Quality of Inpatient Care for Older People - A Department of Health Funded Section 64 Project.
This report is the culmination of three years of intensive field work study. We hope that it will add to the understanding of how the quality of care of older people has progressed against national policy.
A key element in the report was the development of a comprehensive set of standards. These were designed to help assess services in the nine pilot sites that were involved in the project. All sites visited had examples of good practice.
The report highlights a number of areas where further work could be undertaken. Whilst we comment that the National Service Framework for Older People is having an impact and there is growing awareness of the need to treat older people with respect and dignity, in some areas there is a real dilemma whether to focus on age specific medicine or embrace an approach where there are no special units but rather staff with special interests and skills in the care of the elderly.
The report includes a helpful question sheet that older people could use to help them ask questions about their health care.