Welfare Reform on the Web (January 2002): Social Care - UK
THE BID FOR HARMONY
R. Winchester
Community Care, Oct. 18th-24th 2001, p. 28-29
Discusses how health and social services differ in their approach to commissioning care.
CARE TO STAY: REPORT ON AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES
J. Johnson
London: London Government Association, 2001
Survey reveals severe staffing problems in some social services departments, with one county recording a vacancy rate of 33%, and a London borough with 46% of posts unfilled. Also highlights problems of low morale, stressful working conditions and tensions arising from the employment of agency staff. However some local authorities do manage to recruit and retain staff through good management and human resources policies.
CROSSING THE CULTURAL DIVIDE
A. O'Sullivan
Community Care, Nov. 8th-14th 2001, p. 36-38
Describes the cultural differences between health and social care organisations in self-presentation, internal communication, management style and decision-making.
DARE TO BE DIFFERENT
T. Bamford
Community Care, Oct. 11th - 17th 2001, p. 38-39
As the integration of health and social care looks set to become a reality, article explores the inherent differences between their approach and values. Social care emphasizes self-determination, client participation and client empowerment. These values clash with those of medicine which emphasizes professional diagnosis and treatment, with the patient not seen as an equal partner.
DON'T LOOK NOW
G. Burrows
Community Care, Nov. 8th -14th 2001, p.32-33
Article investigates the problems of street drinkers who are overlooked by housing, health and social services and whose needs are not being met because many of them are not technically homeless. Some local authorities are attempting to meet their needs through outreach work and opening "wet" day centres.
GEOGRAPHIES OF CARE: SPACE, PLACE AND THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR
C. Milligan
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001
This book looks at the restructuring of health and social care in Scotland in the late 1990s. It examines the likely impacts that the reforms will have on the informal sector as care services shift from an Institutional to a community based environment.
HELPING THE POOR
R. Whelan
Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2001
Accuses the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work of failing to offer training that gives newly qualified staff the skills to operate in the real world. Concludes that responsibility for training should be taken away from government and given back to charitable agencies.
IS A £2M CAMPAIGN ENOUGH TO REVITALISE THE SOCIAL CARE WORKFORCE?
C. Jerrom
Community Care, Oct. 19th - 25th 2001, p.18-19
Describes a new government campaign to dispel the negative image of social work, educate the public about it and provide information about career options. However other professions such as teaching have received more help, including cash incentives to attract recruits.
IT'S CATCHING
R. Winchester
Community Care, Nov. 8th - 14th 2001, p.28-29
Discusses the role of recruitment consultants in headhunting staff for senior posts in social care. This practice is increasingly used by unattractive organisations, but is very expensive.
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS HERALD SILVER LINING FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES
K. Leason
Community Care, Nov. 1st - 7th 2001, p. 18-19
Discusses local reasons for the variations in performance among council social services departments. These range from underfunding in Buckinghamshire to an influx of unaccompanied young asylum seekers in Richmond-upon-Thames. This explains why only 9% of care leavers gained a GCSE or GNVQ.
THE POLITICIAN'S CHALLENGE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
J. Brodie
Managing Community Care, vol. 9, Oct. 2001, p.3-7
The role of councillors in health and social care is developing as part of the modernisation agenda and consequent legislative changes. Article explores some of the challenges facing local politicians in service scrutiny and participation in partnership forums, providing examples of progress in one local authority.
VALUE JUDGEMENTS
P. Neate
Community Care, Oct. 11th - 17th 2001m p.30-32
The distinctive social work values of self-determination and user empowerment are in danger of being swamped in the impending integration of health and social care by bureaucracy, lack of resources and the medical model. They may be preserved if social work professionals form a strong alliance with users.
WHAT A PERFORMANCE
T. Philpot
Community Care, Oct. 18th - 24th 2001, p. 34-35
Government targets are proliferating in social care, but they undermine local democracy, tighten central control, demotivate managers and distort services.
WHEN FORMS FAIL THE REALITY TEST
S. Regan
Community Care, Oct. 25th - 31st 2001, p. 36-37
Social work reforms in the UK have led to a situation in which the correct completion of a bureaucratic procedure such as a needs assessment has become an end in itself. These reforms are like branded products which embody elements of fantasy and simulation. The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, for example, prescribes structures of action in an idealised world which bear no relation to reality.
WHERE THE GRASS ISN'T GREENER
N. Valios
Community Care, Oct. 18th - 24th 2001, p. 30-31
Describes how various councils are meeting the challenge of delivering social services to isolated ethnic minority families in rural areas.