcare, Eighteenth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 378 and HL 156, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons) Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | CHAI press release | DRC press release | NHS Confederation press release | LGA press release | RNHA press release | RCP press release | NIHRC press release | BBC report | Guardian report | FT report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
A study found that developers of extra care housing for frail elderly people needed to consider how they could provide care and support services for residents outside of working hours.
Source: Simon Evans and Sarah Vallelly, Social Well-being in Extra Care Housing, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | Literature review | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
An article examined the effects of socio-demographic factors – including housing tenure, household type, marital status, and number of children – on the proportions of elderly people who made a transition from living in the community in 1991 to living in institutional care in 2001. Older age, living in rented accommodation, living alone in 1991 and being unmarried in 2001, as well as long-term illness, were associated with higher proportions making this transition.
Source: Emily Grundy and Mark Jitlal, 'Socio-demographic variations in moves to institutional care 1991-2001: a record linkage study from England and Wales', Age and Ageing, Volume 36 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
The Welsh Assembly government announced that it would appoint a commissioner for older people – the first in the United Kingdom. The commissioner would be given statutory powers to review the impact of public services on older people and examine the reasons for any failings.
Source: Press release 12 July 2007, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article (by an opposition Conservative Party spokesperson) said that the generation born immediately after World War Two had benefited from a favourable macro-economic environment throughout their lives, while the relatively small generation following them would bear the brunt of paying for the pensions and healthcare of their predecessors. Such extreme differences in the benefits and burdens of different generations over their life-cycles might need to be ameliorated in order to avoid a breakdown in the informal intergenerational social contract, which had sustained support for the welfare state over several decades.
Source: David Willetts, 'Social justice across the generations', Benefits, Volume 15 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
A paper examined the range of ways in which local authorities could make it easier for older home-owners to release equity in their homes, in order to pay for additional care services or essential repairs to their home.
Source: Rachel Terry and Richard Gibson, Local Government Support for Equity Release, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Date: 2007-Jul
An annual survey found that local councils had restricted access and increased charges for older people?s care between 2006 and 2007.
Source: Care Contradictions: Higher charges and fewer services, Counsel and Care (020 7241 8555)
Links: Report | Counsel and Care press release | ADSS press release | Help the Aged press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined debates concerning the costs of long-term care for older people, and gave an overview of the related research agenda, referring primarily to work published in 2000-2006. The focus of much work was on the identification of costs, their distribution, and the contexts of policy and delivery of services in which these operated.
Source: Alison Bowes, 'Research on the costs of long-term care for older people: current and emerging issues', Social Policy and Society, Volume 6 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined the public expenditure costs and distributional effects of potential reforms to long-term care funding. Changes to the means tests for user contributions to care costs were compared with options for the abolition of these means tests ('free' personal care). The latter generally cost more than the former and benefited higher-income groups more than those on lower incomes (measuring income in relation to the age-specific income distribution). Reforms to the means-tests target benefited those on lower incomes: but the highest-income group were net losers if free personal care was financed by a higher tax rate on higher incomes, and the effect on the whole population considered.
Source: Ruth Hancock et al., 'Winners and losers: assessing the distributional effects of long-term care funding regimes', Social Policy and Society, Volume 6 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined the housing and care aspects of retirement villages. It considered residents' motivations for moving to such villages; their views about the accommodation; and their use of and satisfaction with the social and leisure amenities.
Source: Miriam Bernard, Bernadette Bartlam, Julius Sim and Simon Biggs, 'Housing and care for older people: life in an English purpose-built retirement village', Ageing and Society, Volume 27 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined the problem of delayed discharges from hospital in England, and sought to identify best practice at sites with consistently low rates of delay. The government's reimbursement scheme appeared to have been largely helpful in the study sites, prompting efficiency-driven changes to the organization of services and discharge systems.
Source: Matt Baumann et al., 'Organisation and features of hospital, intermediate care and social services in English sites with low rates of delayed discharge', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined projections of receipt of informal care by disabled older people from their spouses and (adult) children to 2031 in England. Over the period, care by spouses was likely to increase substantially: but if existing patterns of care remained the same, care by children would also need to increase by nearly 60 per cent by 2031. It was not clear that the supply of care by children would rise to meet this demand.
Source: Linda Pickard, Raphael Wittenberg, Adelina Comas-Herrera, Derek King and Juliette Malley, 'Care by spouses, care by children: projections of informal care for older people in England to 2031', Social Policy and Society, Volume 6 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
Researchers examined the operation of the Partnership Fund. They highlighted the beneficial ways in which funded projects had helped older people to overcome barriers to accessing benefits and services.
Source: Rosalind Tennant, Stephen Webster, Meg Callanan, Joanne Maher and William O?Connor, Helping Older People Engage with Benefits and Services: An evaluation of the Partnership Fund, Research Report 441, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Jun
A survey found that major providers owned or operated 212,000 of the 411,000 places in independent sector care homes for older people in April 2007 - a market share of 52 per cent, compared with 49 per cent in 2006. (Major providers were defined as any group providing three or more care homes.)
Source: Long Term Care: Directory of Major Providers 2007, Laing & Buisson (020 7833 9123)
Links: L&B press release
Date: 2007-Jun
Three linked articles examined key features of the Wanless report on alternative mechanisms for funding the long-term care of older people. Failure to meet the challenges set out in the report would increase the risk that the policy system would reinforce rather than reduce the gross inequity and inefficiency caused by the under-funding of long-term care.
