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Who should care for the frail elderly? A survey of medical and nursing staff
Author(s) -
Victor Christina R.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930061009
Subject(s) - nursing , dementia , medicine , population , diversity (politics) , health care , nursing care , nursing homes , institutionalisation , geriatrics , long term care , gerontology , family medicine , disease , sociology , psychiatry , political science , environmental health , pathology , anthropology , law
Community care has been the main policy for the care of frail elderly people in Britain in the postwar period. Currently most care is provided by the informal sector, with state domiciliary services playing a residual role. In long‐term hospital beds or residential/nursing homes, institutional care is received by only a minority of elderly and has a very poor public image. One hundred and thirty‐nine medical and nursing hospital staff in an inner London health district were surveyed about (a) their knowledge of elderly people and (b) their views on the care of the frail elderly. Respondents overestimated the proportion of elderly in the general population and the proportion receiving community care services. Community care as opposed to institution care was the respondents' favoured general policy option. However, when presented with different types of frail elderly varying responses were elicted. For personal care tasks the family was seen as the most appropriate provider; state domiciliary services were seen as appropriate for house care tasks and incontinence. For severe dementia institutional provision and domiciliary services and not the family were the favoured care option. This illustrates that the frail elderly are not a homogeneous group and policies for their care must recognise the diversity of needs which this group presents.