Abstract
We describe a case control study in which our aim is to test the hypothesis that older people receiving home help have higher levels of unmet health needs than those not receiving home help and constitute an ‘at risk’ group. One hundred and twelve people aged over 60 years in receipt of home help were picked at random from a home help register and 31 controls who were not receiving home help were selected from two general practitioners age/sex registers. Domiciliary visit and assessment by a specialist health visitor for older people were undertaken followed by referral to appropriate agencies. The study showed that people in receipt of home help services had higher levels of unmet health needs than those in the control group not receiving home help (P≤ 0.01). One year after initial assessment all but 10 of the referrals had been acted upon, but there was no measurable difference in functional levels following referral, treatment and provision of aids to daily living. We conclude that using the home help register is a valuable method of identifying a group of individuals with significant levels of unmet health needs.
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