ABSTRACT
Measuring the performance of whole health and long term care systems is set
to become a defining issue in the 21st century (Mulligan et al., 2000; United
Nations, 2002; World Health Organisation, 2000). In the UK, a number of
documents testify to the greater measurement and regulation of both health
and social care activity at a national level. Recent initiatives for the organisation
and management of community and long-term care are being shaped by the
use of performance information in a way inconceivable even ten years ago.
Community care services, particularly those for frail older people, which
represent the bulk of social care expenditure, lend themselves to the use of
such monitoring systems. Problems remain, however, in translating the need
for such data into adequate systems for monitoring the quality of services,
particularly at the local level. This book brings together a framework for
integrated local performance evaluation with a series of exemplar indicators
which may be employed as part of this framework grounded in the lessons of
early development in one locality. It is designed to contribute to more
comprehensive and effective performance measurement processes in social
care.
