Editorial

Abstract

Each year the Australian Journal of Primary Health devotes one issue to a special theme under the auspices of a guest editor. In 2006 the focus of the special issue will be on community-based care. Since the 1960s the aspiration to community-based care has become increasingly important for users of services as well as policy-makers. The evolution of community-based care has been influenced by deep currents of change in Western societies. Technical developments in areas such as dialysis technology and pharmaceuticals have made some kinds of complex care in community settings feasible. The evolution of market-based service frameworks and the "consumer society" have strengthened arguments that services should adapt to consumer aspirations by providing more services in communities familiar to their users. In a similar vein the drive for efficiency in public service provision has motivated policy-makers to explore ways of reducing the cost of services whilst striving to maintain quality. The social justice argument has been fundamental to deinstitutionalising people with complex needs.