Improving Home Care Services For Older People

Home care services need to prioritise older people’s needs and wishes so they are treated with dignity, a new NICE quality standard says.

NICE has issued a new quality standard which highlights how social care providers can help older people maintain their independence for as long as possible.

Around 470,000 people used local authority funded home care services in England last year. The majority of these will be people aged over 65 years old.

The new quality standard encourages providers to ditch the ‘one size fits all’ approach. It says that home care plans should describe what each person wants and how their needs will be met. Family members and carers should be involved in the decision process if possible.

Enough time should be given so that what they want can be achieved in a way that does not compromise their dignity and wellbeing.