Beyond the NSF: Continuing Older People's Involvement and Engagement

In this article we report findings from a small scale user-controlled study which explores involvement and engagement in terms of the legacy of the National Service Framework for Older People (NSFOP) and the new opportunities that are opening up around community well-being and active citizenship. A key finding of the study is that, when participating in implementation of a major policy initiative, older people's reference groups and forums require good support: practical help with administrative tasks and more professionalised support to help develop members' skills as activists and campaigners. We distill what this means for practice in a commissioning framework which can be used to specify support services that may be provided to older people's groups by external organisations such as the voluntary and community sector. Here, involvement and engagement are understood as a dynamic relationship between three stakeholder groups (older people, the statutory sector, and the voluntary and community sector). We pinpoint likely tensions in these relationships and how they might be addressed.