Opening the black box of rationing care in later life: the case of 'community care' in Britain.
Research on the rationing of care to older patients in Britain and America typically focuses on acute care here I consider 'chronic care' as illustrated by 'community care' in Britain. Adopting a critical sociological approach to dependency and to the construction of 'later life,' I argue that chronic care users constitute a class, and that clinical need has played a pivotal role in its development. As this reflects the allocative rationing of care I call into question, the claim made by the current British government that need can provide a benchmark of age justice.
Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, St. George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, Tooting, London, ORE. m.simms@hcs.sghms.ac.uk
Mary
M
Simms
D000368:Aged; D003153:Community Health Services; D005853:Geriatrics; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006801:Humans; D010819:Physician's Role; D010821:Physicians, Family; D012961:Sociology; D006113:United Kingdom