ABSTRACT
Inspecting for Quality says that standards in social care agencies should be developed via discussions with users and providers; local standards should increasingly emphasise the quality of life of service users. One of the difficulties facing large social care agencies is to decide who exactly are the service users. The service requested might well be one that goes against the political will. Assuming that its attitude is right in its search for consultation, the local authority has several ways of engaging users in a debate on the design of the service. The meeting agreed that some of the 'social services' hours would be used to give preliminary booster sessions for disabled people, with a view to their being introduced into the mainstream as soon as possible. An interesting example of how services can be rethought following consultation comes from South Norfolk.
