ABSTRACT
Inquiry reports in health and social care have been issuing in a seemingly continuous stream since the early 1990s in the UK. This flow has been dominated by some major, eye-catching features. Public attention has focused on inquiries into homicides committed by users of mental health services and those addressing the deaths of children known to statutory services. This book also covers inquiries into the care of people with learning disabilities and older people. These groups may attract less public interest and fewer headlines but are similarly vulnerable. Indeed, one of the major achievements of the inquiries has been to bring detailed accounts of the experiences of some of the most stigmatised and socially excluded groups to the forefront of public awareness. The Climbie Inquiry (Laming 2003), for instance, paints a picture of the housing and financial difficulties experienced by families from abroad living in London, the Longcare Inquiry (Buckinghamshire County Council 1998) provides a vivid account of the squalor and petty depredations of institutional life, and the 'care' of older people with dementia is revealed to be brutish in Beech House and Rowan Ward.
