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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Helping older people in residential care remain full citizens | | Author(s) | Peter Scourfield |
| Journal title | British Journal of Social Work, vol 37, no 7, October 2007 |
| Pages | pp 1135-1152 |
| Source | http://bjsw.oxfordjournals.org |
| Keywords | Residents [care homes] ; Care homes ; Citizenship ; Advocacy ; Rights [elderly]. |
| Annotation | Older care home residents are services users, but as people, they should not be reduced to this role only. They are also citizens in the broadest sense and should not be cut adrift from debates on issues that concern them. This paper examines how moves to bring older people into deliberative democratic processes have tended to focus on those in their "Third Age". Those in institutional settings, being in the "Fourth Age", occupy a much more marginal position. This effective disenfranchisement is yet another reason why, for many, the move in to residential care - a difficult transition for a variety of reasons - becomes regarded as the "last refuge". It contributes to the sense of loss of identity, lowering of self-esteem and a reduced sense of personhood. This paper accepts that there should be more effective involvement of care home residents in decision making about their personal care. However, there are dangers in adopting a too narrowly consumerist approach. This can reinforce a reductionist view of care home residents simply as "service users" - a form of "othering" in itself. As citizens and members of a wider community, they should be included in consultations about any community and wider political debates that affect them. Such a proposal implies a widening and deepening of advocacy services available to this group. As most older people in residential care are there following the intervention of a social care professional, then ensuring that they have access to advocacy must surely be a key task. This paper argues that this is frustrated by the lack of suitable services. Without significant investment by the Government in independent advocacy services, not only is the social work task with one of social care's core client groups rendered impossible, but the Government cannot deliver on its own agenda of empowerment, active citizenship and inclusion. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080219001 A |
| Classmark | KX: KW: IKC: IQ: IKR |
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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