health care

Person-centred support: what service users and practitioners say

Opinions of service users, practitioners and managers on person-centred support. This study examines person-centred support, a key new concern in public services. It does this by bringing together for the first time the views, ideas and experience of service users, face to face practitioners and managers. Government is committed to ‘personalisation’, ‘self-directed support’ and ‘individual budgets’ in social care, aiming for increased choice and control for the people who use services. This is a move away from traditional, 'one-size-fits-all' approaches.

Ages and Stages of Down's Syndrome

This resource is produced by Down's Syndrome Scotland and looks at the ages and stages of Down's Syndrome. It also provides information about the health problems associated with Down's syndrome, screening and testing, child development, growing older and dementia. There is also a list of relevant professionals that can help people with Down's syndrome as well as their families and carers.

Transforming community services: enabling new patterns of provision

This enabling guidance is intended to help primary care trust providers of community services to move their relationship with their commissioners to a purely contractual one and consider what type of organisations would best meet the future needs of patients and local communities, and how change can be managed to support the transformation of services to patients.

The collaborative state : how working together can transform public services (Demos collection 23)

Collection of case studies and papers which advocate collaboration as a new approach to running local public services. It attempts to provide answers to the questions, why work together?, where can the beginnings of new approaches be found? and what form would government take if it was redesigned for collaboration?

Fabricated or induced illness by carers

This report and its companion entitled Safeguarding Children in Whom Illness is Induced or Fabricated by Carers with Parenting Responsibilities, by the Department of Health, is essential reading for all paediatricians and other members of the multi-disciplinary team in the field of child protection. The Department of Health document sets out policy and guidelines for all professionals, whereas this document discusses clinical issues in more detail and provides practical advice for paediatricians.

Older people shaping policy and practice

This report draws together the programme findings of 18 research projects about issues that older people have raised as central to their lives. The 18 projects covered: information, advice and advocacy; older people’s own definitions of quality; the needs of black and minority ethnic older people; unmet need; issues relating to involving older people; older people’s views on intermediate care; the importance of money; and older people’s definitions of comfortable healthy ageing and a ‘life worth living’.