Community care--the costs and quality.

There has been much debate in recent years about the implementation of community care policies for people with learning difficulties. The debate has centred on the following points: what the real costs and benefits of community care are, and to whom; what a community care service should look like; who should provide the service and how should it best be funded. This paper presents the results of a study comparing the costs and outcomes to clients of a variety of residential services for people with learning difficulties. The services evaluated range from traditional hospital services to small community based homes, run on 'ordinary life' principles. The purpose of the study was to collect information to aid policy makers and service providers in deciding how best to implement the community care initiative.