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Continuing care of Old People—A Medical Viewpoint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Richard Lewis  and
John Wattis
Richard Lewis
Affiliation:
Consultant in Psychiatry of Old Age Pen-Y-Fal Hospital, Abervagenny, Gwent, Wales.
John Wattis
Affiliation:
Senior Lecturer/Consultant, Department of Psychiatry of Old Age. St. James' University Hospital, Leeds, England.
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Abstract

Provision for old people who are in need of continuing care requires close co-operation between informal carers and different agencies and disciplines providing health and social care. In the United Kingdom, the present system of care has evolved from earlier patterns of care centred on the asylums and the poor law with its workhouse institutions. It lacks cohesion. Despite the designation of old people as a priority group, resources are still inadequate to provide a good quality of care. Organisational differences between health and social services can lead to inefficient use of existing resources. More specialised medical, psychiatric and social services for old people enhance the possibilities for co-operation even though they may appear to lead to greater fragmentation. The history of the development of these services in the UK, including the recent expansion of private sector care, is reviewed, with special attention from the medical perspective to the phenomenon of ‘bed blocking’. The recently published Griffiths Report on community care is briefly considered, and some principles for future developments are laid down.

Type
Review Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , June 1988 , pp. 189 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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