Opinions of people aged over 75 years on private and local authority residential care.

Two hundred and fifty-one randomly sampled elderly people aged 75 years and over living in their own homes were questioned about their experiences, knowledge and opinions of private rest homes and local authority residential homes. Very few respondents had stayed in either type of institution, and more had visited local authority homes than had visited private rest homes. For both types of institution, one-fifth of respondents or less stated that they would be pleased to enter them, and this did not vary significantly between the two institutions. For both types of institution, 'being well cared for' was the main perceived advantage, but while loss of independence was the main perceived disadvantage of local authority homes, cost was the most frequently cited disadvantage of private care.