affordability, geographical accessibility, time availability, awareness, social services, senior citizens

OBJECTIVES: The presented paper focuses on availability of social services for older people in the Ostrava region with an aim to examine to what extent social services are available to senior citizens. THEORETICAL BASE: The theoretical background presents the current state of knowledge based on the study of professional literature and on the results of the research carried out in the studied areas. METHODS: The article presents the results obtained from the original quantitative research strategy that made use of structured interviews. OUTCOMES: Research, in addition to the results of different aspects of the availability of social services and senior?s awareness of social services, showed also e.g. that social services are too expensive for respondents, and that seniors are ?forced? to use care allowances mostly to cover medical costs rather than to cover social services. The paper in the end also analyses the causes of the underuse of social services by seniors. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: The findings contribute to knowledge in fields of availability of social services for the elderly in the Ostrava region, use of care allowance, and seniors? awareness of social services. This research can provide background for improvement in quality of social services for senior citizens in the Ostrava region.