Measures of dependency: their use in assessing the need for residential care for the elderly.

The overall need for elderly long-stay care cannot be calculated by use of dependency scales currently in use, or from measurements of any other variable currently available. Although the development of an epidemiological tool that will permit accurate needs assessment in this field should be made a research priority, it must be recognized that the final decision on the level of care offered rests with policy-makers, and that any such tool could only assist in the assignment of degrees of priority to those demanding long-stay care.