The move to community care and the impact of long-term disability on health service provision: some implications for library services.
This paper describes the epidemiological and demographic trends underpinning the current shift to primary health care heralded by the Community Care Act. It suggests that the health service is increasingly treating people suffering from long-term disability. Hospitals no longer provide an appropriate setting for the management of long-term disability as hospital-based practitioners cannot integrate treatment modalities into the everyday life experiences of the patient. Community care introduces a social dimension to the traditional medical model of health. The paper examines the information needs generated by both the social model and the medical model of health and considers the types of information required by each model. It concludes by discussing the potential for librarians to influence health care provision via the type of information they make available to practitioners.
Procter
S
S
Faculty of Health, Social Work and Education, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK.
D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006801:Humans; D007999:Library Services / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013222:State Medicine; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology