Monday, March 22, 2004

Report recommends one-stop social care shops (UK)
Brief story in Health and Care - "The Institute for Public Policy Research has called on local authorities and health service providers, in particular Primary Care Trusts, to set up ‘connected care centres’. In its report, Meeting Complex Needs: The Future of Social Care, it said that funding the one-stop social care shops (offering mental health, drug misuse and unemployment/housing services) could be found by pooling existing money used to provide social care services." See also the related IPPR press release. The full report is available for a fee at their web site.  
  

Troubled Minds, Chaotic Care (Ohio)
An extensive special report in the Cincinnati Enquirer on problems with the Ohio mental health system. See articles included in the report such as Parents give up kids as last resort, Mentally ill children suffer in state-paid treatment centers, Officials: System has room for waste and Activist finds change overdue.  
  

Mental health reform brings worries (North Carolina)
Citizen Times story - "After years of wrangling, North Carolina this month stopped being the primary provider of public health services for people with mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse issues. People can no longer go to places such as Blue Ridge Mental Health Center or Trend to get treatment. Those places either spun off into nonprofit health providers or morphed into one local agency, the Western Highlands Local Management Entity. The new agency manages a network of private mental health care providers, much like an HMO. This move reflects a national shift away from putting people in state institutions and toward serving them in their own communities. It also addresses concerns about a disparity of services, which differed from county to county..."