First published in 1986, Matching Resources to Needs describes the PSSRU’s community care approach and analyses the first of the community care projects, a seminal set of experiments in the care of the elderly at high risk of institutional long-term care. The experiments create field structures which provide incentives to improve efficiency, decentralised power over resources being balanced by enhanced accountability. The first part explains the approach, analyses the causes of inefficiency in ~British social care, and reviews British and American evidence about the relationships between resources, recipient characteristics and outcomes. The approach is compared with some two dozen American experiments hitherto unknown in the UK. It describes the design of the project and its evaluation. The authors then examine the experimental results. They show that cost and welfare effects are better and the costs of outcomes are lower for recipients of community car. The third part of the book uses observational and other data to explore the relationships between structures, assumptive worlds, causal processes and outcomes and their costs. It also analyses the performance of the core tasks of entrepreneurial case management for types of case. The book concludes with a discussion of the broader implications of this approach to community care.

Improving equity and efficiency in the long-term care of older people is an international concern, with governments attempting to ensure that policies and practice develop so that resources are used to best effect. This requires good quality evidence founded on sound theory. This volume honours the outstanding contribution of Bleddyn Davies to this field, bringing together perspectives of scholars and practitioners from many countries including the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden and the USA. Contemporary policy dilemmas are considered, leavened by professional anecdote. A chapter from Davies himself, reflecting on the origins of the PSSRU (Personal Social Services Research Unit), concludes the volume that also features a full listing of his books and monographs, which will prove invaluable to those seeking to engage with his contribution to the field. This volume will greatly interest academics in social policy, social work, gerontology and social care as well as professionals in the field.

This title was first published in 2000: Equity and Efficiency Policy provides a completely new perspective on post-reform community care, analyzes its fairness, effectiveness and efficiency in a new way and uses its powerful new techniques applied to a major national collection of evidence to suggest how to develop the Modernization Agenda. It - describes, for the first time, how differences in the levels of each of the main services alone and in combination affect a wide range of user and carer benefits; - uses this knowledge to analyze in a new way and make policy proposals about some of the pressing policy issues of the government’s Modernization Agenda.

This title was first published in 2003: This book provides an evaluation of the Gateshead Community Care Scheme which was devised as an alternative to residential and hospital care for frail elderly people. An important feature of the scheme was the decentralization of control of resources to individual social workers acting as care managers, with defined caseloads and expenditure limits to ensure accountability. The initial social social care scheme was subsequently extended to provide both health and social care to clients from a large general practice based in a health centre. The social care team was enlarged to include a nurse care manager and part-time doctor and physiotherapist. The study examines the operation of care management in both settings, the use of devolved budgets and services developed, the outcomes for clients and carers and the costs of care. Admissions to residential care were reduced and the elderly people who received the scheme’s support experienced a better quality of care and greater well-being when compared with elderly people receiving the usual range of services. This was achieved at no greater cost. The characteristics of those for whom the scheme was most appropriate are described. In addition, the pattern of development of the scheme as it was incorporated into the mainstream of the Social Services and after the implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act are examined. Final, the implications for the development of care management are considered.

The growing focus on performance review and monitoring means that awareness and use of performance indicators has increased throughout a number of public services. Set within a national context, this book reviews the historical development and measurement issues of performance indicators within social care and the public sector for older people. It then provides an approach to effective local performance measurement in services for older people and an organizing framework within which organizations can arrange their performance appraisal for older people's services. The development of performance review in social care of older people is examined, as is the process of developing local performance measures and engaging staff in enquiry and quality management. The book also reviews the process of developing performance indicators and their utilization at an agency level. Performance Indicators in Social Care for Older People will be of particular interest in the UK for local service providers who are developing approaches for local performance review. It will also be of interest internationally, especially in countries where services for older people are currently developing in a similar direction.

Praise for the Third Edition: “The third edition of this outstanding resource reflects the many advances in the care of older people that have occurred since the publication of the second edition...The vast bulk of the content is accessible and relevant to an international audience. The indexing and cross-referencing are excellent... Score: 5/5 stars." -- Margaret Arthur, Nursing Standard "The information [in this book] is amazing. I reviewed topics in which I have expertise and was very satisfied. This is an excellent addition to my library and I will refer to it often, much like a medical dictionary... Score: 90, 4 Stars." --Doody's Medical Reviews “Provides 273 comprehensive, yet succinct, entries on a variety of topics related to elder care. In addition, many of the entries include see also references that help readers easily navigate the book. Recommended." --Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries This expanded, one-of-a-kind reference of more than 250 entries provides a comprehensive guide to all of the essential elements of elder care across a breadth of health and social service disciplines. Responding to the needs of providers, directcare workers, family, and other caregivers, the diverse array of entries included in this encyclopedia recognize and address the complex medical, social, and psychological problems associated with geriatric care. In addition to a brief, accessible summary of each topic, entries include several key references, including web links and mobile apps for additional sources of information. This updated edition contains more than 30 new entries written by renowned experts that address a variety of elder care topics. New to the Fourth Edition: New entries addressing Ethics Consultation, Eye Disorders, Pain – Acute and Chronic, and many others Key Features: Provides succinct descriptions of over 250 key topics for health and social service clinicians Offers crucial information for elder care providers across all settings and disciplines Distills current, evidence-based literature sources Written by nationally recognized expert researchers and clinicians Includes links to useful websites and mobile apps