In many European countries a climate of austerity and cuts to health and social care budgets, alongside issues of population ageing, are creating particular challenges in the provision of services for older people in the community (Lymbery and Postle, 2015; Donnelley, Begley and O’Brien, 2018). The introduction of neoliberalism into many European welfare states since the late 1990s has also meant challenges in terms of the reorganisation of social work policy and practice (Milner, Myers and O’Byrne, 2020). Budget cuts have taken place and standardisation has become commonplace, which has impacted on changing legislative and policy drivers for gerontological social work (Ray, Bernard and Phillips, 2018). Social workers have a key role to play in ensuring the participation of all older people in assessments, care planning and decision making in ways that uphold human rights, autonomy and self-determination. The application of a critical gerontological lens is particularly important in a context of neoliberalism and scarce resources, where social workers are increasingly reliant on informal caregivers, mainly family members, to provide care and support to older people, creating challenges and ethical dilemmas in practice situations.

As authors of this chapter, our writing has been influenced and shaped by our backgrounds as social work practitioners in the field of gerontological social work, and also as academics. Moreover, our experiences also originate from different social work traditions: Sweden (Olaison) and Ireland (Donnelly). This chapter will examine the impact that practice models and assessment instruments have on social work interventions within the context of the move towards a rights-based approach to care planning with older people and supported decision making. The chapter concludes with a helpful checklist for students and practitioners on ‘Best practices in care planning meetings’ with older people.

Assessment

Good-quality assessment has long been recognised as the cornerstone of effective social work practice and should be a dynamic process that is undertaken with the older person and their carer and/ or significant others (Nelson Becker et al, 2020).