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Six Avoiding institutional care: the changing role of the state, the family and voluntary organisations

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Abstract

The legislative framework for service development for older people laid down by the 1946 National Health Service Act and the 1948 National Assistance Act placed the emphasis on institutional provision. And yet the first section of this chapter underlines how there was agreement by the early 1950s that elderly people should remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Despite this, there was no dramatic shift of resources from hospitals and residential homes to domiciliary services, housing and income maintenance schemes.

This chapter focuses narrowly on arguments about those domiciliary services that were eventually to be located in social services departments. What kind of arguments were made in their favour and how did perceptions vary about their function? What was seen as the role of voluntary organisations in service provision? How did these arguments relate to perceptions about the responsibilities of families to their elderly relatives?

There was a broad consensus throughout the 1950s and 1960s that elderly people should remain in their own homes for as long as possible for their own happiness and also to reduce financial pressure on the state. The first of these arguments was strongly put by Townsend:

Home was the old armchair by the hearth, the creaky bedstead, the polished lino with its faded pattern, the sideboard with its picture gallery, and the lavatory with its broken latch reached through the rain. It embodied a thousand memories and held promise of a thousand contentments. It was an extension of personality. (Townsend, 1963, p 38)

The ‘financial pressure’ case was put forward by Sheldon at the 1954 International Association of Gerontology Conference.

Abstract

The legislative framework for service development for older people laid down by the 1946 National Health Service Act and the 1948 National Assistance Act placed the emphasis on institutional provision. And yet the first section of this chapter underlines how there was agreement by the early 1950s that elderly people should remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Despite this, there was no dramatic shift of resources from hospitals and residential homes to domiciliary services, housing and income maintenance schemes.

This chapter focuses narrowly on arguments about those domiciliary services that were eventually to be located in social services departments. What kind of arguments were made in their favour and how did perceptions vary about their function? What was seen as the role of voluntary organisations in service provision? How did these arguments relate to perceptions about the responsibilities of families to their elderly relatives?

There was a broad consensus throughout the 1950s and 1960s that elderly people should remain in their own homes for as long as possible for their own happiness and also to reduce financial pressure on the state. The first of these arguments was strongly put by Townsend:

Home was the old armchair by the hearth, the creaky bedstead, the polished lino with its faded pattern, the sideboard with its picture gallery, and the lavatory with its broken latch reached through the rain. It embodied a thousand memories and held promise of a thousand contentments. It was an extension of personality. (Townsend, 1963, p 38)

The ‘financial pressure’ case was put forward by Sheldon at the 1954 International Association of Gerontology Conference.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vi
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Evacuation and elderly people in the Second World War 13
  6. Civilian morale and elderly people: the emergence of ‘reforms’ in residential and domiciliary welfare services 61
  7. The 1948 National Assistance Act and the provision of welfare services for elderly people 111
  8. Issues in residential care 155
  9. Avoiding institutional care: the changing role of the state, the family and voluntary organisations 219
  10. The restructuring of welfare services for elderly people 277
  11. Community care and older people: reflections on the past, present and future 319
  12. Bibliography 333
  13. Appendix 361
  14. Index 363
From Poor Law to community care
This chapter is in the book From Poor Law to community care
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781847424945-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vi
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Evacuation and elderly people in the Second World War 13
  6. Civilian morale and elderly people: the emergence of ‘reforms’ in residential and domiciliary welfare services 61
  7. The 1948 National Assistance Act and the provision of welfare services for elderly people 111
  8. Issues in residential care 155
  9. Avoiding institutional care: the changing role of the state, the family and voluntary organisations 219
  10. The restructuring of welfare services for elderly people 277
  11. Community care and older people: reflections on the past, present and future 319
  12. Bibliography 333
  13. Appendix 361
  14. Index 363
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