Home, independence and community care : time for a wider vision?
- UK : Policy Press, oct. 1997
This article begins by looking at past policy assumptions about the importance of home and independence to older people. It is shown that it has long been argued that older people should stay in their own homes as long as possible but that this was not backed up with domiciliary services because of concerns that this would enable families to push caring responsibilities onto the state. The second half of the article looks at present day assumptions on this issue as addressed by the 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act and compares this to what older people themselves have to say. By drawing on research on 39 older households the importance of home as a place of privacy and self identity is illustrated as is the rich and varied lives of these respondents both inside and outside their homes. It is argued that local authorities as the lead agencies in community care should help to foster such independence and that this requires them to develop a broad vision of community care which covers issues such as transport, leisure and household maintenance