The growing number of very old people and their present and future demands upon existing health and social service resources is of major concern among practitioners and policy makers throughout Europe. This book makes an important contribution to the debate about the future of care for this population group from a cross-national perspective.

Policies in most countries stress the need for older people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Home services, in particular home help, are one of the most important ingredients in the service mix aimed to achieve this goal.