Therefore, unless other provisions have been made, the responsibility may be given to partners or families regarding care needs. However, research suggests that the …show more content…
This was largely linked to an ageing population with increasing needs (Curry, 2006). The implementation of the National Health Service and Community Care Act (1990) allowed the Conservative government to gain control of public expenditure by contracting services to the independent sector. Currently, the independent/voluntary sector supply 84% of the delivery of home-care (Kendall, 2003)
To help an older adult to achieve their chosen lifestyle, the independent sector can offer more choice and flexibility. However, often due to the nature of private care, a high staff turnover rate has been reported and voluntary care does not always have to abide by contracts or regulatory control (Kendall, 2003). As high profile cases have demonstrated, older people in residential care and hospitals have been subject to mistreatment, so regulatory control does not always guarantee that they are safeguarded. Nevertheless, independent services have many advantages. For example, they may not be constrained by statutory procedures, can be specialist in their field and many voluntary services play an active part in the community (Kendall,