Part 3: Enquiries to Formal Information and Advice Providers

1 Introduction

In addition to the general information and advice provided by Citizen's Advice Bureaux, elderly people have available to them a number of organisations that specialise in provision solely for them. For those with disabilities there are also specialist organisations that offer information and advice on all aspects of disability. There are also a few organisations that further specialise in areas such as housing and equipment or provide information, advice and support for those with a particular illness or disability e.g. Alzheimer's disease.

2 Aim

The aim of this part of the study was to determine the most frequent topics of enquiry made by elderly people to organisations that specialise in providing information to elderly and disabled people.

3 Method

In 1999 a number of organisations that provide information and advice to elderly and disabled people were contacted to request their most recent data on enquiries made by people over age 60.

3.1 Organisations

Three organisations that provide elderly people with general information were contacted: Age Concern England, Help the Aged and Counsel and Care. The disability organisations contacted were DIAL, a network of local centres offering information and advice on any aspect of disability, and the more specialist organisations, the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID).

The National Association of Citizen's Advice Bureaux (NACAB) was also contacted, but this agency does not classify enquiries according to the characteristics of the people making them. Thus, it is not possible to identify the types of enquiries that elderly people make to Citizen's Advice Bureaux. NACAB statistics for 1997-98, classified according to type of problem, are given in Part 2, Section 4.2.

3.2 Procedure

Each organisation was contacted initially by e-mail. In some cases it was necessary to then follow this up with a phone call to the appropriate member of staff. The organisations replied by letter or e-mail.

It is important to bear in mind that the particular types of enquiries taken to organisations providing general advice to elderly people may reflect the promotional activities of that organisation.

4 Results

4.1 Information and advice providers for elderly people

For the period April to September 1998, Age Concern England had 10,453 enquiries via their telephone helpline. The most frequent topics of enquiry were: community care (34% of enquiries); income (27%); and housing (16%).

In 1998 SeniorLine (Help the Aged telephone help line) received 75,201 enquiries. The most frequent areas of enquiry came under the subject areas: financial issues, especially benefits and allowances (51 % of enquiries); care issues, especially equipment / adaptations, practical help, and residential care (22%); and housing (8%).

Enquiries by telephone and letter to Counsel and Care numbered 22,168 in 1998 and were mainly concerned with: benefits matters (35% of enquiries); community care, especially funding for residential or nursing care homes (23%); and charitable help (14%).

4.2 Information and advice providers for disabled people

The DIAL (Disablement Information and Advice Line) network classifies enquiries according to subject area, but not according to the characteristics of the people making them. The most frequent areas of enquiry to the DIAL network (140 local telephone information and drop-in advice centres and DIAL UK, the national organisation) for all ages for the period 1997 to 1998 were: benefits and finance (43% of enquiries); service entitlement (15%); access to holidays, transport and leisure (13%). DIAL UK did not provide information on the total number of enquiries made during this period.

Enquiries from people aged 60-74 to the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) for the period January 1998 to the end of February 1999 numbered 2587. These were primarily concerned with eye conditions/eye health (21 % of enquiries), in accordance with the specialisation of the charity, followed by benefits / welfare rights / registration (17%) and general services for visually impaired people (12%). For people aged 75 and over, 439 enquiries were made during the same period, the most frequent being for general information on services for visually impaired people (23%), benefits / welfare / registration (20%) and eye conditions / eye health (17%).

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), again, does not identify the age of callers to the RNID Helpline. The three most frequent areas of enquiry are tinnitus, sign language and hearing aids, reflecting the specialisation of this charity. No figures on the frequency of enquiries in the different areas were provided by RNID.

5 Summary and conclusions

From this limited examination of the enquiry statistics, over a relatively short period, of organisations providing elderly and disabled people with information and advice, it is possible to conclude that elderly people primarily seek information from formal information providers on:

· finance and benefits;

· community care (support, services and practical help at home);

· and housing.

These areas are fairly consistent with the main areas of information need determined from the literature survey of studies on the information needs of elderly people and studies on enquiries made by elderly people to formal information providers (see Part 2, Section 4.9). The literature survey, however, also identified health as a major area of information need.

Although this study was limited by the small number of formal information and advice providers involved, the data obtained from the organisations that provide for elderly people were based on large numbers of enquiries.

People with disabilities take appropriate enquiries to specialist disability advice providers such as the RNIB and RNID. Nevertheless, financial problems were the second most frequent type of enquiry to the RNIB for people aged 60 and over. Because the RNID does not classify enquiries according to the age of the people making them it is not possible to identify the types of enquiries that elderly people make.