Residential Care for Elderly People: The Correlates of Quality

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Abstract
Given the vulnerability of elderly people living in long-term hospitals and in other forms of institutional provision, it is essential that the quality of their care is as high as possible. This observation, moreover, has widespread relevance irrespective of variations in the structure of health and social care provision in different countries. In pursuit of this objective the newly established ‘arm's length’ inspection units in Britain will be responsible for setting and also safeguarding standards in homes. The article, based on research commissioned by the Social Services Inspectorate, uses a global measure of quality derived from the inspection of residential care homes, examines the correlates of this measure in a sample of local authority and independent homes in Britain and discusses the implications of the findings for policy and further research.