This chapter examines partnership as a strategy for supporting vulnerable older people who wish to continue living in their own homes. It outlines the ways in which notions of partnership have been applied to working with older people and identifies effective strategies for achieving inclusive partnerships that focus on serving the interests of older people.

Contemporary social policy reflects the tensions created by the different ways in which older people are perceived in this society. One view, that sees them as a drain on resources, a burden on society, focuses attention on the costs of caring for older people with complex health and social care needs (DoH, 2000). A second view sees older people as undervalued and excluded victims of a discriminatory, ageist society (Harding, 1997). Responses to this view have heightened the profile of anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice with older people (Age Concern, 1999; Titley, 1997). A third view that has been promoted through the campaigning activities of voluntary sector organisations and the increasingly influential voice of the user movement (Morris, 1994), sees older people as active agents of their own health and well-being, with rich potential to contribute to society (Shakespeare, 2000). New Labour has responded to this view with broad initiatives such as Better government for older people (Cabinet Office, 1998).

The recurrence of partnership as a theme in social policy has been outlined in the Introduction to this volume. With particular relevance for older service users, Building partnerships for success (DoH, 1995) argued that effective practice depends on three main elements: a commitment to the involvement and empowerment of service users and carers; a clear emphasis on outcomes as well as processes; and the importance of developing partnerships with other agencies, creating new forms of service delivery and strengthening arrangements for care management by emphasising sensitive, unbureaucratic assessments and providing services based on appropriate responses to need.

Supporting older people to maintain the degree of independence they seek requires the effective orchestration of a range of players. But, as Servian (1996) has noted, the world of community care is suffused with contradictions and tensions in power relations between carers, users, workers and managers, and the nature of partnerships is highly variable.