From Poor Law to community care: The development of welfare services for elderly people 1939-1971

Description

Recent community care changes have raised fundamental issues about the changing role of the public, voluntary and informal sectors in the provision of social care to frail elderly people. They have also raised issues about the health and social care interface, how to ration services and the respective roles of residential care and care at home. The purpose of this book is to set these debates in the context of the historical growth of welfare services from the outbreak of the Second World War through to the establishment of social services departments in April 1971. Based upon extensive research on primary services such as the Public Records Office and interviews with key actors, separate chapters look at the impact of the Second World War; the 1948 National Assistance Act; issues in residential care; issues in domiciliary care; and the creation of social services departments.

Robin Means is Associate Dean (Primary and Community Care) of the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Randall Smith is Senior Lecturer in the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol.

"It remains a fascinating exploration, illustrated by apposite extracts from original sources, of a relatively uncharted period of welfare evolution; there is a particular pleasure in perusing these 'historical' accounts and realising with a jolt their continued, often heightened, salience to current debates." SPA News. The detailed analyses conducted by Means and Smith convey an authenticity which has the reader reflecting in a refreshed way on the debates of the present day. Australisian Journal on Ageing. A very strong and original contribution to the field of ageing studies ... extremely highly regarded. Historical accounts of services provide a salutary reminder of changing perceptions of older people and attitudes towards them. This second edition is a very useful addition to the social policy literature. "A historical perspective on the development of community care...a wide ranging book...disigned primarily for postgraduate students in social gerontology. It is a useful source of references with regard to health and social care." Oxford Academic Journals