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Scottish Community Care Statistics 2002

CHAPTER 1 - OLDER PEOPLE

The Balance of Care

Chart 1.1 Balance of Care for Older People, 1980-2002

¹ Indicates number of dwellings rather than clients.

Chart 1.1 illustrates the balance of care provided to older people over time. There has been a marked drop in the number of people in long stay hospital beds since the early 1990s. Over the same period the number of residents in residential care homes for older people has fallen slightly - although at a lesser rate.

Between 1990 and 1995 the number of home care clients aged 65 and over increased, but has decreased in each year since. The number of special needs housing dwellings has increased significantly over the period from 1980, levelling out at over 90 thousand dwellings for the last 5 years.

The number of people attending day centres for older people peaked during the 1990s at around 15,000, with more recent data showing a slight decrease. Nursing homes for older people continue to increase at a steady rate.

Domiciliary care

Tables 1.1 to 1.6 contain information on home care services provided or purchased by local authorities. Information is not included on home care purchased privately by clients. Please refer to the notes in annex A for the definitions on which the home care data are collected.

Tables 1.1 to 1.5 cover home care for all community care client groups - not just older people. Because of the way these data are collected, it is difficult to split some of the detailed analyses by client group. These tables are included in this chapter because the majority of home care clients are older people. Readers should, however, be aware that other client groups are also included in the figures.

Table 1.6 covers home care for older people only. There are also additional tables in chapters 2 to 5 which detail home care clients broken down by client group. There are overlaps between these tables and table 1.6 in this chapter, as table 1.6 includes all clients 65 and over, regardless of disability. To obtain the total number of home care clients, readers should refer to table 1.5 in this chapter rather than summing together the tables in each individual chapter.

In 1998 a new methodology was introduced for dealing with non-response. Care should be taken when comparing time series data before and after 1998 as the figures may not be directly comparable. Please refer to annex A for more details.

Table 1.1: Number of Home Care Clients by Sector of Provider ¹, 1980-2002

¹ Information on the sector of provider is only available from 1998 onward. Previously only LA-provided home care was recorded.

Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics - H1 Return

Table 1.1 shows the number of clients receiving home care services over the period from 1980 to 2002. The number of clients peaked in 1995 at 93,818 and has been declining since. In 2002 there were an estimated 64,546 clients who received a home care service provided or purchased by a local authority, a decrease of approximately 1.5 per cent on the previous year. The proportion of clients receiving local authority provided home care only, was 86 per cent in 2002 compared with 87 per cent in 2001.

Table 1.2: Number of Home Care Clients and Hours Provided/Purchased 1998-2002

Table 1.2 presents the number of home care clients and hours provided and purchased by local authorities between 1998 and 2002.

Whilst the number of clients declined between 1998 and 2002, the number of client hours fluctuated over the same period. In 1998 and 1999, clients received on average 5.1 hours of home care each week: this increased to 6.0 hours in 2001 and rose again in 2002 to 7.0 hours.

The number of older people receiving intensive home care (more than 10 hours per week) has increased over the 5-year period. In 2002, 13.5 clients per 1,000 of the population aged 65 and over received intensive home care, compared with 12.6 in 2001.

Table 1.3: Distribution of Home Care Hours Received, 2002

¹Totals may not equal the sum of their component parts due to the effects of rounding.

Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics - H1 Return

Table 1.3 presents the number of clients receiving varying levels of home care within each local authority in 2002. The island authorities (Orkney, Shetland and Eilean Siar) had the highest levels of home care, ranging from 32 to 36 clients per 1,000 of the population aged 16 and over. In contrast, Aberdeenshire and South Lanarkshire had only 10 clients per 1,000 of the population aged 16 and over. The rate for Scotland as a whole was 16.

South Ayrshire and Dumfries & Galloway provided the highest percentage of their clients (37 per cent) with more than 10 hours per week. In contrast, Angus only provided 7 per cent of their clients with this level of home care.

In 2002, 78 per cent of clients received 2 or more hours of care compared to 77 per cent in 2001 and 75 per cent in 2000. Although the number of clients receiving home care has reduced over this period, the intensity of the service has increased.

Table 1.4: Time of Home Care Provision, 2002

¹ Totals may not equal the sum of their component parts due to the effects of rounding.
² Data refer to 7am-4pm and 4pm-7am only.
Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics - H1 Return

Table 1.4 presents the number of hours of home care service provided by each local authority at a given time of day.

A total of 452,758 hours were provided to home care clients during the census week in 2002. Eilean Siar provided the highest number of home care hours per 1,000 of the population aged 16 and over (231). Conversely, East Dunbartonshire and West Lothian provided the lowest rates at 61 hours whilst the rate for Scotland as a whole was 110 hours per 1,000 population aged 16 plus.

Stirling provided 21 per cent of their home care either in the evening or overnight (between the hours of 7pm and 7am), this was the highest of all local authorities. Over Scotland as a whole, 14 per cent of hours were provided during this time. Aberdeen City provided only 3 per cent of home care hours in the evening or overnight.

The majority of home care hours (68 per cent) in 2002 were provided between 7am and 2pm, compared to 76 per cent in 2001. Afternoon and Early Evening (2pm to 7pm) home care has increased from 14 per cent in 2001 to 17 per cent in 2002.

Table 1.5: Age and Client Group Breakdown of Home Care Clients, 2002

¹ Includes frailty due to old age.
Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics - H1 Return

It can be seen from Table 1.5 that approximately 74 per cent (48,064) of clients receiving home care services provided or purchased by local authorities were people with physical disabilities (including frailty due to old age), and a further 5 per cent were suffering from dementia. Approximately 83 per cent of clients were aged 65 years and over.

Table 1.6 illustrates for each Local Authority the number of older people (aged 65 and over) in receipt of home care services and the client group within which they fall, as at 31 March 2002.

Approximately 79 per cent of all older people receiving home care services in Scotland in 2002 had a physical disability (including frailty due to old age) and 6 per cent were suffering from dementia.

In 2002, Shetland Islands had the highest number of clients (150) per 1,000 of the population aged 65 and over. In contrast, South Lanarkshire had only 41 clients per 1,000 of the population aged 65 and over.

Table 1.6: Client Group Breakdown of People aged 65+ Receiving Home Care, 2002

¹ Includes frailty due to old age.
Source: SEHD Community Care Statistics - H1 Return

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