Community Care articles from February 2006

Community Care archives from February 2006

Market forces drive changes in care homes.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... The residential care home sector is facing fundamental changes as a result of market forces, rather than the wishes of service users or providers, delegates heard. National Care Forum director Des Kelly said the sector was increasingly...

Home care is patchy, says national director.(Kathryn Hudson)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... The national director for social care challenged councils over the quality of home care and carers services. Kathryn Hudson told delegates that home care services were "patchy" and, in many areas, failed to maintain people in their own...

Prevention about more than just social care.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Social care should not be left alone to provide preventive services, the Social Exclusion Unit has said. Luke O'Shea, team leader for the unit's excluded older people's group, said that funding had to be boosted across services, including...

mental health Scots to fund only inclusive services.(Linda Reid)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... The Scottish executive is unlikely in future to fund any mental health services that do not promote inclusion. Linda Reid, senior liaison officer at the executive, told a mental health conference in Glasgow that the days of groups, clubs...

disabilities Claimants will lose extra payments.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Benefits claimants could be worse off under the government's welfare reforms than under the current system, disability charity Leonard Cheshire has warned. It has pointed to plans in the welfare reform green paper to scrap two supplements...

standards Tougher star ratings backed by Byrne.(Liam Byrne)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Councils will face a tougher test of their adults' social care services in this year's star ratings, with a closer focus on commissioning and user involvement. Care services minister Liam Byrne has endorsed Commission for Social Care...

finance by mithran samuel Councils slash services and increase charges as NHS cuts hit social care.
February 2, 2006... Councils across England are taking emergency measures to balance their adult care budgets, including tightening eligibility criteria and increasing charges, because of the NHS financial crisis and insufficient government funding. With...

drug misuse Minister concerned with poor aftercare.(Caroline Flint)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Health minister Caroline Flint is to write to all directors of social services over concerns that some councils are failing to provide adequate aftercare for drug users placed in out-of-area rehabilitation centres. In a parliamentary...

New services for carers on the cards.
February 2, 2006... England's six million carers will have access to a dedicated helpline and information service under proposals in the white paper. The helpline, which could be run by a charity, would provide information on legal entitlements, contact...

child protection Airport risk project could be extended.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... A system for authorities to track children at potential risk who arrive from abroad could be rolled out following a successful pilot. Police and immigration staff at Heathrow airport monitored 2,643 children on flights from Jamaica over...

Workforce planning should be integrated.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Councils and health bodies will be encouraged to integrate workforce planning under the proposals. This will be linked to service and budgetary planning across health and social care. Skills for Care chief executive Andrea Rowe said joint...

Finance Councillors warn on funding pressures.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Half of England's councils with social services responsibilities will have to make do with funding increases of 2 per cent or less this year, the Local Government Association has warned. Its snapshot survey of more than 50 metropolitan,...

Supporting people Woolas backs shift to area agreements.(Phil Woolas)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... The government appears determined to press ahead with plans to deliver Supporting People through local area agreements despite concerns vulnerable groups will lose out. Local government minister Phil Woolas was expected to tell a...

public order Narey broadside at stand-alone Asbos.(Martin Narey)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 2, 2006... Antisocial behaviour orders are "catapulting" some children into custody who would not otherwise be behind bars, the former head of the prison service has claimed. Speaking to Community Care, Martin Narey, now chief executive of...

Paper is 'light' on mental health plans.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... P roposals on mental health in the white paper are not ambitious enough, say campaigners. The document says the pilots of talking therapies for people with common mental health problems will be held at two sites. These will focus on...

suffering in silence.(United Kingdom. Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, caring of disabled persons)(Panel Discussion)
February 2, 2006... A man with learning difficulties says his carers - relatives of his mother's boyfriend - have assaulted him. Our panel advises CASE study The names of the service user, his family, friends and carers have been changed ...

Social care chiefs seek duty of co-operation.(United Kingdom. National Health Service. Modernisation Agency)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2006... Social care leaders have called for a duty of co-operation to be placed on councils and primary care trusts to stop NHS instability undermining the white paper's ambitions for integration. The white paper stops short of calling for such a...

a new belief system.(social security of teenagers)
February 2, 2006... welfare rights New benefit guidance aims to take estranged teenagers at their word, writes Gary Vaux My children think it's "sooooooo like unfair" that all teenagers are portrayed as Little Britain's Vicki Pollard, Catherine Tate's Lauren...