Source: Bleddyn Davies, 'Securing good care for older people: taking a long-term view', Ageing Horizons, Issue 6 | Raphael Wittenberg and Juliette Malley, 'Financing long-term care for older people in England', Ageing Horizons, Issue 6 | Martin Karlsson, 'Distributional effects of reform in long-term care', Ageing Horizons, Issue 6
Links: Davies article | Wittenberg article | Karlsson article
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that 342,000 people over the age of 66 had been victims of abuse, ranging from financial fraud to emotional abuse and even assault. The majority of abusers, 53 per cent, were living in the respondent's house at the time of the abuse.
Source: Madeleine O?Keeffe et al., UK Study of Abuse and Neglect of Older People, Comic Relief UK (020 7820 5555) and Department of Health
Links: Report | Summary | DH press release | NatCen press release | CSCI press release | Help the Aged press release | LGA press release | Carers UK press release | UKHCA press release | Community Care report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that the failure of public authorities to outlaw discrimination meant that older people were often denied life-saving treatment, discouraged from accessing vital health tests, and denied transforming health and social care and mental health services. In-built discriminatory regulations, unfair practices, and ageist attitudes all combined to mean older people ? the primary users of health and social care ? often received inferior care and unequal public services.
Source: Age of Equality? Outlawing age discrimination beyond the work place, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200)
Links: Age Concern press release
Date: 2007-May
An article used the example of long-term care for older people to illustrate the arguments over 'equity' in public services.
Source: Justin Keen, Chris Deeming, Jeanette Moore and Helen Weatherly, 'New Labour, equity and public services: a Rawlsian perspective', Policy & Politics, Volume 35 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-May
Researchers found that respite for carers of frail elderly people might have a small positive effect upon carers: but there was no reliable evidence that respite either benefited or adversely affected care recipients.
Source: Anne Mason et al., Systematic Review of the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Different Models of Community-based Respite Care for Frail Older People and Their Carers, Health Technology Assessment, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Date: 2007-Apr
Campaigners said that the system of paying for social care in England was not keeping pace with changing demographics and ever-increasing needs. They urged the government to develop a long-term plan to balance public and private responsibility for paying for services.
Source: Undervalued, Underfunded and Unfit: A fresh approach to social care for older people in England, Help the Aged (020 7278 1114)
Links: Report | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2007-Mar
An article examined how dying and death in care homes for older people were regulated and inspected. If the regulation and inspection process were to integrate dying with living, a broader conception and regime of inspection was required: only then would end-of-life care be provided that met the diverse needs of older people who lived in care homes.
Source: Katherine Froggatt, 'The "regulated death": a documentary analysis of the regulation and inspection of dying and death in English care homes for older people', Ageing and Society, Volume 27 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
A study examined the barriers preventing older people from accessing practical everyday services, and what improvements could be made in assessing their needs and providing these services. Public services could only help older people to lead fuller lives if there were local collaborations of paid staff, politicians, service providers, and older people themselves.
Source: Roger Clough et al., The Support Older People Want and the Services They Need, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan
An official report said that reconfiguring specialist services to bring care closer to home would make a big difference to the lives of older people and their families. It set out a 5-point plan to improve older people's services through: early intervention; long-term conditions management; early supported discharge; acute hospital care when needed; and partnership working. This was already happening in some areas: but it needed to happen across the whole country.
Source: Ian Philp (National Director for Older People), A Recipe for Care ? Not a Single Ingredient, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report | DH press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
A review examined research evidence on the service outcomes valued by older people, and the factors that facilitated and inhibited achieving these outcomes.
Source: Caroline Glendinning et al., Outcomes-focused Services for Older People, Social Care Institute for Excellence (020 7089 6840)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report examined the gap between what older people needed and the care and support that was available. With an ageing population, urgent action was needed to stop the 'care gap' widening.
Source: Closing the Care Gap: Getting better care and support for older people, Counsel and Care (020 7241 8555)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan
A discussion paper examined how care services could be reshaped to deliver the goals of the health and social care White Paper. It called for improved commissioning of advice, advocacy, and information; earlier intervention; individual budgets and direct payments; and greater use of telecare.
Source: Caroline Bernard, Real Choice, Real Voice: Older people in control, Counsel and Care (020 7241 8555)
Links: Discussion paper
Date: 2007-Jan
A report examined attitudes to ?free? personal care for older people. A majority of people in Scotland backed the Scottish Executive?s policy of providing ?free? care: but people in England and Wales backed the United Kingdom government?s policy that how much help a person received should depend on how much money they had.
Source: Rachel Ormston, John Curtice and Helen Fawcett, 'Who should pay for my care ? when I'm 64??, British Social Attitudes: The 23rd Report - Perspectives on a changing society, SAGE Publications Ltd (020 7324 8500)
Links: Natcen press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The Northern Ireland Executive published the first annual report on its strategy for improving the lives of older people (launched in March 2005). It said that 'significant progress' had been made by government departments.
Source: Ageing in an Inclusive Society: 2005/06 Annual Report at March 2006, Northern Ireland Executive (028 9052 2236)
Links: Report | NIE press release
Date: 2007-Jan
