Developing service user involvement in the South Korean disability services: lessons from the experience of community care policy and practice in UK

This paper considers the scope for the integration of service user involvement within services for people with disabilities in South Korea at a time of rapid development in social policy and practice. Using the UK experience of introducing community care and a mixed economy of service provision over the last 14 years, this paper considers the barriers to service user involvement inherent in the South Korean context and concludes that in a society where there is a shortage of services and a provider-orientated delivery system where most services are delivered by voluntary organisations, more public services are needed and a 'democratic' rather than a consumerist approach to user involvement is required. Some elements of the UK system could inform the development of a systematic approach to user involvement in South Korea, notably the right to assessment within a care management structure, the setting of quality care standards and inspection processes and a complaints procedure.