Residential care for older adults

Abstract

The policy focus on long-term care for older persons (LTC) is one of the most recent dimensions of the welfare state. It has run counter to the developments in other areas of social policy in that it has expanded and transformed itself in many countries, while various other benefits and services have been contained and sometimes decreased (Ranci & Pavolini, 2013). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined LTC as “a range of services required by persons with a reduced degree of functional capacity, physical or cognitive, and who are consequently dependent for an extended period of time on help with basic activities of daily living” (OECD/European Commission, 2013 : 10). These services include, among others, personal assistance, nursing care and help with domestic tasks. LTC can be provided at home, in short-term respite or in longer-term residential institutions. This chapter will focus only on LTC provided within an institutional setting, as other modes of care are tackled in subsequent chapters.