The Illusion Of Caring

First published in 1992, this second book in the series fully described the evaluation programme and seeks to answer pressing questions of policy and practice This book is split into four parts: Introduction to the pilot programme, the projects and their clients; the policy contexts; the objectives; the research methodology. The Process of care: financing, accommodation and service use, staffing, case management, joint working. Evaluation: Outcomes for clients and others, and costs, for each of the client’s groups (people with learning difficulties, people with mental health problems, elderly people and people with physical disabilities). Finally this book aims to further discuss, Policy and practice implications.

The use of measures of economic output to guide policymaking has been criticized for decades because of their weak ties to human well-being. Recently, many scholars and politicians have called for measures of happiness or subjective well-being to be used to guide policy in people's true interests. In The Illusion of Well-Being, Mark D. White explains why using happiness as a tool for policymaking is misguided and unethical. Happiness is too vague a term to define, and too general a concept, to measure in a way that captures people's true feelings. He extends this critique to well-being in general and concludes that no measure of well-being can do justice to people's true interests, which are complex, multifaceted, and subjective. White suggests instead that policymaking be conducted according to respect and responsiveness, promoting the true interests of citizens while addressing their real needs, and devoting government resources to where they can do the most good.

This book shows how a system theoretical concept of technology helps us to understand the paradoxes of control. It describes a phenomenon which shows regularity that is unexpected against the background of received knowledge within management studies. It presents a series of cases which touch upon a range of technologies within the public sector.

According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, about 440,000 deaths from hospital mistakes are expected in 2018. These mistakes are preventable, but the number of deaths has been increasing for the last two decades instead of decreasing. This book describes how to prevent deaths at very low cost and get very high return on investment (ROI). The unique feature of this book is that it teaches the tools of innovation that anyone can master. It teaches healthcare staff how to manage innovation efficiently and quickly, because each patient life is critical. This second edition points out why the present methods are ineffective and shows how to find elegant solutions that are simple, comprehensive, and produce high return on investments. The second edition contains all updated material with the addition of a new chapter on systems engineering for robust improvements, a practice that has been applied in most high-risk industries, such as aerospace, defense, and NASA, for years. It aims at redesigning systems to make sure right things, right coordination and right integration happens in healthcare systems.