Benchmarks and Other Approaches to Planning Community Support Services: An Annotated Bibliography

Abstract

This bibliography is published as part of a study funded by a Research and Development Grant from the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health in 1989. It complements the final report of this study published as SPRC Reports and Proceedings No. 94, 1991, Benchmarks and Other Approaches to Planning Community Support Services: A Review of International Experience, by Michael Fine and Sara Graham with Adrian Webb. The broad aims of this study were to examine and critically appraise existing methodologies for the planning of community services to older, frail people, people with disabilities and the carers of both groups; to clarify conceptual issues; to examine the feasibility of implementing national planning guidelines in the light of international experience; and to develop recommendations for establishing and costing the guidelines on a national basis. Material for this study, and hence the bibliography, was obtained in a number of ways. An on-line bibliographic search was undertaken in July 1989, with an update in September 1990. Relevant government departments and research institutions in 22 countries were contacted with requests for information on their planning methods. Personal contact was made with people working in the area of community service planning. In August 1989 a number of interviews were conducted with personnel involved in the planning and delivery of services in the United Kingdom at all levels of government, with the voluntary sector, and with academics. In September 1990, to update information received earlier, a questionnaire was sent to the relevant government departments of the 22 countries which sought information on the scope of their services, the existence of benchmarks or planning formulae, and on the problems and issues associated with the planning and delivery of services in their countries.