Reviewing residential care reviews for older people

Abstract

Since the introduction of care management in the early 1990s, older people in care homes are supposed to have their ‘care packages’ reviewed on at least an annual basis. The current system of reviewing needs to be understood in the context of an increasingly bureaucratised, deskilled and routinised system of statutory social care. By taking a very narrow consumerist approach to reviews, not only are both Review Officer and service user often alienated from the process, but the system can often add to rather than combat disempowerment. Care home residents are one of the most powerless groups in society with few opportunities to gain control over their living circumstances. The discussion raises the issue of whether residential care home reviews should always seek to involve independent advocates; as policy allows but seldom happens in practice. If this is the case, then this raises further issues of how to ensure such a service is available to all.