Customarily, in numerous societies as mothers and fathers grow older, their offspring repay their debts, sincerely and financially to their parents. They take care of them. In spite of the fact that this continues today in modern and postmodern societies families have themselves changed thus have the baselines of support and care. Increasingly, in numerous societies individuals come to live all alone as they grow older and because of the way of Australia's ageing population there is an increasing demand on the aged care system, as well as several health inequalities. As the health and wellbeing needs of a growing and ageing population, there will be an increasing demand for the services of health professionals. A growing and ageing population …show more content…
This increase includes more specialist health professionals, GPs, and emergency health services such as ambulances, public hospitals, and more housing for people who require assistance with basic living needs. Because of the expansion in the Australian population living with a chronic disease or disability, the demand for health and aged care services has risen. The governments legislature as of late proposed a various number of initiatives to address the needs of older Australians. These …show more content…
This will have a huge impact on the health services is that the aged will have a higher demand for carers but as there is none, the government will need to get more resources to look after them. This is likely to result in a shortage of carers in the future. Due to the increased number of people in their older stages of life, there is an increased shortage of carers and volunteers. More carers are needed, and about 75 billion dollars per annum is needed for assistance in order to have an equitable standpoint on the elderly in Australia and the health care systems needed to provide the support they need. Home care for the elderly is provided through the Commonwealth Home Support Program in all states except Western Australia, which in itself is a huge inequality to those who need health services in Western Australia. Subsidies are income-tested and may require copayments from recipients. Services can include assistance with housework, basic care, physical activity, nursing, and allied health. The Western Australian Government administers and delivers its Home and Community Care Program with funding support from federal government. (Mossialos
Another focus for change is that over the years the demand for home and community care over hospital care has continued to grow, as stated by the Queens nursing institute “Recent health policy points to the importance of improving and extending services to meet the health and care needs of an increasingly older population and provide services which may have previously been provided in hospital within community settings”.
an assessment of their community care needs under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990.
Social work practice has a responsibility to adequately support the chosen lifestyle of unpaid carers as their efforts form an invaluable service which saves the economy £132 billion per year (Carers UK, 2015a). Without the thousands of carers, the health of many of society’s most vulnerable would suffer as the government would struggle to fund the costs of providing alternative care. Yet there is a growing reliance upon unpaid carers who are willing and able to provide the care which allows people to remain within their home. Firstly, the health issues of an aging and unhealthy population means there are increasing numbers of people aged 18+ who find it difficult to look after themselves. Secondly, there is an expectation that unpaid carers
Jacobsen, L. A., Kent, M., Lee, M., & Mather, M. (2001). America's aging population. Population Bulletin, 66(1).
The Open University (2010) K101 An introduction to health and social care, Unit 1, ‘Care: a family affair’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Health and social care professionals encounter a diverse amount of individuals who have different needs and preferences regarding their health. As professionals they must ensure that all services users, whether it is older people with dementia, an infant with physical disabilities or an adult with an eating disorder (National Minimum Data Set for Social Care, [no date]), are treated in a way that will successfully meet such needs. In fact, health and social care professionals have a ‘duty of care’ towards services users, as well as other workers, in which they must legally promote the wellbeing of individuals and protect them against harm, abuse and injury. (The Care Certificate Workbook Standard 3, [no date]) Duty of care is a legal requirement
An aging population is indeed a problem for the society and will possibly cause many social and economic difficulties in the future. According to David Foot (2003), professor of Economics at University of Toronto, an effective birth rate of 2.2% against current 1.75% will be necessary to replace the current work force in the near future and the government’s policy of bringing in more immigrants will eventually fail (Foot, 2003, 2). However some people predict that the increased size of an aging population will drive growth in the home, health care, and many other industries resulting in job creation and economic growth (Marketwire, 2013, 1). Majority of the people are of the opinion that the issue will be mainly in the health care and economic activity. As humans age, they start to develop health problems, leading to more visits to a medical clinic putting extra burden on health care system.
