ABSTRACT
The “Elderly Screening Project” was initiated by Newham Health Authority’s Community Services Unit as an eighteen month action research scheme designed to assist in the development of its long-term policy of community care for elderly people. Specific goals included “active treatment and rehabilitation leading to early discharge from hospital” and “care and treatment at home for as many of the Borough’s elderly as possible” relying on the “coordination and extension of the existing preventative and curative work by health visitors and district nurses” (NHA Strategic Plan 1984-1994). The project was therefore set up both to identify the needs of elderly people and to investigate a possible form of service provision for meeting their needs. Screening was regarded by the Health Authority as the best method of collecting detailed and comprehensive information on the medical, mental health and social status of the elderly population (Williamson, 1964; Powell, 1974; Currie et al., 1974; Gardiner, 1975; Anderson, 1976; Barber and Wallis, 1976 and 1982; Freedman, 1978; Tulloch and Moore, 1979; Robertson, 1984). This data was required for purposes of defining need and deciding service priorities. It was also required as evidence of need in the inevitable competition for funding which has resulted from central government cuts in Health Service spending.
