New Health and Care System : Escaping the Invisible Asylum

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.