Educational implications of the National ServiceFramework for older people: A brief report

This paper gives a short account of qualitative research undertaken with a large variety of stakeholders in the early days of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People. The aim of the work was to explore the educational needs arising from the NSF and to inform developments in education designed to address these needs. The study identified generally positive views on the NSF but few relevant training activities. There was a strong opinion that the elimination of age discrimination should be a major target and that cross agency and multidisciplinary training would be particularly helpful. The size of the staff groups involved, the need to address those who did not specialize in older people’s care (but nevertheless spent a lot of time with older people), the generally fragmentary knowledge of the whole care system possessed by those working in parts of it and service pressures were seen as obstacles to training. A number of key areas for further progress were identified including the following: • Mental health, palliative care and intermediate care • Addressing the needs of staff not specializing in care of older people • Increasing the health awareness of older people themselves • Identifying leaders for developing specific education in each service area • Developing guidelines and milestones to measure progress • The need for an ongoing educational “campaign” • Pervasive education to eradicate ageism, starting in schools.