Welfare reform on the Web (July 2006): Social care- UK

Across the divide

M. Doel and P. Marsh

Community Care, June 8th-14th 2006, p.30-31

There is an extensive literature on social work theory but little has been written about practice. This article promotes task-centred social work, a way of working with clients that emphasises partnership and careful negotiation between people to agree what should be done and how it can be done. Part of this negotiation is an openness about how different people see the situation and a commitment to equalising power within the relationship as much as possible.

Are partnerships worth it?

J. Glasby

Community Care, June 15th-21st 2006, p.32-33

Partnership working between health and social care has recently come under attack due to NHS financial difficulties, service reorganisations and concerns about governance. People are asking if partnerships are worth the time and effort required to make them work effectively, especially as there is little research evidence of improved outcomes for users.

An evaluation of integrated team management

T. Scragg

Journal of Integrated Care, vol.16, June 2006, p.39-48

In May 2003 the West Sussex Health and Social Care Trust introduced a new structure based on integrated team management. This structure brought together health and social care professionals into single community teams. Each team was to be led by a team manager, consultant psychiatrists acting as lead clinicians and lead professionals representing the professions of psychology, social work and occupational therapy. This article discusses the impact of the new structure from the perspectives of team managers, professionals and service user representatives.

From care management to case management: what can the NHS learn from the social care experience?

S. Jacobs and others

Journal of Integrated Care, vol.16, June 2006, p.22-31

Article presents the findings of a diary study which explored how care managers spend their time in three distinct social services settings: community-based older people’s teams, hospital social work teams for older people, and community-based teams for people with mental health problems. Lessons are drawn from the findings for health services developing case management for people with long term conditions.

Learning from doing: implications of the Barking and Dagenham experience for integrating health and social care

G. Wistow and E. Waddington

Journal of Integrated Care, vol.14, June 2006, p.8-18

In 2001 local government and the NHS in Barking and Dagenham embarked on a bold experiment for integrating health and social care in the borough through a process of structural integration, beginning with the establishment of a joint post of PCT chief executive and director of social services. Although not sustained, this initiative provides valuable lessons for partnership working. It demonstrates the need to “win hearts and minds” as well as impose structural integration and the difficulty of aligning separate NHS and local government central/local accountability and priority setting mechanisms. There is a need for a unified performance management and accountability system to support cross-sector targets.

The White Paper and prospects for social care: a personal view

P. Beresford

Journal of Integrated Care, vol.14, June 2006, p.3-7

This article offers a personal critique of the White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say. It considers the emphasis on health over social care in the media launch of the White Paper, puts it into the context of social policy development over the past 20 years and relates it to the views of service users expressed in the consultation process.