Now off to a centre for older people in Wroclaw. Actually this is a virtual centre, because there are only two people who organise services in local centres and run a telephone helpline. Most interesting: they have imaginative partnerships with local companies, and give out certificates to businesses if they are assessed as older people friendly. This is a great development on disabled friendly assessments; I have not seen the older people assessments elsewhere. I forgot to ask, but wouldn’t it be good if they had a team of older people to do the assessments?

Discussion about older people’s attitudes to local services. Some people prefer local community involvement, while others prefer the anonymity of a central information service. This emphasises how important choice in the style of provision is – not everyone wants to be community-involved.

Also, about the communist past and the engagement-focused present. A bit of a feeling that older people who spent most of their lives expecting that the state will provide, actually want services, and do not want to be engaged in participation and self-management activities. Makes you think about the personalisation and self-directed care agenda in the UK.

My view: people should be entitled to say: ‘Just give me what I’m entitled to, never mind all the participation rhetoric. I just want the services, not the self-direction’.