The social care market: researching the voluntary sector

<p>The 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act is reshaping health and social care services across the UK.<p><p>Funding and delivery systems are changing. In April 1993, when the social security payments currently made in support of many residents of voluntary and private residential and nursing homes will be transfered to local authority social services departments to allocate, implementation of the reforms will be complete, although some effects will take many years to work their way through. One of the key contributions of the voluntary sector is the provision of residential care for elderly people. What will be the implications of the community care reforms for this important sector? In this chapter we examine some of the main challenges facing the voluntary residential care sector: the blurring of the boundaries between public, private and voluntary sectors, the combined implications of the emphases on community care and competition, and the effects of contracts.