Jason's story

Given that he is also on a Disability Support Pension and gets concessions on many things, he costs the state - and thus society - a not inconsiderable amount of money.

The problem is that, with few exceptions, these agencies and professionals have no contact with one another, and no one has a co-ordinating role. It is left to Jason - a man who often can't manage simple tasks of daily life - to be his own case coordinator: to reconcile disparate and potentially conflicting advice and approaches, to remember appointments, to pick up the threads when appointments are missed (as they frequently are) and to keep the process rolling along. Of course he doesn't do these things, so progress keeps being derailed.

And in a bizarre kind of symmetry, each of the professionals deals only with Jason, not with Denise or any other people in his life. They therefore only get his perspective, and given that he often talks in monosyllables, this is probably not much information. When, over the years, Denise has tried to talk to the professionals, she often feels that she is seen as the villain in the piece, as the one who surely must be responsible for Jason's condition.

Moreover, client confidentiality is privileged over all other values - such as effective treatment - so the possibility that professionals and agencies involved with Jason, and the people in his personal life, might all come together in one co-operative effort to help him address his problems is completely off the radar.

It's a recipe for failure. And because the process is so ineffective, it will simply continue indefinitely. What's more, if you multiply this one case by the countless other Jasons out there, it's also a tragic waste of money and lives.