All the indications are, that in the future first in western societies and then globally, more and more people will need support to live. Medical innovation and broader changes are making it possible for more of us to be born, to live beyond infancy, to survive once life-threatening illnesses and conditions and to live much longer lives. But more often now, we may need help. In western societies like ours, the policy dedicated to addressing such issues is social care, a policy which interestingly seems to carry little resonance for most people.

Social care addresses most of the troubles that human beings are heir to. This ranges from madness and distress, poverty, homelessness, abuse and neglect, to inherited and acquired physical, sensory and intellectual impairments. The frailty that comes from ageing, chronic disease, loss, death and dying is also its province. Social care may intervene in our lives from the beginning to the end, at some of the most difficult times and when people are faced by the most painful experiences. It may do so on a voluntary or involuntary basis, such are the official powers invested in it.

This is a time of major rethinking and change in social care policy within the UK, but such change also has international significance. It also comes at a time of major UK political and economic change. This book looks at what a system of social care based on providing the kind of support people want, may actually look like and how it can be achieved. To do so, it draws particularly on what those people themselves have to say.

The shortcomings of social care

It has long been recognised that the social care system often does not provide the sort of care and support that people want. Using social care services frequently results in the service taking over the person's life, rather than the person feeling supported by the service.