| Abstract: | Correspondence to Justine Schneider. PSSRU. University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NF. Summary Two years after the care programme approach in mental healthwas introduced there is still widespread confusion about itsmeaning and its relation to other changes in the arena of communitycare. This paper looks at how care programmes are being implementedand at whom they are being targeted. It also examines the relationbetween care management and care programming and raises somequestions about future developments in the light of communitycare reforms. It draws on data collected during 1992 from threecontrasting health districts, all of which had made considerableprogress in care programming. Sixty practitioners were interviewedabout the theory and practice of care programming. Their experienceis presented here in the context of a review of community careplans for 1992/93 which characterizes the responses of differentlocal authorities to the approach. |
