The future of community services was the title of a conference held in November 1988 at the King's Fund. This report follows the format of the conference, with speakers' presentations followed by reports of the discussions which took place in the afternoon workshops. Also explored are the role of the community health services in policy development, planning, monitoring and evaluation in primary and community care. The final chapter is on the Griffiths report and its implications. An example of putting community care ideas into practice - the Birmingham Special Action Project - is described