In some areas, the responsibility for home help lies with the municipalities (ayuntamientos).
To this end, there has been more emphasis on open care, particularly home nursing, home help services and care allowances for family carers.
Thus, elderly people who lived alone were five times more likely to receive home help support than those who were married.
Out of 92 people who were referred to social services for a home help, 67 did not pursue t he matter.
This is especially true if the decline in home help is taken into account, since it too is an indirect support for carers.
When budget problems arose, the government placed more emphasis on reducing costs through increased use of home help.
Even after needsrelated factors were controlled, the probability of receiving home help was substantially lower in 2002/03 than in 1988/89.
The range of services was also widened, and home help could now be combined with transport services, meals-on-wheels, day-care and chiropody services.
