ABSTRACT
Quality is particularly important in learning disability services. Quality of service, then, can be understood in terms of a relationship between the quality of life of the people who use the service and the quality of the supports which the service provides to enable the experiences that contribute to a good quality of life. Quality can be approached at all levels of the organisation from senior management to front-line staff. The replacement of institutions with community living options can be regarded as a large-scale, one-shot quality strategy. Technical aspects of quality include standards, indicators and the technology of measurement in general. Quality is therefore important to identify the stakeholders in any service. Quality is not an 'optional extra' for human services, but a basic requirement. The Tutting quality into management' project running from the year 1997/98 acknowledges that quality initiatives and safeguards need to take place at all levels in the service and not just focus on hands-on workers.
