This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/13663666200800066. When citing the…
Abstract
This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/13663666200800066. When citing the article, please cite: Alex Fox, (2008), “The cost of unpaid caring”, Working with Older People, Vol. 12 Iss: 4, pp. 22 - 26.
Caring takes time and, as we know, time costs. With an ageing population that is living longer, there is less time and less money to be allocated to older people. In this article…
Abstract
Caring takes time and, as we know, time costs. With an ageing population that is living longer, there is less time and less money to be allocated to older people. In this article, Alex Fox looks at the role of and contribution made by informal carers to the social care system and says that more should be done to recognise their skills and knowledge as well as better support given to help prevent their ill health, thereby helping to reduce rising formal care costs to local social services.
This article reviews current policies and their impact on carers' lives, and highlights the potential limitations of a more personalised approach to care. Using some key research…
Abstract
This article reviews current policies and their impact on carers' lives, and highlights the potential limitations of a more personalised approach to care. Using some key research findings and illustrative case studies, the article argues that we should build on the achievements of the personalisation reforms, but not limit our ambition to offering individuals more choice and control over their services. Instead, there should be a focus on individuals achieving ordinary life chances and families achieving emotional and financial sustainability. For people to experience a truly integrated response to their needs, professionals must be able to achieve integration not only across service boundaries, but also across their responses to inter‐linked individuals. Recognising this lessens the risk of offering care solutions that result in trade‐offs between one family member's independence and another's.
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Homeshare is a facilitated bartering approach to meeting both the care and the support needs of people who need support to live independently in their own homes, and the…
Abstract
Homeshare is a facilitated bartering approach to meeting both the care and the support needs of people who need support to live independently in their own homes, and the accommodation needs of people who lack accommodation. There are a small number of successful Homeshare programmes in the UK, but a large range of similar services world‐wide. This article describes how Homeshare works, including how it is financed and how it manages risk. It examines the range of benefits to individuals, communities and the state which can arise from successful Homeshare programmes, and outlines some of the local factors that appear to affect the success of Homeshare programmes. It argues that more evidence is needed to explore the potential of Homeshare to improve outcomes and generate efficiencies by reduced use of residential care, emergency services and health services. It notes that Homeshare has the potential to make higher education more affordable for students from modest income families, and to ease recruitment difficulties faced by public services in areas of expensive accommodation.
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This paper aims to look at lesser‐known approaches to working with older people which challenge current assumptions about older people and approaches to providing care, suggesting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to look at lesser‐known approaches to working with older people which challenge current assumptions about older people and approaches to providing care, suggesting that they lay on a continuum of support services, which stretches from traditional, paid‐by‐the‐hour, professional/client transactions at one end, to unboundaried, unpaid family care at the other.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper looks at Shared Lives, ASA Lincolnshire's At Home Day Resource for people with dementia, Homeshare, KeyRing and micro‐enterprises.
Findings
Through combining the value of real relationships with more formal support approaches, better outcomes can be achieved at lower costs.
Originality/value
With the gap between the capacity of existing services and the needs of an ageing population growing daily, this paper provides additional research and development in this area of work.