The Quality of Care

Thus far, we have considered some of the features of continuity and change in the surviving homes and in the everyday lives of those living and working in them. A question that is frequently asked, however, is whether the homes today are better than they were in the past. In this chapter, therefore, we present our findings about the quality of care in the surviving homes then and now. The quality of care in the homes together with policy and practice regarding the registration and inspection of homes was one of Townsend’s key concerns. In the late 1950s, homes owned by the local authority were not subject to registration and inspection procedures. Voluntary and private homes, however, were required to be registered with, and inspected by, the local authority. However, Townsend found that for a variety of reasons some of the voluntary and private homes he visited were exempt; others had not been inspected for at least a year and some for more than five years. The quality of inspection was also mixed. Given some of the conditions found by Townsend, this situation was of considerable concern to him.