Relying on informal care in the new century? Informal care for elderly people in England to 2031

The research reported here is concerned with the future of informal care over the next thirty years and the effect of changes in informal care on demand for formal services. The research draws on a PSSRU computer simulation model which has produced projections to 2031 for long-term care for England....

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ageing and society 2000-11, Vol.20 (6), p.745-772
Main Authors: PICKARD, LINDA, WITTENBERG, RAPHAEL, COMAS-HERRERA, ADELINA, DAVIES, BLEDDYN, DARTON, ROBIN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Ageing
Care and treatment
Care of the aged
Caregivers
Caring
Elder care
Elderly
Elderly people
England
family care
Family relations
Future
Futures (of Society)
Health care
Health policy
Informal care
Long Term Care
Long term health care
Medical care
Medical service
Old age
older people
Public health
Social conditions
Social policy
Social support
Supply and demand
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The research reported here is concerned with the future of informal care over the next thirty years and the effect of changes in informal care on demand for formal services. The research draws on a PSSRU computer simulation model which has produced projections to 2031 for long-term care for England. The latest Government Actuary's Department (GAD) 1996-based marital status projections are used here. These projections yield unexpected results in that they indicate that more elderly people are likely to receive informal care than previously projected. The underlying reason is that the GAD figures project a fall in the number of widows and rise in the number of elderly women with partners. What this implies is that ‘spouse carers’ are likely to become increasingly important. This raises issues about the need for support by carers since spouse carers tend to be themselves elderly and are often in poor health. The article explores a number of ‘scenarios’ around informal care, including scenarios in which the supply of informal care is severely restricted and a scenario in which more support is given to carers by developing ‘carer-blind’ services. This last scenario has had particular relevance for the Royal Commission on Long Term Care.
ISSN:0144-686X
1469-1779
DOI:10.1017/S0144686X01007978