Face-to-Face Social Work with the Old Old

Abstract

Skills in day-to-day work with very old people are currently being acquired at a great rate. None of the caring professions can completely escape the demands made by the rapidly increasing numbers of very old people and their families. However, the extent and quality of this help is very variable. Social work agencies, like most others, have failed to plan for the changing shape of the population, so agencies and services are being adapted in the midst of overwhelming demands on what little help is available.