Showing papers in "Social Policy & Administration in 1979"

Social Support and Government Policy on Services for the Elderly

Abstract: Government policy on services for the elderly is to increase the provision of care in the community. This paper examines this policy in relation to informal help received from relatives and friends. Drawing on the results of a pilot study of 92 people over the age of 75, registered in a group general practice, data are presented on the balance between informal and formal help over a group of activities of daily livhg. The main informal helpers are described with the range of activities for which people in the study were receiving assistance. Community services are, at present, limited in the help they can provide for people in their own homes. If policies of community care are to be successful, then they must take into account the strengths and weaknesses of informal support. Using the data presented, suggestions are made a bout improvements in services including task specific services not currently provided and the definition of groups at risk of their social support breaking down.

On the determination of the manpower requirements of old people's homes

Abstract: THE determination of the optimal level of staffing of residential homes has received much attention in the thirty years since the National Assistance Act. However, each recommendation for a staff-resident ratio has been based on only a partial study of the many determinants. This paper sets out those determinants of manpower requirements suggested by an economic model of residential care. Using data collected in the Census of Residential Accommodation, the impact of home design, resident dependency, and service delivery determinants is examined empirically with the help of a series of multiple regression analyses. These determinants are found to explain much of the observed variation in the number of supervisory, care, domestic, and night staff and in the corresponding staff-resident ratios. The results would appear to imply that local authorities should be careful in designing new old people's homes in order to promote resident independence; that the increasing dependency of successive cohorts of new entrants to these institutions will push up manpower requirements, particularly for care and night staff; and that the integration of residential and day care services likewise has important implications for staffing policies.

Charitable Activity in England and Wales

Abstract: THIS paper reports the results of a random sample of 418 registered charities in England and Wales for 1975. The sample provides information on total income and assets and the distribution of charities by age, objects and size. The evidence suggests that the charity sector is considerably larger than had previously been thought, with a total income in 1975 of approximately £3,600 m. It is dominated by a relatively small number of large and active charities serving a limited number of objects. By far the most important of these (in terms of income) is the advancement of education, a broad group which includes independent schools and colleges.