ABSTRACT
In the semi-independent agency model, a single agency, usually a voluntary or special project organisation or consortium, took on responsibility for service development and management. With responsibilities defined and delimited along agency lines, it has long been difficult for social services and health authorities to jointly plan, coordinate and fund community care. In 1983, the Care in the Community projects found themselves caught in the implementation gap between central policy and local practice, working under numerous organisational and funding constraints stemming from the separation of health and social care, and with no obligation to develop integrated community care plans, let alone open them for public consultation. In many areas, the joint planning and joint finance machinery of 1983 offered little assistance to authorities seeking to diversify the supply and funding of community care services. The slow and uneven development of community care stems in part from fragmentation of responsibility and accountability, horizontally across agencies and vertically between tiers of government.
