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Social Justice
a Scotland where everyone matters
Indicators of Progress 2003

Milestone 21: Increasing the proportion of older people able to live independently by doubling the proportion of older people receiving respite care at home and increasing home care opportunities

Indicators

There are 3 indicators used to measure this milestone, namely:

• Older people receiving intensive home care (more than 10 hours per week), rate per 1,000 population aged 65 plus;
• Older people receiving a day-care service, rate per 1,000 population aged 65 plus;
• Older people receiving home based respite care, rate per 1,000 population aged 65 plus.

The information is taken from a range of surveys carried out by the Scottish Executive and the Information Services Division of the National Health Service. In all cases the figures represent Scotland.

Older people receiving intensive home care

The number of older people receiving 10 or more hours of home care each week has risen each year since 1998 when this information was first collected. In 2002, 13.2 older people per 1,000 population received an intensive home care service provided or purchased by a Local Authority in Scotland.

The number of residents in Care Homes peaked in 1998-99 at 46.8 per 1,000 population and has fallen since then to 44.2 in 2002. Over the period the number of older people in long-stay geriatric beds has more than halved from 8.9 residents per 1,000 population in 1995 to 4.0 in 2002.

Chart 21a: Balance of Care for older people, 1995 - 2002

Sources: Information and Services Division : National Health Service for Scotland
Community Care Statistics: Scottish Executive Health Department

Table 21b shows the number of older people receiving and intensive care package at home as a percentage of all older people with long term care needs. This percentage has increased steadily each year from 15.6% in 1998 to 21.4% in 2002.

Table 21b: Older people receiving intensive home care ¹ as a percentage of all people receiving long term care ², 1998 to 2002

Older people receiving a day-care service

In 2002 there were 9.6 places in Day Centres for every 1,000 people aged over 65. The rate appears to have fluctuated slightly over the past seven years. The actual number of places has remained fairly steady after an initial fall following 1995. For example it remained unchanged between the 1998 and 2001 surveys and only increased by 1 per cent in the 2002 report.

Table 21c: Day Care Services for Older People, 1995-2002

Older people receiving home based respite care

The Social Work Statistics Liaison Group (SWSLG) recently set up a short term working group to consider the information requirements for 'Support to Carers and Respite Services'. Group membership is made up from the Scottish Executive, Local Authorities, Audit Scotland and the voluntary sector. The group is currently considering the range of data available on respite services and services to support carers, and is looking to recommend improvements and developments for future data collection.

Background data

The following background data corresponds to the charts and commentary included in this milestone.

Table 21d: Balance of Care for older people, 1995 to 2002

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