‘It Was About as Far at Odds With Our Provider Failure Protocol…as You Can Get’. Untangling Care Policy When Care Homes Close

Datos Bibliográficos

ID17547984
AutoresShazia Zafar (0000-0002-0448-8993, University of Birmingham Birmingham UK), Claudia Needham (0000-0001-8519-4171, University of Birmingham Birmingham UK, autor de correspondencia), Jon Glasby (0000-0003-3960-7988, University of Birmingham Birmingham UK), Denise Tanner (0000-0002-6944-7367, University of Birmingham Birmingham UK), Tom Douglas (0000-0003-3145-2731, University of Essex Colchester UK)
Año2025
Fecha de publicación2025-10-25
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Policy and Administration (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0144-5596 • E-ISSN: 1467-9515
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/spol.70021
OpenAlexW4415545880
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas16

This article takes an extreme case ‐ the emergency closure of a care home on a Friday evening ‐ to explore how a lack of coordination between national and local stakeholders led to a brutalising experience for frail residents and social care staff. Care home closures sit at the interface of multiple policy domains including funding, infrastructure, staffing, quality assurance and regulation. Drawing on interviews with managers and wider stakeholders, the article highlights how vertical and horizontal coordination mechanisms failed to deliver a timely and effective closure process. We explain this not as an extreme and atypical case but rather of an exemplar of what can happen when poor policy design creates risks that fail to provide adequate provision for vulnerable people. It also highlights that policy is not always a process of adding more layers and entanglements. Sometimes—often at a point of crisis—the mixed threads of policy need to be pulled apart to clarify legal responsibilities and liabilities. When this cannot be done effectively, people are exposed to unacceptable levels of risk and distress

Closure (psychology) · National Policy · Odds · Point (geometry) · Process (computing) · Public policy · Quality (philosophy) · Employment and Welfare Studies · Geriatric Care and Nursing Homes · Healthcare innovation and challenges