Health & Social Care for Older People in China and UK - Dissertation Example

Health and social care for the aged population is one critical aspect of societies that needs to be considered with great vigor and sensitivity. With declining death rates and old age mortalities, there has been a subsequent increase in demand for health and social care for the old age population. Social care is all about helping people in living their lives comfortably by increasing their quality of life through effective care and services. Social care can be in the form of helping people in their daily chores along with making them feel cared for. Social care has been an integral part of the United Kingdom’s committees where several people and institutions are involved in social and health care (Cacioppo, et al, 2002).

Social care is also high on the government’s agenda as a good amount of money is invested in social care events. Social care focuses on improving the standard of living of people who are old, mentally challenged, with physical disabilities, children in care homes, and victims of domestic and drug abuse. Social care offers protection to all these people to improve their quality of life. On the other hand, healthcare is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases through medical care and public health. Health care organizations are established to serve the needs of individuals and at the same time, governments across the world also develop and implement healthcare policies for improving the health quality of individuals. Governments across the world have different healthcare policies for children, adults, and older populations and this part will be discussed in the literature review section. Based on the discussion, it can be believed that social care and healthcare are two different fields with individual importance and the same will be discussed in the context of older people in China and in comparison with the United Kingdom (Eisenbruch, 1991).

The decline in the old age mortality rates in China and UK is attributed to the high economic growth rates in the two countries. The main factor that sets health and social care for the aged individuals is mainly attributed to the incapability of the individual in the age bracket to work and be economically productive, and independent. These facts make individuals to fully depend on the government or their family members who are energetic and in employment. This often creates pressure on the government and families to sustain the growing demand for healthcare in the vulnerable economic environment. At the same time, health and social care for older people hold great importance from humanity's point of view and cannot be snubbed on the grounds of logic and practicality (Cacioppo, et al, 2002). Over some time, different countries have introduced different health and social care programs for older people based on the analysis of the demographic, social, economic, and political environment (Bindman, et al, 1997).  The research aims to explore the increasing demand for health and social care for older people in China along with comparing it with the United Kingdom in a critical manner.

Both these countries have been developing at a rapid pace with China being the most populous country in the world. The research will further investigate the implementation of health and social care programs from an economic and political point of view. Health and social care have been an important element of the political and economic policies that need to be assessed in terms of importance, need and usefulness. Health and social care for old people is something that is taken for granted in many countries all over the world. It is sad to see that even relatives of aging people sometimes leave them and do not care about their health status (Grundy, 2009). For this reason, the government must always ensure that its citizens are well taken care of when they grow especially when they are not able to take care of themselves. For this purpose, social care and health care become all the more important for older people.

This is why governments in the UK and China might both be faced with a major task ahead of planning the ways to cater to this portion of the population which studies have shown is continuing to increase as the days go by especially in China. The aging population can be considered the biggest worry for any country because they tend to be the least active and contributive to the social and economic environment. However, this does create a vulnerable environment for them as they need to be taken care of in a perfect manner. Qingchun (2009) believed that though the aging population is a worry people above the age of 60 years old the great experience that can be used to guide young people and thus older people cannot be considered a burden in the economic and social environment. Countries like China and UK are facing the problem of an aging population and accordingly, the governments of these countries are taking appropriate steps to create a sustainable environment for them where they can express themselves and live life to the fullest (Ritch, et al, 1996).