Welfare Reform on the Web (April 2000): Social Care - UK
CARE LESS
D. Brindle
Guardian, Jan. 27th 2000, p.19
Discusses the growing staff shortages in social care, which may lead to a break down in services.
FRIEND OF THE FAMILY
R. Martell
Community Practitioner, vol. 73, 2000, p.425
Welcomes the government-backed National Family and Parenting Institute which was launched late in 1999 with the aim of enhancing the quality and value of family life.
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE NEEDS IN MINORITY COMMUNITIES: AN OVER PROBLEMATIZED ISSUE
K. Blakemore
Health & Social Care in the Community, vol. 8, no. 1, 2000, p.22-30
Article discusses problems relating to the development of health and social care in the community aimed at Britain's black and south Asian minority communities. Some older people in these communities have considerably greater health and social care needs as evident in relation to higher rates of serious illness, poverty, and inadequate housing. Frequently the planning and delivery of services are affected by racism. However, some minority communities are in a much better position than others to lessen the impact of 'race' discrimination, inadequate care services and social disadvantage.
IT IS NOW
Anon
Community Care, no. 1303, 1999, p.22-23
Gives a chronological account of New Labour policy initiatives, court rulings and comments by regulatory bodies which have impacted in social services departments.
MAKING DIRECT PAYMENTS A CHOICE: A REPORT ON THE RESEARCH FINDINGS
R. Maglajlic, D. Brandon, and D. Given
Disability and Society, vol. 15, 2000, p.99-113
Article describes research on Direct Payments in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets which focused on three different client groups (people with learning difficulties, mental health service users, and people with physical disabilities). Results showed that carers, users and staff had little knowledge or experience of direct payment schemes. Client groups were cautiously enthusiastic about what direct payments might offer them but were suspicious of the council. They wanted independent systems of supervision and monitoring.
NOT SUCH A GOOD IDEA AFTER ALL
N. Huber
Community Care, no. 1303, 1999, p.14
Reviews of performance by the new Improvement and Development Agency have been popular with social services department, but enthusiasm may diminish following a critical report on Hackney Council
REGULATION OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE: A NEW BERLIN WALL?
C.P. Vellenoweth
Managing Community Care, vol. 7, Dec. 1999, p.4-9
The government has proposed setting up two new structures, one for the regulation of social services and the other for independently provided health care. Article argues that a single regulator for health care, including that provided in social settings, would be more cost effective.
A SINGLE CARE COMMISSION
Anon
Registered Homes and Services, vol. 4, 1999, p.113-117
The Care Standards Bill will establish a single National Care Standards Commission to register and regulate children's homes, independent hospitals and clinics, residential care homes, nursing homes, residential family centres, domiciliary care services, and fostering and adoption services. Local authority services will be registered, inspected, and required to meet the same standards as private sector providers.
(For comment use Registered Homes and Services, vol. 4, 1999, p.118).
SOCIAL SERVICES PERFORMANCE IN 1998-99: THE PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
Department of Health, Social Care Group
[London]: 1999
Document contains commentary and summary data for each of the indicators in the performance assessment framework. Indicators reveal weaknesses is inspection, with four in 10 local authorities failing to meet inspection obligations for residential homes for adults. However the quality of service in other key areas, such as inter-agency work with health authorities, is encouraging. Social services have also made progress in reducing the number of times looked after children are moved. However 18.7% are moved more than three times in a year.
STATE SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP IN BRITAIN: FROM CLIENTELISM TO CONSUMERISM
J. Harris
British Journal of Social Work, vol. 29, 1999, p.915-937
Marshall viewed social service users as passive 'client-citizens' with state power as the ''caretaker' of their social existence, intervening intrusively and bureaucratically in their lives 'to encourage passive consumption of state provision. The New Right's attack on the institutionalisation of social citizenship in bureau-professional regimes included the accusation that state social work has infringed service users' rights and produced a passive, dependent clientele. The New Right's alternative formulation of the citizen as consumer led to the development of a new political consensus on social citizenship.