more like care in the community

Guest   Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:16 pm GMT
Could someone please tell me what that idiom means, I see it a few times, but I can't make sense of it. It seems British.
Guest   Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:52 pm GMT
It refers to people who would have been in mental institutions in the past, but who now live "in the community" in places like half-way houses, so not in an asylum. I think it includes the mentally retarded as well as insane people .

If you give us the whole sentence we could tell you if there was anything else implied like a joke or insult, or if it was simply a comparison.
Uriel   Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:46 am GMT
It's also used in the US for people who are receiving regular medical care in a non-hospital setting, such as people who are getting home health (a nurse who comes to their house to do wound dressing changes or give special medications). Physical therapists and respiratory therapists will also come to your house to do treatments and training, and that is considered community care, too. So is hospice care. I think assisted living might also count as community care, since it's not quite at the level of being in a nursing home.
Matt   Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:19 am GMT
As any British person knows this is a sarcastic comment of some kind. It is used to imply that something is like the way mental people are treated, or that things are of an inferior quality.

"My granny moved into a convalescent home last week, and we expected she would be looked after. It was more like care in the community", ie the way the government pretends to care for mental people but in fact has just cast them off to save money.


"This place is feeling more like care in the community all the time", ie there are some intellectually challenged people around, and any real community spirit there is largely false.