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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Old age mental health services in England
— implementing the National Service Framework for Older People | | Author(s) | Sue Tucker, Robert Baldwin, Jane Hughes |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 22, no 3, March 2007 |
| Pages | pp 211-217 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Mental disorder ; Psychiatric treatment ; Coordination ; Interaction [welfare services] ; Multi disciplinary ; Social surveys ; England. |
| Annotation | There is much variation in the services provided for older people with mental health problems. In England, the National Service Framework for Older People (NSF) sought to address these inconsistencies and improve care. This study describes the situation three years after its publication. A postal survey of old age psychiatrists collected data on the NSF mental health model, the nature of the specialist generic services interface, and the degree of interdisciplinary or interagency working. 318 consultants (72%) responded. Considerable differences existed in the deployment of key professionals within community teams, with more than a third lacking ring-fenced social work time. Few services had dedicated rehabilitation beds and nearly a third lacked separate facilities for people with organic and functional illnesses. Increasing numbers of consultants had access to a memory clinic, and there was some suggestion that liaison services were developing, but little indication of increased support for care homes. Several services had yet to agree protocols with primary care or to implement measures promoting effective information sharing and integrated care, and there was little evidence that the implementation of the Single Assessment Process (SAP) had significantly changed practice. Although just over half of consultants reported that mental health services were improving, less than a quarter considered community provision adequate. Three years after publication of the NSF there remained significant gaps in services for older people with mental health problems and substantial variation in provision between districts. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-070627207 A |
| Classmark | E: LP: QAJ: QK6: 3DM: 3F: 82 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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