Consumerism versus empowerment: A principled approach to the involvement of older service users

The first purpose of this article is to critically evaluate the particular approach to user involvement and user empowerment adopted by the British government. In order to expose fully the rather shallow basis of this model of user involvement, we use the term 'consumerism' to convey the market analogy underpinning the government's policy and contrast this with genuine empowerment. Secondly, the article contains an outline of the eight key principles according to which the empowerment of service users could be realised. Finally, a practical example is used to show how to achieve the empowerment of frail older people.