Overview

"What are the issues underpinning the trend towards innovation in the community care of older people? What is the nature of the innovation: how is it experienced by older people and their carers? ""Changing services for older people"" sets out to address these pressing questions. It presents the findings of a major research project evaluating the outcomes of the Neighbourhood Support Units innovation in Sheffield. Key issues raised include the goal to create more flexible 'tailor made' services and the promotion of user-and carer-responsive forms of provision, shifts which are occurring in many other European countries. The aims of the book are two-fold. First, it reports on the outcomes of the initiative for older people and their carers placing these findings in the context of current debates about community care. Second, it discusses the process of innovation in the social services, drawing on evidence gathered from policy-makers, managers and front-line workers to illustrate both the barriers to change and the ways in which successful innovation can be accomplished. ""Changing services for older people"" will be invaluable to personnel in the health and social services who are considering new initiatives in service provision. It will also be a useful text for anyone wishing to gain an insight into the operation os social care services, and the experiences of older people who use those services as well as their carers."

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9780335191376

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Reviews

...readable and will be of relevance to grassroots workers, managers, policy makers and students. - Community Care. ...any nurse who believes that home beats hospital any day for longer term care will find it worth reading. - Nursing Times. ...a useful account of service development through a close focus on the Sheffield area. - Social Policy and Administration Journal. ...has implications for other service models, and this account is worth reading both for its description and its analysis. - Health Matters (Generation of PM publication page 29). There are key themes that can be picked out from this book which place it in the centre of contemporary discussions about community care and make it a worthy read. - British Journal of Social Work. I found this book easy to follow. Quantitative data are interspersed with case studies and comments from users, their carers and staff...I can commend it to social services planners and people interested in some of the dilemmas and issues related to trying to provide a user centredservice for frail elderly people and their carers. - Research Policy and Planning. ...a valuable example of the fate of successful innovations in the face of changing public policies. - Age and Ageing. Aspiring researchers into health and social service innovations should read this tale - there is much to learn from it. The authors are to be applauded for their determination. - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Author Information

Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sheffield. He has been researching and writing on the subjects of community care and older people for more than 20 years. He is responsible for some of the leading works on the nature and meaning of community care. His books include Disability in Britain (1981), Community Care (1982), Social Planning (1984), The Caring Relationship (1989) and The New Generational Contract (1996). Dr Lorna Warren is a lecturer in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. She has been working on studies of community care since 1983. A particular area of interest is domiciliary services for older people, with a focus on user\carer involvement as well as the experiences of formal care-givers.

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