The NSF sets standards of care across health and social services for all older people, whether they live at home, in residential care or are being looked after in hospital.

The NSF aims to:

• Tackle age discrimination to make it a thing of the past and ensure older people are treated with respect and dignity.
• Ensure older people are supported by newly integrated services with a well coordinated, coherent and cohesive approach to assessing individual needs and circumstances and for providing services for them.
• Promote the health and well-being of older people through coordinated health and social care services.

There are eight NSF standards:

• Rooting out age discrimination
• Person centred care
• Intermediate care
• General hospital care
• Stroke
• Falls
• Mental health in older people
• The promotion of health and active life in older age

Single assessment process

The single assessment process for older people (SAP) was introduced as part of the NSF and became operational on 1 April 2004. The purpose of the single assessment process is to ensure that older people receive appropriate, effective and timely responses to their health and social care needs, and that resources are used effectively without duplication. It is designed to help the NHS and local councils work together to improve their systems for identifying older people's individual needs.