© British Association of Social Workers
Long Term Care for the Elderly: the Community Care Scheme
David Challis trained in social work at Manchester University and is at present Research Fellow in Social Work at the Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent. He has worked in hospital and area team settings in Lancashire and Salford.
Bleddyn Davies is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent. He has written widely about resource allocation in the social services.
Summary
The article describes the full evaluation of the Community Care Scheme for the elderly in Kent. The evaluation compared the relative cost-effectiveness of the scheme for clients and carers with the range of services which would otherwise have been received. It is argued that effective case-management by a key worker is an essential feature of more effective home care for the very frail elderly and that the case-management role is an appropriate model of social work for other long term care groups. The new scheme appeared particularly appropriate for the extremely mentally and physically frail who were living with others and for the less frail, socially isolated elderly person prone to minor psychiatric disorder.