Policy Press

A New Health and Care System

Escaping the Invisible Asylum

By Alex Fox

Published

Feb 28, 2018

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1447341673

Dimensions

216 x 138 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 28, 2018

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1447341758

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 28, 2018

Page count

256 pages

ISBN

978-1447341765

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
A New Health and Care System

In the media

On our blog: 'Shared Lives: a new health and care system'

How do we find sustainable and human ways to care for people with long-term needs?

This book reveals the ways in which public services squander the potential of people with long term support needs and the creativity and caring capacity of front line workers.

Drawing on the ethos, practices and economics of human focused initiatives such as Shared Lives, this book outlines a new model for public services to replace the ‘invisible asylum.’ This approach, focused on achieving and maintaining wellbeing, rather than on reacting to crisis or attempting to ‘fix’ people, would both ask of us and offer us more. Responsibilities, resources, and risks would be more fairly and transparently shared. The book offers steps which we all – citizens, front line services, and government – could take to achieve this vision.

Alex Fox OBE FRSA is CEO of Shared Lives Plus, the UK network for Shared Lives and Homeshare. Members include 5,000 Shared Lives carers who share their homes and family life with people who need support and 160+ local organisations. Previously Alex was Director of Policy amongst other roles for the Carers’ Trust, a UK network of carers’ centres. Alex also chairs the NHS England, Dept. Health and Public Health England review of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector. He was awarded an OBE for services to social care in the 2016 New Year’s Honours.

Prologue;

Introduction;

1 How we divide the world into community and asylum;

2 How we create problems by trying to fix them;

3 Why failure pays, but success costs;

4 Risk aversion and risk indifference;

5 The humanisation experiment;

6 Shared Lives;

7 Designing a new national health and wellbeing service;

8 Delivering the national health and wellbeing service;

Can we escape?