WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF CHANGES IN COMMUNITY CARE POLICY SINCE 1990 ON STAFF WORKING IN HOME CARE
To look at the main impact of changes in community care policy since 1990 on staff working in home care I would like to begin by exploring the reasons why these changes were introduced, then to concentrate on the impact that these changes have had on the basic tasks undertaken by the home carer and finally how these changes are perceived by the wider community.
Before 1990 there were two main areas of legislation referring to domiciliary care. These were the “Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons’ Act 1970” and the “National Health Services Act 1977. Both of these Acts laid a duty on the Local Authority to provide and arrange practical help within the home. This framework meant that each Social Services department had to provide sufficient practical help for all older and disabled people living in their area.
During the 80s there became three major influences on motivating changes to the existing legislation. These were:
• changing ideas about people who needed long-term care
• economic reasons based on existing and projected longer term costs
• political arguments fuelled strongly by the Conservative governments who felt that the “welfare state” had encouraged a dependency culture that could no longer be sustained.
The result of these three factors was the introduction of the National Health Services and Community Care Act 1990 which no longer imposed the duty element on the local authorities to provide a home help service but instead placed the emphasis on carrying out “needs-led assessments” to all who deemed needing services. It also led to the encouragement of separating commissioning of social care from delivering of social care; Social Services departments became purchasers of services from private, independent or voluntary “providers”.
According to B.Hughes (1995) The Act has three main objectives relating to the areas of domiciliary care:
To promote the development of services which would enable people to live in their own homes
To ensure
Before 1990 there were two main areas of legislation referring to domiciliary care. These were the “Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons’ Act 1970” and the “National Health Services Act 1977. Both of these Acts laid a duty on the Local Authority to provide and arrange practical help within the home. This framework meant that each Social Services department had to provide sufficient practical help for all older and disabled people living in their area.
During the 80s there became three major influences on motivating changes to the existing legislation. These were:
• changing ideas about people who needed long-term care
• economic reasons based on existing and projected longer term costs
• political arguments fuelled strongly by the Conservative governments who felt that the “welfare state” had encouraged a dependency culture that could no longer be sustained.
The result of these three factors was the introduction of the National Health Services and Community Care Act 1990 which no longer imposed the duty element on the local authorities to provide a home help service but instead placed the emphasis on carrying out “needs-led assessments” to all who deemed needing services. It also led to the encouragement of separating commissioning of social care from delivering of social care; Social Services departments became purchasers of services from private, independent or voluntary “providers”.
According to B.Hughes (1995) The Act has three main objectives relating to the areas of domiciliary care:
To promote the development of services which would enable people to live in their own homes
To ensure