Assessing elderly community services in the prevention of long-term care admission

Abstract

The fastest growing sector of the Maltese population is the over seventy-five years of age - 73,062 elderly (NSO, 2000). We are moving to a world where older people will outnumber children. Thus, good preparation is needed for such an ageing population. Long-term care is rather expensive however this still has to be provided for the really needy individuals. Hence other alternatives to long-term care are the community services. But are these services meeting the elderly needs? The purpose of this research is to assess the community services available regarding awareness, service quality, accessibility, waiting time for utilisation and hence if these services are rendering less admissions to long-term care. An interview was done to 60 participants randomly chosen who were admitted at St. Vincent De Paul Residence and the seven governmental elderly homes, in 2005. It resulted that 67% were totally independent and can easily stay in the community. 43.3% never heard of the community services available. Most of the service users Cn = 25) were quite satisfied with the service. From this research one can conclude that older people are lacking information regarding Community Services. Also these services should be tailored made according to the elderly's needs so as to keep them in their habitat as long as possible.