The use of fair access to care services' eligibility criteria for equipment provision within local authorities in England

In April 2003, the national eligibility framework for the provision of community care services, Fair Access to Care Services (FACS), was implemented. The aim of the framework was to ensure geographical equity in the provision of services, including equipment and minor works, so ending the postcode variability of care described in the Audit Commission report Fully Equipped. This study reports a postal questionnaire survey of a representative sample of 100 local authority occupational therapy teams across England to examine the implementation and use of the criteria for equipment provision. A 60% response rate revealed that only 9 out of 60 teams (15%) used solely FACS criteria; the remainder still used local criteria. Between-colleague differences in equipment provision persisted (68%). This suggests that the implementation of the FACS eligibility criteria has not achieved its goal.