Mental Health and Care Homes

The care home sector is large, with over 400 000 residents in the UK and a similar number employed within the homes. It is therefore an area of considerable economic importance. Care home residents are often very old, and many have multiple physical and mental health needs, meaning that their care poses particular challenges. They are also a distinctly and profoundly marginalised group who are often invisible in the wider debates on quality of care including those about care homes.

Mental Health and Care Homes is a coherent and evidence-based text exploring these issues. Bringing together both clinical and research perspectives it will help those working in the care home sector to deliver high quality care and support to both residents and staff. This important, yet neglected, area is thoroughly reviewed by a range of experts including residents, family carers, staff, researchers, and clinicians.

The book has four sections: 'the inside view' which includes several first-hand accounts of care home life; 'the outside view' which discusses the regulatory, funding, and legislative context in which care homes operate; 'mental health and care', a detailed review of the major mental and other health issues that arise in care homes, as well as interventions and services to offer support; and a section exploring the 'promotion of health and wellbeing' including examples of good practice. It concludes by synthesising key themes and setting an agenda for further enquiry.

The book is written in a style that encourages engagement, with the inclusion of contemporary case studies and examples, making it topical and readable. It will be valuable for a broad professional and vocational audience across both health and social care, as well as students and researchers.

Tom Dening studied Medicine at Newcastle University and trained in Psychiatry in Cambridge and Oxford. Since 1991 he has been Consultant Psychiatrist in Old Age Psychiatry in Cambridge. From 1999 to 2002 he was seconded part-time to the Department of Health as a Senior Professional Adviser, including work on the National Service Framework for Older People. Since 2002, he has been Medical Director of what is now the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. His interests include the epidemiology of mental disorders in older people, treatment of dementia and depression in older people, psychiatric services and other clinical topics. He is one of the editors of the Oxford Textbook of Old Age Psychiatry, the leading international work in this field. He has also published papers on neuropsychiatry, psychiatric symptoms and the history of psychiatry.

Dr Alisoun Milne has worked at the University of Kent for fifteen years. She is currently a Reader in Social Gerontology in the University's highly rated School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. Prior to this she worked in two of the School's research centres: the Personal Social Services Research Unit and the Tizard Centre. Before entering academia she was a social worker and social work manager. Alisoun's key research interests are: mental health in later life, older carers, carers of people with dementia, and marginalised populations of older people including care home residents. She regularly conducts funded research, contributes to the development of guidance materials, and has published widely for academic and practitioner audiences. She is a member of a number of national and local advisory groups, including the Standing Commission on Carers.