Community Care for the Frail Elderly: An Urban Experiment

Abstract

The paper presents the first findings from the evaluation of the community care approach in Gateshead, an area which includes both an inner city and outlying urban districts. It describes destinational outcomes, measures of quality of life and adequacy of care for those receiving the new service and a matched comparison population receiv ing a standard range of services. It also examines how the practice of the new scheme developed, and through adaptation to local circumstances differed from that of the Kent study. It is concluded that the community care approach is transferable to a wide range of settings and that the results broadly concur with the findings of the Kent evaluation.