White paper ambitions could be thwarted by reluctance to spend.
February 2, 2006... Care services minister Liam Byrne has promised an unprecedented campaign for more social care funding amid criticisms from the sector that the white paper's vision will fail without extra resources. He said the Department of Health would...

advocacy Uproar at closure of Scotland's monitor.(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... Mental health campaigners have hit out at the Scottish executive's failure to save its own advocacy agency from closure. Campaigners say the collapse of the Advocacy Safeguards Agency undermines the advocacy movement and could jeopardise...

asylum seekers Call for court-style child guardians.(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children should be allocated guardians to help them through the asylum process, an expert has said. Jane Dykins, head of the Refugee Council's children's panel, said the guardians could be similar to those...

asylum seekers by amy taylor Mother fails to win judicial review of controversial asylum legislation.
February 2, 2006... A woman has failed in her bid to seek a judicial review of the legislation that can lead to the children of failed asylum seekers being taken into care, in the first High Court challenge to the law. The Home Office decided last August to...

book reviews.(An Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions)(Making Sense of the Children Act 1989)(Person Centred Planning and Care Management with People with Learning Disabilities)(Book review)
February 2, 2006... An Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions ----- Ian Stuart-Hamilton, Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN 1843101521, [pounds sterling]13.95 Stuart-Hamilton sets out to explain everyday phrases that are intended to be interpreted...

children Social workers essential to spotting child-traffickers.
February 2, 2006... As a pilot scheme to spot child trafficking at Heathrow airport ends, Sally Gillen reports on the lessons learned Identifying children at risk who arrive from abroad via the UK's airports has long been a problem for the authorities. For...

it's all at the co-op.(direct payment)
February 2, 2006... There is scope for more imaginative uses of direct payments through group approaches and mutual models, say Jon Glasby and Mick Taylor With direct payments and individual budgets a central feature of the adult social care green paper and...

education MPs urge poverty quotas for schools.(members of parliament)(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... Councils should set quotas for secondary schools on the number of disadvantaged pupils they admit, MPs have recommended. The House of Commons education and skills committee said local authorities should set benchmarks for schools on the...

'it's fantastic!'.(extra care housing)
February 2, 2006... These features are provided in the extra care accommodation: * Fully wheelchair accessible throughout, including extra-wide corridors. * Remote door entry to flats. * Provision of closi-mat toilets. * Alarm call system. *...

foster carers by simeon brody Charity slams proposed allowances.(Fostering Network )
February 2, 2006... New national minimum allowances for foster carers proposed by the government this week have been set at "disastrously low levels", a charity has warned. The Fostering Network said the allowances, set out in a consultation document from the...

'Giving public and front-line professionals more say'.
February 2, 2006... Prime Minister Tony Blair explains how the health and social care white paper aims to create more flexible services modelled around the individual needs of the people who use them I want to start by thanking Community Care readers for...

'Government has abused our charitable status'.(Scope)
February 2, 2006... Scope chief executive Tony Manwaring tells Sally Gillen how the charity ended up with a [pounds sterling]10m hole in its finances Disability charity Scope faces a cash crisis. A [pounds sterling]10m budget deficit - 10 per cent of its...

legal by mithran samuel High Court joins chorus of criticism of 'unclear' continuing care system.
February 2, 2006... The controversial NHS continuing care system suffered a fresh blow last week when a High Court judge strongly criticised Department of Health guidance on determining eligibility. With the DH currently drawing up a national framework for...

mental health Ward design 'key to suicide prevention'.(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... Suicide among psychiatric patients could be prevented by improving ward design and after-care, new research claims. Almost a quarter of the 20,927 people who committed suicide in England and Wales from 1996 to 2000 were in contact with...

miserly allowances.(fostering allowances, Department for Education and Skills )(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... What planet does the Department for Education and Skills live on? Its proposal for a new national minimum fostering allowance should have been good news. But the figures it is suggesting - from [pounds sterling]99 a week for babies rising to...

older people Huge rise in Scots care cost forecast.(Scotland)(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... The cost of Sotland's free personal care policy could triple over the next 50 years because of the ageing population, a report has warned. The policy is already costing more than planned - [pounds sterling]127m in 2002-3 against a forecast...

training materials.(Speaking Out: A Guide for Advocates for Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities)(Book review)
February 2, 2006... Speaking Out: A guide for advocates for children and young people with learning disabilities ----- NSPCC and Voice UK, [pounds sterling]2.50 (or download from www.nspcc.org.uk/inform) A clear, well-presented guide which is aimed at being a...

key points.
February 2, 2006... * Proposals will not be cost-neutral for councils with new commitments funded by government (page 21 in white paper). * Councils and PCTs will have aligned performance management systems and budgetary cycles, and plan and commission...

'Timid' mental health bodies criticised.(Brief article)
February 2, 2006... Mental health providers are too "timid" in tackling poor practice and discrimination in their services, Community Care Live was told. Employers were afraid of tackling problems in services because they did not want to lose hard-to-recruit...