The elderly is looked upon as the slowing generation, in terms of their deteriorating personal physical and mental health which restricts them from performing everyday life tasks before heading into retirement. With an estimated 20% of New Zealand’s population will be aged 65 years plus by 2026. There is also a huge part that society plays, which also affects them. These are known as social determinants. The social determinants of health are factors that influence the environment people are born into, live, work and age. This essay will be discussing three of these social determinants, income, housing and stress on the elderly population in New Zealand. More so, how these determinants impact on health inequalities, which are the differences
This summary states that the current system is failing to identify individuals at risk early enough to help them avoid being in need of support for a long period of time. There are “currently 20 income support payment types and 55 supplementary payments” (“A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes) all of which makes the system very confusing with the different types. The system is complicated with the payments and means testing adding to the complexity; this involves more resources to maintain the testing to check if a person is in need of a payment. Restructuring the social support system will address changes that have occurred in Australia’s economy over the years since it was first established. Changes include increasing skill levels in the work force, an aging population, higher participation among women and older Australians, and increases in part-time and casual workforces (“A New System for Better Employment and Social Outcomes”). One of the solutions for a simpler system is to create five primary payments in which pensions are categorized into fewer sections for the different circumstances the government pays out. Another change would be with housing. The Australian government should focus on the homeless population to ensure that their people are not
Uhlenberg, Peter. 1992. “Population Aging and Social Policy.” Annual Review, Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
This essay will consist of different sources that explain the inappropriate behaviour an emergency Nurse’s response at handover due to a male patient who has been admitted into the Emergency Department in a dishevelled state. As a Registered Nurse assigned to care for this patient when handing over the patient’s care to another Registered Nurse, the nurse responds in an inappropriate manner; stating, ‘I really hate looking after old people – they’re all senile and they smell’. This essay will analyse the attitudes of the nurse and the beliefs that support such comments are improper thus leaving a significant impact on the performance and the nursing care for this patient.
Life expectancy in many parts of the world has increased since 1800 (Life Expectancy by Age, n.d). To understand these changes we can study the demographic transition, the changes in birth and death rates over extended periods of time. The industrial revolution has significantly improved the conditions of humans and in 20th century death rates declined but the birth rates remained unchanged. In many of today’s developed countries both rates have declined; however, in developing countries, while death rates have declined due the improvements of living conditions, the birth rates are still high which has caused a record high population growth (HAUB & GRIBBLE, 2011).
The existing U.S. population is over 315 million and rising. In the year 2030, 72 million Americans will be 65 or older, a 50 percent change in age demographics since the year 2000. The change is primarily due to the aging baby boomers, who were born at the end of World War II. Americans are living longer than ever befo...
In addition, declining birthrates may cause people to have less familial care and support as they age. To be able to provide the necessary care for senior citizens, a government funded long term care insurance program is needed. Medicare is the federal program that provides health coverage for people who are 65 and older (Green, 2003). Although many assume that Medicare provides long-term care, these benefits are very limited and are not efficient enough to accommodate the much needed care services for older adults. For example, Medicare programs do not help pay for personal care services such as eating, dressing or using the bathroom, even though these “activities of daily life” are the most needed services for most seniors (Green, 2003).
Human population growth was relatively slow for most of human history. Within the past 500 years, however, the advances made in the industrial, transportation, economic, medical, and agricultural revolutions have helped foster an exponential, "J-shaped" rise in human population (Southwick, Figure 15.1, p. 160). The statistics associated with this type of growth are particularly striking: "Human beings took more than 3 million years to reach a population of 1 billion people...The second billion came in only 130 years, the third billion in 30 years, the fourth billion in 15 years, the fifth billion in 12 years..." (Southwick, p. 159). As human population has grown, there has been simultaneous growth within the industrial sector. Both of these increases have greatly contributed to environmental problems, such as natural resource depletion, ecosystem destruction, and global climate change. Also linked with the increasing human population are many social problems, such as poverty and disease. These issues need to be addressed by policy makers in the near future in order to ensure the survival and sustainability of human life.