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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Health and social care for older people
— progress, problems and priorities | | Author(s) | Richard Humphries |
| Journal title | Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol 16, no 1, 2015 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2015 |
| Pages | pp 27-31 |
| Source | www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/qaoa.htm |
| Keywords | Services ; Health services ; Public expenditure ; Social policy ; Practical politics ; Elections. |
| Annotation | The principal challenges facing the health and care system in England arising from an ageing population are described; and the Coalition Government's track record in tackling these. The author offers a perspective on the priorities likely to be faced by the incoming government in relation to health and social care for older people. He does so by assessing key policy documents and legislation, and interpreting published data on trends in health and social care activity and expenditure. His main finding is that an ageing population requires a fundamental shift towards a new model of care that offers better coordinated care and promotes independence and healthy ageing. The Care Act 2014 is a significant achievement and NHS spending has been protected; but resulting cuts to local government budgets have led to sharp reductions in social care for older people. The next incoming government will need to address a deepening financial crisis in health and care system; the increasingly unsustainability of means tested and rationed social care alongside universal free health care; and the need to make faster progress in developing a new models of integrated care closer to home. The issues raised in this paper affect older people as voters, tax payers, and as existing or potential users of health and social care services. As a group, they will attract significant attention from political parties during the election campaign. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170519228 A |
| Classmark | I: L: WN8: TM2: VL: VLE |
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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