Coordination of Community Care Services

Abstract

As the preceding chapters clearly show, care services for older people cover a broad spectrum of functions and are provided and funded by different agencies. There is thus a need for coordination and cooperation between care providers to ensure that services are appropriate to needs and do not overlap. The division between medical and social service provision and funding is a particular obstacle to coordination in some countries. Further difficulties arise from conflicting organisational and professional interests. Commentators on the systems studied identify lack of coordination as a problem which persists in spite of governments’ policies to promote structures or measures to facilitate coordination.