Uncertain prospects: aged care policy for a long-lived society

The author focuses on the concept of care, evidence of the need for care, political responses and building a new vision. Fine observes that aged care first emerged as a distinct field of policy in the 1950s. Residential aged care providers tend to exaggerate their role, whereas the cost of health care for the aged is much greater than that of aged care. Further, the amount of care provided within families is also much more important than the activities of the aged care industry. He examines the findings of several recent reports dealing with nursing homes and community care, and concludes by describing attempts to develop a more imaginative approach to aged care than that presented by the rather limited range of options found in official policy discussions.