Formalising partnerships: the changing role of voluntary organisations

Abstract

The involvement of voluntary organisations in the provision of services for visually impaired people is of long standing. It was explicitly acknowledged in many of the Community Care Plans examined in phase 1 of a wider study (Lovelock, R. and Powell, J. with Craggs, S. Shared Territory: Assessing the Social Support Needs of Visually Impaired People. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York, 1995) of how the social support needs of visually impaired people are being assessed in the context of the National Health Service (NHS) and Community Care Act 1990. This Paper discusses the current evolution of formalised partnerships between local authorities and voluntary agencies to provide help to visually impaired people, as these were being developed in the two local authority areas which were the subject of case studies in phase 2 of the research. The findings from these two case studies together identify issues which are relevant not only to the development of better services for visually impaired people but in the wider context of community care policy and practice. They indicate a need for some flexibility in contractual arrangements between purchasers and providers to ensure that the more 'simple' but nonetheless vital needs of visually impaired people are not 'prioritised out'. This requires a contract culture and actual contracts which are collaborative and obligational rather than competitive and adversarial.