Caring for older people in the private sector in England
Caring for older people in the private sector in England
复制标题
英国私营部门照顾老年人
作者：
S. Kerrison;A. Pollock
本文是三篇系列文章中的最后一篇。
在联合王国，分配给保健的所有床位有一半以上在为老年人提供的独立养老院中；这是最初为改变社会保障支付基础1而实行的政策的结果，现在这些政策的目标是将长期护理私有化。卫生部的官方统计数据显示，1979年至2000年间，英国国民健康保险制度的床位总数从48万张减少到18.9万张，而主要以盈利为目的的独立部门的床位数量从19832年的23000张增加到2000年的19.3万张。
美国和澳大利亚的经验表明，缺乏促进居民利益的政治意愿，而不是行业及其股东的利益。3 4在澳大利亚，该行业成功地游说用效率较低的认证计划取代法律上可执行的法规；这造成了灾难性的后果。在美国，该行业成功地反对为最低工作人员数量引入强有力的标准，其结果是居民的健康结果不断下降。随着美国大型跨国公司的子公司进入英国，英国养老院的居民面临着相当大的风险5；其中一些公司因欺诈和挪用政府资金以及虐待病人而在美国受到审查。3本文考虑英国养老院的新监管框架是否为患者提供了足够的保护。
#总结要点
英国超过一半的医疗床位是在为老年人提供的独立养老院中
关于疗养院居民使用的护理需求或服务结果的信息很少集中收集…
This is the last in a series of three articles
Over half of all beds allocated for health care in the United Kingdom are in independent nursing homes for older people; this is a result of policies initially introduced to change the basis of social security payments1 and now directed towards privatising long term care. Official statistics from the Department of Health indicate that between 1979 and 2000 the total number of beds in the NHS in England decreased from 480 000 to 189 000, while the number of beds in the independent sector, which is run mainly for profit, increased from 23 000 in 19832 to 193 000 in 2000.
Experiences in the United States and Australia have shown the lack of political will to promote the interests of residents against the interests of the industry and its shareholders. 3 4 In Australia the industry successfully lobbied to replace legally enforceable regulations with less effective accreditation schemes; this has had disastrous consequences. In the United States the industry successfully opposed the introduction of robust standards for minimum numbers of staff, and the result is continuously declining health outcomes for residents. The risks to residents of nursing homes in the United Kingdom are considerable as subsidiaries of large US multinationals enter the United Kingdom5; some of these companies have come under scrutiny in the United States for fraud and embezzlement of government funds and for abusing patients.3 This paper considers whether the new regulatory framework for nursing homes in the United Kingdom offers adequate protection for patients.
#### Summary points
Over half of the healthcare beds in the United Kingdom are in independent nursing homes for older people
Little information is collected centrally about the needs for care or outcomes of services used by residents of nursing homes …