The report of the working party of services for the elderly entitled, The Years Ahead – A Policy for the Elderly, was published in 1988. The principal recommendations of the report which still guide the development of services were as follows: to maintain older people in dignity and independence at home; to restore to independence at home those older people who have become ill or dependent; to encourage and support the care of older people in their own community by family, neighbours and voluntary bodies in every way possible; and to provide a high quality of hospital and residential care for older people when they can no longer be maintained in dignity and independence at home.