Transitions to a care home ‐ the importance of choice and control: Seminar report

This paper reports on a seminar organised as part of an ESRC‐funded series on older people and care homes that focused on the period of transition into a care home and the experiences of older people immediately before and after they made the move. The papers presented suggested that there were ways in which older people could exercise choice and control over the process, but that problems existed, ranging from the ways in which assessment and referral systems were crisis or service led, to how people were supported after their move. This paper outlines these arguments, and concludes that such processes need to be addressed if the quality of care at this difficult period is to be improved.