ARTS AND MINDS.
February 2, 2006... Young people in the care system have the odds stacked against them. Even for those who are well settled with a foster family and at school there is a sense of being different and cut off from people with similar life experiences. In...

good ideas cost money.(social services)
February 2, 2006... The education white paper may have had Labour MPs in open revolt, but the medicine prescribed in the health and social care white paper should be much easier to swallow. It is hard to imagine anyone taking exception to the four main goals of...

'We want front-line social workers to use their skills'.
February 16, 2006... William Roe defends his 21st Century Review and tells Derren Hayes how Scotland's social workers need to be empowered to improve service users' lives "It's a mixed-up profession. Some parts provide wonderful services while others need...

Inquiry to condemn 'demeaning' use of restraint on children in custody.
February 16, 2006... Children in custody are regularly subjected to "demeaning and dehumanising" strip-searching, physical restraint and long periods of isolation, an independent inquiry is expected to report tomorrow (Friday). The inquiry, by Liberal Democrat...

Learning difficulties Commissioning to solve funding crisis.(Department of Health's Care Services Improvement Partnership )(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... The Department of Health has suggested "substantial" funds will help councils tackle the funding crisis in learning difficulty services through improved commissioning. Its Care Services Improvement Partnership has proposed that a...

education Fewer poor children go to church schools.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... Church primary schools admit a lower proportion of poorer children compared with the numbers living locally, according to research published this week. The study of England's 17,319 primary schools finds that 14 per cent of children at...

Children Clarke slams Welsh advocacy provision.(Peter Clarke's 2005 annual report)(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... The Welsh children's commissioner has attacked advocacy provision for children in the country as patchy, unstable and of questionable independence. The criticisms come in Peter Clarke's 2005 annual report, which lambasted the Welsh...

workplace Women in sector too busy for love.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... Female social care staff were the women hungriest for love on Valentine's Day, according to research out this week. The survey, by Friends Reunited Dating, suggested that women in social care were too busy tending to others' needs to find...

family courts Guardians' strategy under renewed fire.(Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, Cafcass's professional strategy )(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... Family lawyers have joined Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service staff representatives in warning that Cafcass's professional strategy could reduce the quality of its work. In its response this week to Every Day Matters,...

workforce Care workers face registration bill.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... Residential and home care staff might have to pay between [pounds sterling]20 and [pounds sterling]30 a year to be put on the social care register, under proposals out for consultation this week. The General Social Care Council...

don't put children in jail.(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... In our supposedly enlightened age it's hard to believe that children in custody are being forcibly strip searched, and punished with solitary confinement for weeks on end. The inquiry into conditions in the juvenile estate by Lord Carlile...

Can her son be trusted?(a case study of elderly care)
February 16, 2006... An 81-year-old mother does not realise that she is at risk of physical and financial abuse from her son. What can staff do? CASE study The names of the service user and family members have been changed situation:...

Pick up that phone!(Jobcentre Plus' service)
February 16, 2006... welfare rights The head of Jobcentre Plus admits that the tele-claim service is "failing badly", writes Gary Vaux In early November 2005, the newly appointed chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Lesley Strathie, admitted to a House of...

alcohol Only 6 per cent can gain treatment help.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... An average of just one in 18 problem drinkers in England can access the treatment services they need, government figures released this week reveal. In the North East the proportion falls to less than one in 100, which prompted charity...

asylum seekers Breakthrough in section nine fight.(United Kingdom. Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004)(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... Campaigners are scenting victory in their attempt to overturn the law under which the children of failed asylum seekers can be taken into care. Ministers have backed an amendment to the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill, tabled by...

book reviews.(Social Work and Evidence-Based Practice)(Book Review)
February 16, 2006... Social Work and Evidence-Based Practice ----- Edited by David Smith, Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN 184310156, [pounds sterling]17.99 This is a useful and accessible text for all social work students and practitioners who appreciate...

Child protection 'All teachers must have bureau checks'.(Association of Directors of Social Services asks Criminal Records Bureau)(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... The Association of Directors of Social Services has called for all teachers to undergo Criminal Records Bureau checks and be subject to the same CRB requirements as other professionals. Andrew Webb, co-chair of the ADSS children and...

Child support Overhaul is 'last chance' for agency.(Child Support Agency)(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... Campaigners have warned that government plans to revamp the Child Support Agency were the "last chance" to get it right. Last week, work and pensions secretary John Hutton announced that the agency would be completely overhauled as it could...

children Fresh bid to thwart child traffickers.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... New rules to prevent child trafficking and stop unaccompanied children visiting the UK from being abused have been introduced by the government this week. Unaccompanied children will have to demonstrate adequate arrangements for their care...

children Training boost for early years staff.(aid to children's workforce strategy)(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... Plans to fund a range of training schemes to raise the qualification levels of the early years workforce have been announced. In its response to the children's workforce strategy, the government outlined how it would use the [pounds...

