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In January 2007, the Department of Health issued the first formal guidance about the actions required of local authorities in order to implement what the department calls the “personalisation agenda”. This guidance (LAC (DH) (2008) 1) is the first step in the department’s programme for radical reconfiguration of the provision of adult social care services in .
The new approach to the provision of adult social care is summarised by the guidance as follows:
“The direction is clear: to make personalisation, including a strategic shift towards early intervention and prevention, the cornerstone of public services. In social care, this means every person across the spectrum of need, having choice and control over the shape of his or her support, in the most appropriate setting. For some, exercising choice and control will require a significant level of assistance either through professionals or through independent advocates.”
As this quote shows, what we have is a general initiative across public services in one aspect of which is the re-structuring of community care. The guidance goes on to say that “councils
