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At your service : navigating the future market in health and social care

Paper examining the ways in which personal budgets will affect the social and health care market. It considers what prospective budget holders know and think about personal budgets, how they would spend it and what difficulties they foresee. It also suggests the likely challenges local authorities and other providers will face in delivering the personalisation agenda and makes recommendations on how to make the transition successfully.

Opportunity and aspiration: two sides of the same coin?

The JRF's recent public consultation revealed a strong sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society. This Viewpoint continues the discussion about modern 'social evils' on the theme of 'inequality'. Chris Creegan argues that until we can reconcile the problems of excessive individualism, consumerism and greed at the heart of contemporary society, life opportunities will continue to be lost, limited and wasted.

A hospital or a home? Findings from themed visits to NHS and private sector wards for people with learning disabilities

The Commission undertook a themed visit to all learning disability in-patient units during the 2007-08 visiting programme. The Commission visited 39 facilities across Scotland from 25 October to 7 November 2007. Prior to the visits, health boards were asked to provide some information about the wards in their areas.

Staff were asked a series of questions about the people living in the ward on the day of the visit and about how care and treatment was provided. Commission staff met with individual patients and some relatives and carers.

Are alcoholism treatments effective? : the Project MATCH data

Project MATCH was the largest and most expensive alcoholism treatment trial ever conducted. The results were disappointing. There were essentially no patient-treatment matches, and three very different treatments produced nearly identical outcomes. These results were interpreted post hoc as evidence that all three treatments were quite effective. We re-analyzed the data in order to estimate effectiveness in relation to quantity of treatment.

Pain management for older people with learning difficulties and dementia

In general, the pain relief needs of older people with dementia are not adequately met. The aim of this research was to determine whether the same unsatisfactory treatment also applies to people with learning difficulties who have dementia and, if so, to make recommendations for improving practice. The research team was based at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh, and the Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling.