Articles: community-health-services.
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Bmc Health Serv Res · Oct 2018
Multicenter StudyPurchasers' deliberations on psychosocial needs within the process of allocating healthcare services for older home-dwelling persons with dementia: a qualitative study.
Meeting psychosocial needs is a significant component of quality dementia care. To enable persons with dementia to live at home for as long as possible, a community healthcare service offering care where physical, social, psychological, cultural and spiritual needs are met, is recommended. A comprehensive allocation process is required to allocate individually tailored healthcare services. However, the allocation process for older home-dwelling persons with dementia, specifically for services to safeguard psychosocial needs, remains largely unexplored. Accordingly, this study aims to explore purchasers' deliberations on psychosocial needs during the process of allocating healthcare services to older home-dwelling persons with dementia. ⋯ The purchasers viewed a comprehensive allocation process as important. However, a web of different interplaying aspects prevented the purchasers from conducting a comprehensive need-led allocation process. Insufficient assessment or allocation threatens the adequate safeguarding of the psychosocial needs of persons with dementia. Having varied and sufficient services to allocate is of great importance, but is not sufficient. Psychosocial needs must be better incorporated as a significant element throughout the entire allocation process.