Press Release

Older people want a life, not just services, says new report

Tuesday 12 December 2006

Older people have told the social care watchdog that they want a life, not just services.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection’s new report, Making Choices: taking risks, suggest that those using social care need the help of people with the right attitudes and skills in order to prepare for and adapt to the life changes associated with ageing - not just to arrange services.  Social care agencies need to engage with older people about what they want, and work alongside them to enable them to choose the best possible lifestyle for them.

The discussion paper draws on views and experiences older people and carers have shared with CSCI and highlights some of the risk-related factors that may prevent older people from living life the way they choose. 

CSCI Chief Inspector Paul Snell said:  “People tell us that real choice means having real options, with the support to choose between them.  Older people know that risk is a normal part of everyday life, and what they don’t want is their dignity taken away by being denied the sort of choices open to all of us.  Our discussion paper sets the challenge to agencies to accept that older people can - and will - take risks.”

The discussion paper suggests that agencies and staff need to consider whether they have the balance right between enabling the personal choices of individuals and the perceived risk to organisations if things go wrong. 

The paper also says that there is a need to challenge ageist attitudes that undermine the rights of older people to make decisions about how they live their lives. This should be recognised to allow them the dignity and respect they have a right to expect.

Older people have considerable experience of dealing with and adapting to risk in their lives well before they need to call upon help from social care. The paper calls for robust - yet sensitive - approaches to dealing with risk in social care that take account of people’s dignity, independence and well-being, alongside health and safety considerations.

While writing the paper, CSCI spoke to older people who shared their thoughts: 

• “I recall my mother saying, when she first faced a raft of assessments, that the professionals (unintentionally) treated her as if she had just arrived on the planet as a problem older person, rather than as a woman who had already managed some 86 years without the involvement of services”
• “Age, in itself, is not a disability, but it brings disabilities and we have to adjust…. We still want to be masters of our own destiny”
• “It’s like, if you make a choice not to take risks that’s fine, but if someone stops you, it’s not”
• “You should be able to make your own decisions, depending on what level you feel safe at.  You spend your whole life making decisions about things - your work, your relationships, your children.  You don’t want to suddenly give up that responsibility because you’re older.”

We also heard from others while drafting Making Choices: taking risks:

“This is an excellent discussion paper that addresses the real issues concerning risk taking, and is refreshingly free of 'spin'”.

Dr. Mary Parkinson, Chair, Health Working Group, National Pensioners Convention.

"Involvement with the CSCI [in this process] has been fascinating and pertinent. The challenge now is to make sure all older people are as well-informed and thus able to take charge of their own futures."

Enid Irving MSc., Speaking up for Our Age (Help the Aged)
A companion paper, available shortly on the CSCI website, explores the issues in more detail and includes aspects of practice to illustrate how some of the difficulties can be overcome.