This paper reports some preliminary lessons from a qualitative study of services that have cared for a person with learning disabilities during a terminal illness. It reflects current concern about access to health care as well as the national priority being placed on improvements in cancer services for all patients.The study documents how the service learned of the person's illness, how they mobilised services and made decisions, how agencies worked together (or not!) and what support staff needed in the person's last months and weeks. It also considers the way staff, as individuals and as teams, made sense of their experiences and evaluated the input of other professionals.

No abstract

This paper explores the links between the PGO and social services in relation to abuse and to local authority management of the finances of vulnerable people. It also reports a small‐scale study of adult protection co‐ordinators in social services departments, which explored the nature of and contact between the two agencies in the context of adult protection inquiries.

This paper explains the role, remit and mechanisms available to the Public Guardianship Office in relation to the administration of the financial affairs of adults unable to manage their affairs. A review of 51 cases suggests that in at least four per cent of those abuse may have occurred.