Meeting the care needs of older people: Long-Term care practice in England, The Netherlands, and Taiwan

To address the risks to families of the availability of care for their older family members, this chapter explores the impact of different care systems on the way that relevant care actors contribute to the long-term care of older people. It focuses on how front-line professionals and formal/informal carers meet the needs of older people who are frail and disabled, since caring for older people has become one of the potential family risks in East Asia and many industrial countries in the West for a number of reasons. On the one hand, the rise in life expectancy and multiple disabilities means the number of older people requiring long-term care has increased. On the other hand, the decreased younger population with increased female employment calls into question the continued availability of family carers and requires support from public and formal carers to help them to care for their older family members for as long as possible.