Nurse-led welfare benefits screening in a General Practice located in a deprived area

Hoskins, R.A.J. and Smith, L.N. (2002) Nurse-led welfare benefits screening in a General Practice located in a deprived area. Public Health, 116(4), pp. 214-220.

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Publisher's URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350602900697

Abstract

<b>Objective:</b> To evaluate a nurse-led attendance allowance screening service in General Practice.<br></br> <b>Design:</b> Intervention study.<br></br> <b>Setting:</b> One General Practice located in two sites in deprived areas in the East-End of Glasgow (Carstairs Deprivation Index—6 and 4).<br></br> <b>Participants:</b> Participants aged >64y who in the nurses clinical judgment appeared to be physically or mentally frail were opportunistically recruited over a 12-week period by community nurses (health visitors, district nurses and practice nurses). A Welfare Rights Officer (WRO) contacted all potential underclaimers by telephone and offered a home visit in order to assess for unclaimed benefits.<br></br> <b>Main outcome measure:</b> Total unclaimed attendance allowance and linked benefits.<br></br> <b>Results:</b> Thirty-seven of the original 86 participants plus four relatives were found not to be claiming the benefit payments that they were entitled to. Referral to the Department of Social Security (DSS) revealed unclaimed benefits to a total of: <br></br> • £112 893.00<br></br> • of this £95 306.00 is on a recurrent annualised basis and £17 587.00 as lump sums.<br></br> <b>Conclusions:</b> A community nurse-led attendance allowance screening service combined with a home visit by a WRO was an efficient and highly effective model for maximising the income of the frail elderly. This model could contribute to reducing the increasing number of pensioners living below the poverty line.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Smith, Professor Lorraine
Authors: Hoskins, R.A.J., and Smith, L.N.
Subjects:R Medicine > RT Nursing
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Nursing and Health Care
Journal Name:Public Health
Publisher:W.B. Saunders Co. Ltd.
ISSN:0033-3506
ISSN (Online):1476-5616
Published Online:24 March 2004

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