Are national service frameworks and quality standards necessary for Essay

Are national service frameworks and quality standards necessary for improving services, and is there any evidence that they are working - Essay Example However, neither the concept nor the implementation ÃŽ ¿f an acute-based, multidisciplinary older persons outreach and support team (OPOST) has been reported in the literature to date. The 2004 report, Better Health in Old Age, from the national director for older peoples health, provides an impressive range ÃŽ ¿f comments, with supporting evidence, on the success ÃŽ ¿f the National Service Framework for Older People (NSF) as seen through the eyes ÃŽ ¿f various stakeholders. This attractively presented document looks back over the three years since the launch ÃŽ ¿f the NSF and forward to a vision ÃŽ ¿f the future. Readers ÃŽ ¿f Nursing Older People may find it somewhat irritating that the image chosen for the cover is in stark contrast to their own experiences ÃŽ ¿f caring for older people. The photograph ÃŽ ¿f older people canoeing, and clearly enjoying it, on the reports cover may have encouraged some newspapers to adopt the theme ÃŽ ¿f taking responsibility for personal fitness as a spur to better health. Tai chi is an increasingly popular form ÃŽ ¿f exercise, suitable for many older people, and given the imminent publication ÃŽ ¿f the White Paper on public health it was no surprise that it was used as the focus, and to illustrate news reports. While adopting such a theme is undoubtedly a positive approach it may also mask many ÃŽ ¿f the other significant achievements. My chosen theme is climate change. Let me explain what I mean. The NSFs first standard is aimed at eliminating ageism and that must, in my view, start with the language and attitudes we use to express ourselves. We have all come a long way from the days when a report describing the pressures emerging as a result ÃŽ ¿f longer life expectancy, and the growth in the number ÃŽ ¿f older people experiencing mental health problems could be published with a title as pejorative as The Rising Tide (HMSO 1983). The health secretary, writing the foreword to the new