7. Information for community planning and coordination of long-term care services

Information indicating the number of persons requiring care and the nature of their problems is fundamental to the planning, coordination, and provision of long-term care services for a community or defined population. Need for care must be defined not only in diagnostic terms, but also in terms of the patient's disabilities and the type of service required to deal with them. The data must show how patient needs alter throughout life, and how they may be modified by social and environmental influences; for this purpose, the data system must be capable of linking information from several sources and from the same source on different occasions. The information should also make it possible to predict the demand for services in response to changes in the frequency of conditions needing long-term care and to advances in medicine. The data set for patients should include the following information: identification; description of clinical illness and disabilities; major caring agencies, transfers, and use of other services; family background; [corrected] environmental situtation, particularly housing; and financial resources.