© British Association of Social Workers
The Role of Residential and Nursing Homes in the Last Year of People's Lives
Ann Cartwright, B.Sc., Ph.D., is Director of the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care
Dr Ann Cartwright, Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care, 14 South Hill Park, London NW3 2SB.
Summary
Almost a quarter of a random sample of adults dying in 1987 had spent at least part of the last year of their lives in a residential or nursing home; one in eight spent all of that year in one. The old, the unmarried, those with difficulty looking after themselves, the confused, the incontinent, the blind, the deaf, and the bad tempered were more likely to be in such homes than others.
With their greater dependency, people living in residential homes received rather more consultations and home visits—although not night calls—from their general practitioners. But they did not get more help from community nurses and they were less likely to be admitted to, or to die in, a hospital or hospice.
According to the assesments of relatives, friends, and neighbours who answered the questions, the quality of life of people who had been in a residential home for a year or more before their death was similar to that of others who died but had never been in such a home. It was those who were admitted in the year before they died who were perceived as having a relatively poor quality of life in that year. Increasingly, the quality of life during the year before death is going to depend on the attributes of residential homes and their staff.
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