Case management, a strategy to co-ordinate the services and care required by groups of patients, evolved in the US and is becoming increasingly popular in this country. The author explains what it involves, but warns that the evidence from the US of its advantages is very weak

Case management has been described as a strategy to co-ordinate the services and care required by groups of patients, particularly those requiring community services (1). It has been used by health and social work professionals for many years, but in the past decade there has been both an expansion in the number of case management programmes and a broadening of their scope.