About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

13 Critical Soc. Pol'y 4 (1993-1994)

handle is hein.journals/critsplcy13 and id is 1 raw text is: Towards an explanation of the corruption of care JULIA WARDHAUGH and PAUL WILDING Abstract The last 20 years have seen a long series of scandals in long-stay hospitals, children's homes, elderly person's homes and other caring institutions. There have been many lengthy enquiries, but there has been no attempt at a generalised exploration of why it is that caring services and institutions 'go wrong'. In this article, we attempt an explanation of what we call the corrup- tion of care. We set out eight propositions about systems and patterns of organisation which we see as playing apart in this corruption. Each proposition is illustrated by evidence from researcha) on the pindown scandal. The focus of the paper is primarily on explaining the corrup- tion of care. We use pindown simply because of the topicality and importance of that issue and because one of us (JW) had been researchin&in that area. INTRODUCTION In recent years, there has been a rapidly developing interest in the issue of quality in public services. What is missing in this literature, however, is any discussion of why public service organisations 'go wrong'. That they do is all too apparent. There is the long sequence of scandals in long-stay hospitals. There have been scandals in particular children's homes - for example Kincora in Northern Ireland - and homes for elderly people - for example Nye Bevan Lodge in Southwark. There has been a series of law cases and inquiries in social services depart- ments which have revealed abuse and other practices which would be deemed unacceptable by professional opinion. The important question for students of social policy and for policy- makers is how such things happen. How do institutions, organisations and staff, supposedly committed to an ethic of care and respect for others, become 'corrupted' and abuse their power and their clients? The corruption which occurs is of various kinds. Our aim is a general 4

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most