community care

Mind guide to advocacy

Mind is a leading mental health charity in England and Wales and has produced information on many areas of mental health. This factsheet defines advocacy and discusses the different kinds of advocacy, who advocacy is for and the situations where it could be applied. Also included is a list of useful organisations and further reading.

The Richmond Fellowship Scotland

The Richmond Fellowship is a charity which provides community-based services for people who require support in their lives. Their services work in person-centred ways to offer choice, promote inclusion and maximise ability. The Fellowship operates 189 services across Scotland supporting more than 2000 people to live as independently as possible within their own homes and communities.

Facing the cost of long-term care: Towards a sustainable funding system - Facing the cost of long-term care: Towards a sustainable funding system

A review of the issues around paying for long-term care for older people, asking how the current system could be improved. This study brings together evidence and discussions assembled by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It identifies some key challenges that need addressing in order to start moving towards a fairer, more rational and adequate system of funding It deliberately avoids proposing a radical redesign of the whole system, though there is a case for that. Rather it provides a platform for sensible discussion of how to design improvements in the funding system.

Supporting older families : making a real difference

This resource is a practical tool for learning disability partnership boards and others working to support older family carers and their relative with a learning disability – referred to here as older families – to bring about positive changes in their lives. It should enable boards to measure what they are doing, how well they are doing it and to decide what they need to do next.

Developing the use of 'MDS-RAI' reports for UK care homes

The MDS-RAI (Minimum Data Set Resident Assessment Instrument for Long Term Care Facilities) is designed to provide a comprehensive standard assessment of residents' needs for use in nursing and residential homes. This action research project explored how care home staff and management could raise care provision standards through embedding its use in daily practice.

Improving care in residential care homes: a literature review (summary report)

This review by a team from the University of Warwick and University of the West of England, with support from the University of York, examines research evidence available to support improved care for older people in residential homes. The review explores seven themes: residents' and relatives' views on care; clinical areas for improvement; medication in care homes; medical input into care homes; nursing care in care homes; interface between care homes and other services; care improvement in care homes.

The potential of migrant and refugee community organisations to influence policy

A report on a partnership set up to test how migrant and refugee community organisations could change policies and practices that are crucial to the lives of their communities. 'Change from Experience' addresses the ways in which migrant and community groups can use their own history and experience to develop the skills to bring about change. It challenges ideas about these organisations as ‘comfort zones’ and places them at the centre of debates about identity, gender, migration and cohesion.