Recently, greater emphasis has been accorded lay views and involvement in debates on health care provision. At the macro level, policy makers are urged to take heed of the opinions of the general public when formulating new policies for health care or making changes to existing ones....

Publicly-funded social care providers are under significant pressure as a consequence of an ageing population, a tight financial climate, and demands for greater quality and dignity in care. Personal budgets have been advocated as a potential solution. However, the implications of personal...

This article uses an analytic framework based on the preconditions for effective markets to consider how the widespread introduction of personal budgets is likely to affect the market for social care. While there are some promising signs of changes that should result in a more responsive market,...

This paper explores how three local authorities in England have tried to facilitate personalized home care for older people through changes in commissioning and market development activities; and how these changes have been experienced by support planners and home care agency managers. Overall,...

Individual or personal budgets are part of a growing international trend to encourage greater choice and control over social care services at a time of financial austerity. The authors' evaluation of individual budgets found that levels of allocated resources reflected a range of factors,...