Welfare Reform on the Web (February 2000): Social Care - UK
AT HOME WITH DIVERSITY: RACE, REHAB AND DRUGS
A. Dale-Perera and F. Farrant
DrugLink, vol. 14, Sept/Oct 1999, p. 15-17
Article argues that, of all the sparse provision for Black and ethnic minority drug users, that provided by residential rehabilitation services has probably been the least satisfactory. The introduction in September 1999 of quality standards for drug treatment services may facilitate their development to meet the needs of Black and ethnic minority drug users.
BLACK DRUG SERVICES ECLIPSED: VIEWING THE WORLD THROUGH WHITE LENSES
M. K. Nefertari and V. Ahmun
DrugLink, vol. 14, Sept/Oct 1999, p. 20-21
Many words have been written about drug services aimed at visible minorities. In practice, culturally specific services are closing and professionals from minority communities feel isolated.
EQUAL TO THE OCCASION
P. Healy
Health Service Journal, vol. 109, Nov. 4th 1999, p. 11-12
Reports speech by Alan Milburn in which he assures social services that they are equal partners with the NHS. However he emphasized that standards would have to be raised through a national strategy for excellence in social services, including proposals for a social care institute of excellence to parallel NICE. Also stressed the need for social services to work with the NHS to provide a truly integrated system of care across traditional boundaries.
INSPECTION IN A STATE OF DECAY
S. Wellard
Community Care, no. 1239, 1999, p. 24-25
Many social services registration and inspection units are failing to carry out their statutory duties, and, until the government's regulatory controls are implemented, inspection regimes could deteriorate.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Audit Commission and Social Services Inspectorate
1999
Review found that two out of three social services departments are failing to provide consistent and adequate care for vulnerable people in their area, with people from ethnic minorities, children and the elderly particularly at risk. Much money is wasted because good practice is not shared, and good quality services work in isolation from other initiatives. Of 29 councils assessed, five were judged to be not serving people consistently well, and three raised special concerns about their ability to turn their services around.
NEW CURB ON SOCIAL WORKERS
A. Frean
Times, Oct. 29th 1999, p. 2
Announces that a new organisation, the Social Care Institute of Excellence, will be charged with producing guidelines and protocols for best practice and effectiveness, which local authorities will be obliged to follow. The Institute will enforce standards nationally, and will end the postcode lottery in social care, which currently means that the quality and level of service that users get depends entirely on where they live.
(See also Guardian, Oct 29th 1999, p. 2)
RESIDENTIAL VERSUS COMMUNITY CARE: THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS IN WELFARE PROVISION
R. Jack (editor)
Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999
Book poses a challenge to the conventional wisdom that asserts that residential care has no significant role in a modern welfare system. Essays deal with many types of residential institutions, including monasteries, prisons, and psychiatric hospitals as well as nursing and residential homes. Authors argue that there will always be a need for high-quality residential provision in caring communities.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANISATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
G. Craig and J. Manthorpe
Bristol: Policy Press, 1999
Argue that the smaller of the new unitary level authorities may find it difficult to sustain out of hours services, training and development, and to maintain specialist services such as interpreting. Local government reorganisation has proved demoralising for social workers, particularly in Scotland and Wales, and has absorbed management energy. On the other hand, the process of change has created opportunities for the development of integrated services and for services to be more locally focused. Initial problems centered on financial difficulties, with much valuable time being spent on sorting out budgets and the economies of scale enjoyed by larger authorities being lost.
WHO SHOULD FUND LONG-TERM NURSING CARE?
Royal College of Nursing
London: 1999
Leaflet explains how the long-term care system may be affected by the Court of Appeal judgement in the case of Pamela Coughlan vs North and East Devon HA. Where the primary need for nursing home accommodation is a health need, the nursing services must be provided by the NHS. Where the secondary need for nursing home accommodation is nursing, they may be provided by either the NHS or social services.