Awareness of and satisfaction with community services in a random sample of over 75s

Two hundred and fifty one people aged 75 and over, and living in their own homes in South Glamorgan, were interviewed about their knowledge of the health and social services available to them, and their satisfaction with those they had received. Heavy service use was the exception rather than the rule, but the pattern of service provision was comparable with that of Great Britain as a whole. The most frequent health service contact was with the General Practitioner (GP) Service, and the service most frequently provided by the Social Services Department (SSD) was the Home Help Service. There were low levels of awareness of some services, and, for some, considerable uncertainty about their functions. Those who had received services reported high levels of satisfaction with them, but for some services there was a higher level of specific criticism.