Conclusion

Abstract

Community care cannot be described in terms of one system despite common ideological roots and a single legislative framework. The development of services for older people, for people with mental health problems and for people with disabilities has been influenced by historical antecedents, demographic issues and the diverse concerns of professionals and service users. The knowledge base of community care has become so large that a return from specialisation to genericism in the delivery of services is probably unrealistic. The major infrastructure issues however have commonalties. The provision of social care cannot be isolated from health care, housing and financial support. In all of these areas major change has taken place, emphasising both the split between purchasers and providers of services, and in its wake, the new mixed economy of public and independent sector provision. Support from informal carers has been a basic tenet upon which community care has been built. Chiefly, however, this has been provided by families rather than communities. Individualism remains the basic model of service provision in community care.