Sue M Ashby, Roger Beech , Sue Read and Sian E Maslin-Prothero
Background: A global trend of shifting healthcare to the community is taking place to meet the needs of an increasing ageing population. Resulting care pathways involve periods in different settings and care from different staff; diverting older people from hospital admission or facilitating early discharge. Person-centred care is advocated however this complexity draws attention to whether this can be achieved. This study explored older people’s perceptions of their entire experience of care in response to an acute crisis. The aim of this was to achieve an understanding of the impact this type of care has on older people.
Methods: A qualitative embedded multi-case study situated in one primary healthcare organisation and surrounding care providers in England; studying six people aged seventy five years and over. Application of a snowballing technique included carers and staff. Data collection included forty three semi-structured interviews and documents. Data was thematically analysed applying situational and dimensional analysis.
Findings: The themes of empowerment/disempowerment, involvement/marginalisation and safety/vulnerability are presented.
Conclusions: The complexity of achieving person-centred care pathways for older people is highlighted. The adoption of ways of working that applies identified supporting factors and recognises the tensions may help staff to engage in a more meaningful way with older people; maximising recovery and ability to cope with the future.