Developments and Challenges in Residential Care Policy for Older People in UK

Care of older people

Table of Contents
Care of older people..............................................................................................................................1
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Developments in residential care policy in UK.................................................................................3
Challenges related to provision of residential care in UK..................................................................4
Suggestions for improvements to overcome the challenges identified...............................................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References:............................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
Care for older people refers to the duties of care which must be provided to older
people living in a community including empowerment, individual care, dignity, self-esteem,
advocacy, independence and respect as well (Lapid and et.al., 2020). It also involves family
and the care providers in care. Residential care refers to the care and support provided to
older people who are living in a residential setting instead of living in their personal homes or
family homes etc.
The report will aim to discuss the developments in the provisions of residential policy in UK,
some challenges related to this policy and also provide various solutions to overcome these
challenges.
Developments in residential care policy in UK
In UK the government believes that the older people should also be able to enjoy the
health and their independence for as long as possible like the rest of the population. The
independence of those people depends majorly on the support and health care services
provided to them. The residential care for older people in UK have a long troubling history.
The aspects of residential care policy involving its history are explained as follows:
Historical content
The provision of care for older people in England was marled after the Post World
War-2 (Veenhuizen and et.al., 2021). The legislation was introduced that established the
modern British welfare state. This legislation introduced the requirements fit local authorities
in order to provide residential care for older people in the country. It also introduced the need
for empowerment to older people for financially supporting residents in home which are
provided in profit and non-profit centres. After that long term care became the duty of
National Health Care (NHS) which was free of charge. The subsequent legislation in regular
increases and changed the responsibilities of NHS and also of the local authorities for
providing long term residential care such as home help, day care and meals.
Key policy changes
In the last some decades there have been significant changes introduced in the long
term residential care policies in UK. In the Post World Care zone the local authorities of UK
in 1970-1980 failed to keep pace with the increasing paid for residential long term care
services with the size of older population. In the long term hospital provisions of residential
care were reduced subsequently with large deduction. The central governments expenditure
on the low income older people increased 10 times in 1980 (Mozley and et.al., 2017).
Changes in regulations on payment of supplements to older people with low incomes were
introduced and board and lodging payments were made available for entering public or
private residential nursing homes. This resulted in huge expansion in provision.
Current policy
All the changes that were introduced in the past lead the local authorities to return to
their responsibilities of funding and arranging long term care in residential and nursing
homes.