Welfare Reform on the Web (September 2011): Social care - UK
Adult protection: the processes and outcomes of adult protection referrals in two English local authorities
P. Cambridge and others
Journal of Social Work, vol. 11, 2011, p. 247-267
The study from which this article stemmed drew together for the first time all the available data in the Kent and Medway adult protection database, one of the largest and most comprehensive in England. Based on these data, this article examines the complex relationship between process and outcome in adult protection work and identifies learning for the use and development of adult protection monitoring. The evidence from the study suggests that adult protection monitoring data can be used to help review and organise adult protection work at agency, team and case levels.
Dilnot Commission
J. Dunning, M. Samuel and S. Heng
Community Care, July 21st 2011, p. 26-31
This special report on the Dilnot Commission’s proposals on the reform of adult social care considers how the report measures up against the key reform objectives of protection against high care costs, increasing investment, making the system fair, integration with the NHS, and enhancing understanding of the care system. It goes on to examine the possible implications of implementation of the Commission’s reforms for social work and social justice.
Health and wellbeing boards
J. Dow
Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 19, no.3, 2011, p. 23-25
This paper looks at proposals in the Health and Social Care Bill Part 5, Ch. 2 for the establishment of and functions of health and wellbeing boards. It considers the functions of the boards particularly in relation to encouraging integrated working. It suggests that the proposed legislation does not yet clearly spell out what steps the boards should take to encourage integrated working or how commissioners of services should be encouraged to work more closely together.
Minding your PQs
C. Jerrom
Professional Social Work, July/Aug. 2011, p. 28-29
Both the Munro review of child protection and the Social Work Reform Board have emphasised the importance of continuing professional development for social workers. This article looks at the potential benefits of, and barriers to, raising the bar for social workers’ post-qualification training.
On administrative evil-doing within social work policy and services: law, ethics and practice
M. Preston-Shoot
European Journal of Social Work, vol. 14, 2011, p. 177-194
UK codes of ethics and conduct recognise that conflicts may arise between legal duties, social work values and organisational requirements. The available evidence points to problems in applying social work values and fulfilling legal requirements in practice, while remaining committed to social justice. Social workers may find themselves practising in dysfunctional settings, and managers may prioritise different knowledge, skills and tasks than practitioners. This paper interrogates the disjunction between espoused professional ethics and ethics in practice, and between law in statute and law in action. It concludes that social work education and subsequent professional development need to prepare students and practitioners to challenge agency practice, deal with ethical situations effectively, and engage with the rule-making process when it runs counter to social work values.
Pressure on government to pay for Dilnot care funding reforms
J. Dunning and V. Pitt
Community Care, July 7th 2011, p. 4-5
This article highlights the implications for the public purse of the implementation of the Dilnot Commission’s proposals for reform of the social care system. Dilnot’s report estimated the cost of implementing the reform proposals as £1.7bn per year. The commission also called for ‘additional public funding’ to be pumped into the existing system before the proposed reforms come into force from 2014. The government is currently considering its response.
Should children’s and adults’ care reunify?
M. Garboden
Community Care, July 21st 2011, p. 20-21
One of the few prescriptive recommendations of the Munro review of child protection was that the post of Director of Children’s Services (DCS) should be retained. However, a survey conducted in May 2011 by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has shown that one third of local authorities either had no DCS or were planning to change the nature of the role. Some were bringing children’s and adults’ services back under the control of a single director.
Social work training reform starts to pay off
J. Stephenson
Children and Young People Now, June 28th-July 11th 2011, p. 21-22
By April 2012, the Children’s Workforce Development Council will have invested £100m to raise social work standards through a range of training schemes. In this article, experts in the field comment on the impact of the schemes.
Thirst for knowledge
K. McGregor
Community Care, July 21st 2011, p. 32-33
One of the nine core values in the Social Work Reform Board’s professional capabilities framework sets out an expectation that all social workers in England should have relevant and up-to-date knowledge in their area of practice. Social workers should be able to join up theory, research and legislation and translate it into everyday practice.
Together we are better? Strategic needs assessment as a tool to improve joint working in England
J. Ellins and J. Glasby
Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 19, no.3, 2011, p. 34-41
Under section 116 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, local authorities and primary care trusts must undertake a joint strategic needs assessment (JSNA), carried out by the directors of public health and adults’ and children’s services. As part of the implementation of JSNA in 2008, the authors conducted a national qualitative survey of preparations under way locally, key barriers and enablers, and the implications for future policy. In particular, the study focused on JSNA in the context of health and social care partnerships. Results suggested that the health and social care system was taking JSNA seriously, with aspirations in some areas to make it a future driving force for local service changes.
Uniformity or equality? Integration, equity and the challenge of personalisation
S. Carr
Journal of Integrated Care, vol.19, no.3 2011, p.42-47
Each community will have its own demographics, resources, risk factors and attitudes and what works for people locally may be unique for that situation. This means that uniform provision of health and social care based on a structure that requires separation of functions can no longer work when decision-making is devolved to local, community and individual levels. This article considers the implications of this hypothesis for integrated and personalised care, covering user-determined standards, promotion of choice through health and social care integration, and the need to move away from traditional block contracting of uniform services.
When meanings blur, do differences matter? Initiatives for improving the quality and integration of care: conceptual matrix or measurement maze?
W. El Ansari
Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 19, no.3, 2011, p. 5-22
This paper reviews the terminology of integrated care. Terms such as ‘continuity of care’, ‘coordination of care’, ‘team working’ and ‘partnerships’ are commonly employed but do not have universally agreed definitions. As a result these terms are often used interchangeably, with various extents of overlap, or with implicit impressions that some are subsumed under or represent subdivisions of others. This paper undertakes a detailed examination of what each of these notions comprises, and how it is measured objectively and subjectively, while highlighting any apparent overlap between the concepts.