As the global older population continues to expand, new issues and concerns arise for consideration by academics, policy makers and health and social care professionals worldwide. Ageing in a Global Context is a series of books, published by Policy Press in association with the British Society of Gerontology, which aims to influence and transform debates in what has become a fast-moving field in research and policy. The series seeks to achieve this in three main ways: first, through publishing books which re-think the key questions shaping debates in the study of ageing. This has become especially important given the re-structuring of welfare states, alongside the complex nature of population change, both of these elements opening up the need to explore themes which go beyond traditional perspectives in social gerontology. Second, the series represents a response to the impact of globalization and related processes, these contributing to the erosion of the national boundaries which originally framed the study of ageing. From this has come the emergence of issues explored in various contributions to the series, for example: the impact of cultural diversity, changing patterns of working life, new forms of inequality, the role of ethnicity in later life, and related concerns. Third, a key concern of the series is to explore interdisciplinary connections in gerontology. Contributions to the series provide a critical assessment of the disciplinary boundaries and territories influencing later life, creating, in the process, new perspectives and approaches relevant to the 21st century.

Of particular importance has been the crisis in health and social care, driven by changing patterns of ownership and delivery of services, cuts in public spending, and the impact of COVID-19. These changes have themselves interacted with global changes in systems of social protection, these having the effect of introducing new forms of insecurity and precarity. Given this context, Bethany Simmonds provides a significant contribution to the Policy Press/BSG series, illuminating both the impact of neo-liberal policies on older people, but also staff working within the care system. Her study outlines the wider economic and social context in which care is situated, along with valuable case studies of the experiences of older people themselves. The book should prove essential reading for policy makers, practitioners, and academics, working to improve the quality of care and support provided to older people.