ABSTRACT
Many reasons can be given for the development of locally based work, but if we are looking for the fundamental belief which underlies its many different forms, it is the notion that the community itself is the main provider of care. Anything that the formal health and welfare services do is only an aid and support to that care. Formal care is not and cannot be a substitute for informal care. This acknowledgement of the prime importance of the whole complex of informal care, and recognition of the essentially subsidiary role played by the formal services, have considerable implications for the way in which formal services are viewed.
