SHORT REPORT Self-reported quality of care for older adults

Background: little is known about changes in the quality of medical care for older adults over time. Objective: to assess changes in technical quality of care over 6 years, and associations with participants ’ characteristics. Design: a national cohort survey covering RAND Corporation-derived quality indicators (QIs) in face-to-face structured interviews in participants ’ households. Participants: a total of 5,114 people aged 50 or more in four waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Methods: the percentage achievement of 24 QIs in 10 general medical and geriatric clinical conditions was calculated for each time point, and associations with participants ’ characteristics were estimated using logistic regression. Results: participants were eligible for 21,220 QIs. QI achievement for geriatric conditions (cataract, falls, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis) was 41 % [95 % confidence interval (CI): 38–44] in 2004–05 and 38 % (36–39) in 2010–11. Achievement for general medical conditions (depression, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, pain and cerebrovascular disease) improved from 75 % (73–77) in 2004–05 to 80 % (79–82) in 2010–11. Achievement ranged from 89 % for cerebrovas-cular disease to 34 % for osteoarthritis. Overall achievement was lower for participants who were men, wealthier, infrequent alcohol drinkers, not obese and living alone. Conclusion: substantial system-level shortfalls in quality of care for geriatric conditions persisted over 6 years, with relativel