Welfare Reform on the Web (May 2007): Social care - UK

Commissioning framework for health and well-being

Department of Health and Communities and Local Government

2007

The framework represents a fundamental re-shaping of how services are delivered and is a step towards breaking down barriers between health, social services and local government. The critical lever in service commissioning will be a joint strategic needs assessment. Its implementation will require cultural change, including:

• Working with all parties which can contribute to the promotion of mental and physical well-being, such as local businesses and job centres
• More information sharing within and between organisations
• Possible involvement of GPs in commissioning non-health interventions

The framework requires that commissioners not only complete joint strategic needs assessments and business plans but also work in concert with local strategic partnerships and contribute to sustainable community strategies.

An injection of social care

D. Bogg

Community Care, Mar. 29th -Apr. 4th 2007, p. 30-31

Social workers are now frequently located in multi-disciplinary teams within NHS trusts where the medical model of disability predominates. Social workers fear loss of professional identity. This article focuses on what the holistic and empowering social work perspective can contribute to these teams.

Money well spent

K. Brown

Community Care, Mar. 29th - Apr. 4th 2007, p. 32-33

In 2006 Learn to Care, an organisation which supports workforce development across the social care sector, published a survey of its members’ use of the Department of Health’s workforce development grants. This article considers the results and their implications in the light of recent debates and questions whether the current workforce development funding system is working.

Onwards and upwards

H. McCormack

Community Care, Mar. 29th -Apr. 4th 2007, p. 28-29

From April 2007 a single integrated inspectorate, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, will regulate children’s services, schools, early years settings and adult education providers. There are concerns that the new inspectorate will be too large and unwieldy to operate with success.

Where next for social care?

J. Blewett

Community Care, Apr. 5th-11th 2007, p. 30-31

The General Social Care Council has launched a consultation exercise on the roles and tasks of social work. This article looks at the messages which emerged from a review of social work literature commissioned to stimulate debate and contribute to the consultation exercise. The paper makes the case for relationship-based social work making a crucial contribution to the development of more responsive services.

(For practitioners’ views see Community Care Apr. 5th-11th 2007, p. 28-29)

Your critical friends

A.U. Sale

Community Care, Mar. 29th -Apr. 4th 2007, p. 26-27

The Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) was formed in 2005 through the merger of several Department of Health programmes and agencies. It aims to help improve adult social services, particularly through the promotion of independent living, and to promote integration of health and social care. This article describes a typical day in the life of one of CSIP’s change agents, who help to deliver programmes across the English regions.