ABSTRACT
The 1989 White Paper noted that community-based care should no longer be seen as the prerogative of the public services, advocating a mixed provision of care including the encouragement of the private sector. The private sector has long played a role in the delivery of medical care services, in particular, private hospital and nursing provision. While the growth of residential care has continued (albeit at a slower pace) in the 1990s, there has been evidence of an increase in the growth of private sector services aimed at care within the homespace. Service provision differs from the production of other goods, in that unlike goods, they cannot be readily stockpiled when demand is slack to meet future increased demand, nor can services be shifted with ease from one part of the country to another. The financial constraints currently being experienced by the local authority in Glasgow are also having an impact on the delivery of these additional services.
