Integrating Care for Older People: New Care for Old-A Systems Approach

The authors of this book share their practical experience on implementing a multi-agency approach to the support of older people. They show how systems thinking can help with the complexity of developing a model of care that co-ordinates medical, social and community services. They offer insight into the effective use of ongoing assessment, evaluation, costing and inforamtion technology, with examples.

They demonstrate how they achieved a 'one-stop' rapid response to emergencies and multilevel approach to risk management. They also show how enabling the older person to become an equal partner in decision-making, both as an individual user and as a citizen, reduces dependency and can prevent current problems such as overlap and duplication of service and inappropriate admission to hospital or residential care. They offer models of consultation and guidance on running participative groups.

This resource meets the growing need for material on multi-agency practice and is an invaluable tool for all those working across organizational and professional boundaries to deliver an integrated care system for older people.