Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Difficult choices in treating and feeding the debilitated elderly
- 3 The American debate about artificial nutrition and hydration
- 4 Reflections on Horan and Boyle
- 5 The Living Will: the ethical framework of a recent Report
- 6 Some reflections on euthanasia in The Netherlands
- 7 Is there a policy for the elderly needing long-term care?
- 8 Is it possible to provide good quality long-term care without unfair discrimination?
- 9 The prospects for long-term care: current policy and realistic alternatives
- 10 What is required for good quality in long-term care of the elderly?
- 11 Should age make a difference in health care entitlement?
- 12 Economic devices and ethical pitfalls: quality of life, the distribution of resources and the needs of the elderly
- 13 The Aged: non-persons, human dignity and justice
- 14 Economics, justice and the value of life: concluding remarks
- Index
9 - The prospects for long-term care: current policy and realistic alternatives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Difficult choices in treating and feeding the debilitated elderly
- 3 The American debate about artificial nutrition and hydration
- 4 Reflections on Horan and Boyle
- 5 The Living Will: the ethical framework of a recent Report
- 6 Some reflections on euthanasia in The Netherlands
- 7 Is there a policy for the elderly needing long-term care?
- 8 Is it possible to provide good quality long-term care without unfair discrimination?
- 9 The prospects for long-term care: current policy and realistic alternatives
- 10 What is required for good quality in long-term care of the elderly?
- 11 Should age make a difference in health care entitlement?
- 12 Economic devices and ethical pitfalls: quality of life, the distribution of resources and the needs of the elderly
- 13 The Aged: non-persons, human dignity and justice
- 14 Economics, justice and the value of life: concluding remarks
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The United Kingdom is in the midst of considerable policy turbulence in respect of health and social care provision. As a consequence, the prospects for long-term care over the next decade are unclear but potentially of considerable concern. The NHS and Community Care Act 1990 is firmly on the Statute Book and the NHS changes were introduced on 1 April 1991 as planned. But there is continuing political uncertainty and ambivalence about aspects of the reforms particularly as they impinge upon the future of community care. There is a view that the reforms do little to address the fundamental issue of who is responsible for long-term care — is it individuals, or their families, or society at large? A deep seated ambivalence about policy prevails centring not only on its content but also on its implementation.
This chapter is in three sections. The first section comprises a brief review of the position of elderly people in the UK in terms of demography and services, and puts these trends in a wider European context. The second section sets out the present state of policy in respect of long-term care for elderly people and the likely prospects over the next year or so.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Dependent Elderly , pp. 123 - 139Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992