How education can work to improve care standards

Community care provision often fails elderly and vulnerable people because of a lack of coordination between health and social services and increasing pressure on budgets. With the closure of many long-stay beds in the NHS, more people with greater dependencies are being cared for in independent sector residential and nursing homes. The quality of their care cannot be guaranteed and the role of nursing is often under threat. This paper outlines how an educational framework for health professionals and care workers could work towards improving care standards.