ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the most salient issues in respect of admission to residential or nursing home care for older people and their carers. It examines the study's outcomes, in which an intensive case management scheme for older people with dementia was compared to a similar group of people receiving statutory services alone. Whilst the study predated the advent of the increasing use of Assistive Technology (AT) described in this chapter, nevertheless older people in both the experimental and control groups benefited from devices which increased their safety and lessened the risk to themselves and others by the use of items such as smoke detectors, and medication reminder systems. Dementia may be regarded as a clinical syndrome whose core features can include impairment in areas of cognitive function, social or occupational functioning, and in the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs), and which follows a typical clinical course.
