Older People, Dementia & Policy in Scotland Essay

Older People, Dementia & Policy in Scotland - Essay Example It is becoming clear from both public debates and academic and policy maker discourse in the UK that many older people (i.e., those over the age of 65 years) much prefer to live their lives within their own homes. With aid from family and friends, an aggregate of the senior community seek to maintain their autonomy, independence and active well being (Audit Commission 5). However, a number of errors have been found in the reporting of expenditure of public care services, and these are attributed to the nature and parameter of service delivery across different areas of the UK. For example, evening and weekend home care in most areas, whilst others are consistently unable to receive night home care. Further, home-care workers trained in mental health were only available in 7 of 58 areas in a national study. Also, many older persons and their informal carers have not received additional support from community care agencies, as do older persons and trained carers within hospitals and nur sing homes. In the future, older people with mental health problems are to receive an equally good response regardless of where they live. This is one of the ways by which government and volunteer agencies seek to develop home-centered care, and to support informal carers and service users (Audit Commission 32). Equality and Diversity A feminist approach to the ethical care within social work for the older person is of recent intense focus in discourse. This school of thought encourages the professional social worker to actively reflect on concepts of social justice, autonomy and human rights, as well as extending investigation in to how aging is understood (Lolyd 1171).