The development of domiciliary care: Mission accomplished?

The development of domiciliary care through the independent sector was cent ral to the successful implementation of the 1993 community care changes. A considerable degree of success has been achieved: there has been substantia l growth in the volume of home care hours funded by local authorities, all of it concentrated in the independent sector. As a result, the sector now p rovides more than two fifths of all local authority-funded home care. This pattern of development has not been unproblematic, however. purchaser-provi der relationships have created some provider instability and threatened con tinuity of care for users. The continuing task for local authorities as pur chasers is to develop relationships with their providers which ensure that the quality of care services, and the way they are delivered, are consisten t with user-defined standards.