Hilary Cottam

“the role of relationships in sustaining change seems absurdly obvious, and yet relationships are never designed into any of our solutions. Our health services are designed around the lone individual. The doctor sees the patient. In fact, at my local doctor’s surgery – ironically, in Peckham, close to the site of the great experiment – if I show up with another family member I am reprimanded and told to make another appointment.”
― Hilary Cottam, Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us and Revolutionise the Welfare State

“Relationships were allowed no place in the welfare state because they were thought at best not to matter and at worst to be a hindrance to social progress. But Beveridge realised he had made a mistake and now, when our human connections determine the social, emotional and economic outcomes of our lives, this omission matters more than ever. But in the intervening decades a reform process that has centred on management and control has further limited the possibility of human connection within existing systems. Today the welfare state concentrates on the efficient delivery of inputs and outcomes, trapping us in the cultures and mechanisms of transaction and limiting human connection.”
― Hilary Cottam, Radical Help: How We Can Remake the Relationships Between Us and Revolutionise the Welfare State