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In 1970 social workers were in great demand and their numbers were growing. At the same time questions were asked on both sides of the Atlantic about the methods they employed, their objectives and the effectiveness of their efforts. Previous studies undertaken in the United States to test the effectiveness of social casework had led to intense controversy between researchers and practitioners.Originally published in 1970, the field experiment described in this book was the first British attempt to assess the effectiveness of social work. A team led by a social worker, including a physician and a statistician, assessed the social and medical conditions of 300 aged applicants to a local authority welfare department and determined their needs for help. Half of these old people were randomly selected to receive help from trained caseworkers; the other half, also randomly chosen, remained with experienced local authority welfare officers without professional training.The social and medical conditions of the surviving clients were reassessed after an interval. Both sets of social workers had achieved much in alleviating practical needs. But the trained workers brought about more change in their clients'activities, feelings and attitudes.The opinions of the old people about the services they received and the social workers who had carried them out added another dimension to this pioneer study which contributed to research methodology, helped to clarify operational goals in social work, made a beginning in measuring social work effort and enlarged our meagre knowledge of social work with old people at the time.

In the 1960s and 1970s doctors were increasingly trained to apply science to the eradication of disease, the accent being on the treatment of disease rather than the true welfare of the patient. This is not the same as dealing with illness and its attendant problems.Originally published in 1976, this book highlights the modern approach to the care of the elderly at the time, and emphasises the individual contributions of doctor, nurse, social worker and paramedical members of the team. It also stresses the important role of voluntary associations relatives and neighbours.Much of the book is concerned with the particular medical problems which occur in the elderly and would have been of great help to the physician practising geriatric medicine at the time.This new fourth edition of the standard textbook had been fully revised and includes additional chapters on such important and practical matters as Pensionable Retirement, Housing, Home Help Services and the scope of the Hospital Advisory Service.

Since death is an experience which will inevitably be common to us all, we are often surprisingly uninterested in what services are provided for those people, often the elderly and infirm, who are at risk or who are on the point of death. Originally published in 1973, this study describes the last twelve months in the lives of 785 adults. Based mainly on the reports of close relatives, it is concerned with the needs of the dying and the care they receive. This includes the more emotional aspects such as ‘awareness'of dying and the effects of the death on relatives. The book looks at the part played by hospitals, general practitioners, local authority health and welfare services, and by relatives, friends and neighbours. The views of those who provide these services are also considered. The picture that emerges shows up the gaps in the care that was given to people in the final year of their lives at the time.