Article

Aim.  This article reports on trends in health outcomes for family caregivers of hip-fractured patients and the effects of social support on these outcomes.

Background.  Little is known about the impact of caregiving on the health outcomes of family caregivers of patients with hip fracture.

Aim: The objective of this study was to explore family caregivers' experiences with the impact of Huntington's disease (HD) on the family structure and roles in the family.

Methodology: We interviewed 15 family caregivers in families affected by HD, based on a semi-structured interview guide. The participants were recruited through hospital departments and a lay organisation for HD in Norway. Data from the interviews were analysed with systematic text condensation.

Details of service receipt by 132 people diagnosed with dementia and their carers were collected in South London (boroughs of Lewisham, Camberwell, Southwark and Croydon), a geographical area served by several health and social care providers. The data collected included the Caregiver Activity Survey, which details the informal care given. This paper reports the formal and informal services received by the people with dementia at entry to the study.

Maintaining sick and elderly people at home, particularly as they approach the end of life, is a long-established challenge for health and social care services. Over the past 30 years palliative care providers have attempted a variety of innovations in this area. We report on a descriptive study of seven pilot Macmillan Carers Schemes in England. The schemes sought to provide practical and emotional help to cancer patients and families living in their own homes. Data are available on 624 referrals to the schemes over a 1-year period.

The article discusses the call of six leading charities for teaching professionals to take note of the huge number of young carers and young adult carers who are providing practical and emotional support to their sick or disabled family members and show how they are building carer-friendly communities. The charities, during Carers Week 2015, highlighted the lack of identification of young carers and young adult carers which leaves them without support.

The article explores the problems associated with the provision of palliative care to people with non-malignant disease. The major challenges to the provision of such care include difficulties around prognostication and a reluctance to discuss end-of-life issues. Information is also presented on symptoms management and the need to support informal carers.

Introduction: intermediate care has been developed to support older people to remain living in their own homes, combining a higher level of support with a rehabilitation focus. Evidence around their effectiveness remains mixed and there is ambiguity around the components.

Aims: to establish the impact of intermediate care on institutional free survival in frail older people referred for needs assessment in New Zealand (NZ).

Previous research has shown that palliative home care use is influenced by variables such as age, socioeconomic status, presence of an informal carer, diagnosis, and care dependency. However, there is little information on its association with other health service use. This study compared 121 cancer patients referred to Hospital at Home (HAH) for palliative care with a sample of 206 cancer patients not referred who died within the same period. Electronic record linkage of NHS databases enabled investigation of patients' total input of care in their last year of life.