The number of elderly people relying on formal long-term care services is dramatically increasing year after year, and the challenge of ensuring the quality and financial stability of care provision is one faced by governments in both the developed and developing world. This edited book is the first to provide a comprehensive international survey of long-term care provision and regulation, built around a series of case studies from Europe, North America and Asia. The analytical framework allows the different approaches that countries have adopted to be compared side by side and readers are encouraged to consider which quality assurance approaches might best meet their own country's needs. Wider issues underpinning the need to regulate the quality of long-term care are also discussed. This timely book is a valuable resource for policymakers working in the health care sector, researchers and students taking graduate courses on health policy and management.

'The demand for improvements in the quality of long term care - from ensuring that care is at least adequate, through to raising standards of provision generally - has never been higher. Regulation plays a key role in this process, but regulation of long term care is a challenging and complex process, with a variety of ways in which it can be approached. To make regulation most effective it is important that we learn from others. This invaluable book draws together experiences from a wide variety of countries, in a clear and structured way, allowing the reader to place the regulatory approaches used in context, enhancing the value of the information provided. The wealth of information here will be a valuable resource all those concerned with regulation and raising quality, including regulators, policy makers and academics.'

Ann Netten - Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent