ABSTRACT
Nationally, elderly people make up the vast majority of community care clients. Through either physical frailty or mental health problems, some slight and some severe, about four million elderly people require support and care from informal carers, as well as from the more visible public, voluntary and private sector agencies. The Glossop project helped three people with physical disabilities to move into self-contained, purpose-built flats. Information on the characteristics, preferences and needs of the three clients was collected, as well as service utilisation data, allowing some descriptive analyses of outcomes and costs, but obviously the findings cannot be generalised from only three people. With only one project and three clients, people could draw comparatively few conclusions from the quantitative indicators of client well-being and quality of life for the clients with physical disabilities. Clients’ self-reported preferences for activities offered a better basis for looking at activities and participation.
