Care programmes: advantages and disadvantages

<p>This paper is based on the results of a one-year study, commissioned by the Department of Health at the Personal Social<p><p>Services Research Unit, University of Kent at Canterbury, as part of its programme of research on the economics of mental health. The study is primarily descriptive: we wanted to find out how care programming was being implemented in different places in 1992/93, the obstacles encountered, the impact on existing systems and the costs of care packages delivered. As such, we did not attempt to measure the effectiveness for service users of the care programme approach, but rather to carry out some of the groundwork required to define it and differentiate it from other systems of mental health care. This needs to be done before its relationship to user outcomes can be tested.

<p><p><p>Paper presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists Social, Community and Rehabilitation Specialist Section, Spring Scientific Meeting, April 30, 1993.