Social Care for the Elderly

Paper Summary:

This piece assesses in detail the issue of community based care for the elderly and disabled. The progressive nature of community care is examined with specific reference to issues such as aging population rates and the ever changing societal makeup that underlies the provision of social care. Above all, the work examines the extent to which in recent years, greater emphasis and importance has been placed on the availability of institutional care places. However, the writer notes that this progression has simultaneously developed alongside a concerted wish on the part of service providers to retain strong elements of independent living. The paradox is explored on the basis of the availability of resources measured against service needs.

From the Paper:

"Underlying this matter is a process of social and communal change that has developed over recent decades, not only in Britain but in the wider Western world. With specific reference to elderly people, developments in science and medicine have resulted in an aging population that has placed greater weight upon systems of care both inside the community and beyond. However, such developments have coincided with a relative breakdown in the societal norms that previously accounted for the care of the vulnerable in society. These breakdowns include issues such as: changes in the patterns and breakdowns of marriages; percentage decline of single women within the population; changes in family sizes; and the ever increasing participation of women in the labour market. When such developments are conceptualized in conjunction with the issues of ageing population and the wish to remain in ones community, it is clear why the numbers of elderly people forced to seek places in institutions have determinedly refused to reduce."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Parker, Gillian. With Due Care and Attention. London: DOH Publication, 1990.
• Tester, Susan. Community Care for Older People. London: Macmillan, 1996.
• Wicks, Malcolm. Community Care and Elderly People. Oxford: Blackwell, 1984.
• Department of Health. "Independence, Well-Being and Choice" March 2005.
• BBC News.Welcome to the Aging Future. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4012797.stm, Date Accessed, 5/12/2006.

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• Persuasive Essay # 91471 : "Caring for the Elderly"

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