Intermediate care

The proportion of older people in our society is increasing more rapidly than any other section of the population. This group uses health and social services more than the young do and this is reflected in the NHS and social service budgets from recent years. For example, 40% of the NHS budget was spent on patients over 65 years in 1998. The much-heralded National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People, recently published by the Department of Health in England, was therefore awaited with much anticipation by all sections of the community concerned with older people’s health. This document is described as the ‘key vehicle for ensuring that the needs of older people are at the heart of the government’s reform programme for health and social services’. It has as its first and fundamental standard ‘rooting out age discrimination’. The sections on prevention and treatment of stroke, general hospital care, the management of falls and mental health have been generally well received and when implemented fully are likely to be beneficial to older people. Some areas such as the treatment of care home residents have not been addressed in nearly enough detail. In contrast, one particular section, that on ‘Intermediate Care’, has been heavily criticized, including a fierce attack by two of the United Kingdom’s leading geriatricians.