title: Determining older people's need for registered nursing in continuing healthcare: the contribution of the Royal College of Nursing's Older People Assessment Tool.
abstract: This paper presents an overview of the work of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in developing an assessment tool to determine the need for registered nursing by older people in continuing care. In the past, healthcare has been provided free and social care 'means-tested'. The erosion of the NHS's responsibility for continuing care provision through the development of eligibility criteria has resulted in the majority of older people having their care services means-tested, including their nursing care. The RCN has argued that older people have inter-related health and social care needs, that nursing care is an integral component of healthcare provision and that therefore older people should not have to pay for nursing care. This paper describes the work undertaken by the RCN to develop a tool for use in assessing older people's need for registered nursing--'The RCN Nursing Older People Assessment Tool'. The underpinning theoretical framework is outlined and the process of constructing the tool is described. In addition, the stages of assessment using the tool are outlined. A pilot study in seven nursing homes managed by three different companies was undertaken to test the reliability and acceptability of the tool. 178 paired assessments were completed (89% of the intended sample). The results of the pilot study demonstrated that the tool has a high degree of reliability and acceptability.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCormack
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016852:Housing for the Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016294:Models, Nursing; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009735:Nursing Homes; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D006113:United Kingdom