Camphill Village Trust

This is because targets replace the real purpose of the organisation with a new de facto one. Regulation constrains method because regulators bring with them their own theories of management and control. He cites the example of Camphill Village Trust which set up a number of communities for people with mental health disabilities, where residents and volunteer ‘co-workers’ live together. The communities were issued with a series of damming reports by the Care Quality Commission largely due to poor record keeping and knowledge of safeguarding regulations. Professional managers were brought in to deliver improvements in these areas but Seddon says: ‘Volunteers felt crushed by the management factory that landed above them, issuing edicts which to the volunteer’s minds made no sense. Many left, many were squeezed out’. The professionals also introduced more choice for residents ‘the political narrative in social care heavily emphasises personalisation, choice and ‘independent living’. Offered the choice between TV in their own rooms in the evenings or communal activities and between health food and sweets residents chose TV and sweets. The result was: ‘a vibrant community was transformed into a ‘shuffling’ community that has increased its use of psychotrophic drugs’.