Shifts to independent delivery of health and social care services have led to increased numbers of micro-enterprises. Could these tiny organisations with just 5 or fewer employees be the best way of delivering cost-effective health and social care services in the context of decreased budgets and increased demands? What size is 'just right' for a care provider?This book explores size as an independent variable in care services, comparing outcomes and value for money across micro, small, medium and large organisations. Using interviews and surveys with 108 people using services and carers in 27 case-study organisations it focuses on the contribution micro-enterprises can make to the care sector.

Micro-Enterprise and Personalisation: What Size Is Good Care?

Politics & Social Sciences

Allen, Kerry

Needham, Catherine

Hall, Kelly

Social Sciences

Policy Press

Social service agencies in the United Kingdom are increasingly under pressure to provide personalized care, even as the larger climate of austerity puts pressure on their resources. Increasingly, this means that community-based organizations of five or fewer staff members—known as microenterprises—are being asked to handle work that was formerly the province of much larger providers. In part, this is rooted in the assumption that small organizations can be more innovative and responsive. This book tests that assumption, analyzing the work of care organizations with a specific focus on size and how it affects personalization and the quality of care.

Two decades have passed since the devolution of social care policy, with key differences emerging between the UK's four systems, but what impact have these differences had? This book presents for the first time research on the perspectives of social care policy makers on the four systems in which they operate and the ways in which they borrow from one another. Drawing on extensive interviews with national and local policy makers across the UK, the book raises vital questions about the role of 'standardisation' and 'differentiation' in social care, concluding that when given equal capacity to reform their respective systems, the regimes in each nation may take radically different shapes.Chapter 4 and chapter 7 are available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Care in the UK’s Four Nations: Between Two Paradigms (Sustainable Care)

Hall, Patrick

Sociology

Personalising public services: Understanding the personalisation narrative

Personalisation - the idea that public services should be tailored to the individual, with budgets devolved to the service user or frontline staff - is increasingly seen as the future of the welfare state. This book focuses on how personalisation evolved as a policy narrative and has mobilised such wide-ranging political support. It will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students in public policy and social policy and for researchers and practitioners working in related fields.

Anthropology

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Needham, Catherine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Needham, Catherine

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Needham, Catherine. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Micro-Enterprise and Personalisation: What Size Is Good Care?

Micro-Enterprise and Personalisation: What Size Is Good Care?

Care in the UK’s Four Nations: Between Two Paradigms (Sustainable Care)

Personalising public services: Understanding the personalisation narrative

Personalising public services: Understanding the personalisation narrative