Continuing care by Mithran Samuel Directors fear spread of campaign as relatives refuse to pay charges.
February 16, 2006... Relatives of people denied full-funding under the NHS continuing care system are refusing to pay care charges to councils in protest, it has emerged. So far, no one has been sued and although the protest remains small, social services...

Exclusive by Amy Taylor Family groups unite to pre-empt adults versus children cash battle.(National Family and Parenting Institute, Grandparents Plus and the Family Welfare Association's family policy)
February 16, 2006... V oluntary organisations have come together to lobby for more emphasis on family services and prevent children's and adults' services competing for cash in next year's spending review. Caroline Abrahams, head of public policy at one of the...

homelessness Shelter calls for more social housing.(Brief Article)
February 16, 2006... The number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation has soared in the 40 years since Shelter was formed, according to research from the charity. It says that a steep decline in the building of social housing has left more...

Mental Health by Simeon Brody Bill could be dropped and 1983 act reformed, says shadow minister.
February 16, 2006... Opposition politicians and campaigners say there will be no mental health bill during this parliamentary session and the bill may be dropped in favour of reform of the 1983 act. Their claims follow a parliamentary answer last week in which...

Mental health Council ordered to pay aftercare costs.(York Council)(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... York Council has been told to reimburse a woman who had to find [pounds sterling]37,000 in residential aftercare fees that the local authority should have met, following a period of compulsory treatment. The local government ombudsman found...

Mental health Drug advice ignored in a third of cases.(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... More than 85,000 children were given antidepressants in 2004-5 against the recommendations of the government advisory body on drug safety, it has emerged. Nearly one-third of the antidepressant prescriptions given to under-18s were for...

older people by derren hayes Free personal care under threat as cash crisis hits Scottish councils.(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... Older people in parts of Scotland are being denied care home places and domiciliary services because councils have run out of funding. Evidence of the problem - which could undermine Scotland's flagship free personal care policy - emerged...

readers' views Schools backtrack needs to go further.
February 16, 2006... Most visitors to www.community care.co.uk thought the government's initial response to the education select committee did not go far enough on selection fears. This week's question: A lobby group has highlighted the dangers of splitting...

training materials.(Staff Supervision in Social Care: Making a Real Difference for Staff and Service Users)(Getting to Know Children and Their Families: A Framework of Questions to Help Social Workers Gather Appropriate Information)(Book review)
February 16, 2006... Staff Supervision in Social Care: Making a Real Difference for Staff and Service Users ----- Tony Morrison, Pavilion Publishing ISBN 184196168X, [pounds sterling]59.95 Being a manager in a social care setting can be a daunting challenge....

claims that fail to stand up.(incapacity benefits)
February 16, 2006... The proposed shake-up to incapacity benefit is based on dubious theories, outdated facts and unhelpful targets, argues Neil Bateman After ministerial efforts to achieve consensus before Christmas, the green paper on welfare reform1 is out...

workforce How far will registration boost the status of care workers?
February 16, 2006... The government sounds determined to ratchet up the professionalism of domiciliary and residential care staff. But what will it take to achieve, asks Simeon Brody "There can't be any more of social care as the Cinderella service," care...

workforce Scottish profession 'is over-regulated'.(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... Social work in Scotland has been over-regulated by the Scottish parliament, a former Holyrood health minister has admitted. In a debate on the 21st Century Social Work Review in Scotland, Susan Deacon said the bureaucracy faced by...

youth justice Home Office moots sentencing revamp.(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... Legislation for a new sentencing framework for juveniles will be introduced by 2009, the Home Office revealed last week in a strategy to reduce re-offending. There is as yet no detail on what the legislation might contain, but a Home...

'No wrongdoing' in Rainsbrook death.(Gareth Myatt )(Brief article)
February 16, 2006... A senior manager at the secure training centre where young offender Gareth Myatt died after being restrained has claimed there was "no wrongdoing" by officers investigated over his death. Paul Cook, director of children's services at...

Getting to know you.(education for asylum-seeking young people)
February 16, 2006... Although unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people are in full-time education, one London borough realised organised activities during the summer holidays were needed. Graham Hopkins reports We're told that London, with its population of...

who will pick up the tab?(social care charges)
February 16, 2006... Ever since the fabled household means test of the 1930s depression years, the means test as a way of rationing public expenditure on welfare has been the object of near-universal loathing. The various means tests which apply to social care...

'I don't feel as though I'm a poacher turned gamekeeper'.(Interview)
February 23, 2006... Ex-union official Owen Davies tells Amy Taylor that as head of policy development at the General Social Care Council he will champion social workers "A lot of people have told me that I'm a poacher turned gamekeeper but it really doesn't...

young offenders Social work has 'key role in resettlement'.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... Social workers have a critical role to play in the resettlement of young people coming out of custody into the community, according to a plan published by the Youth Justice Board this week. The YJB's action plan on youth resettlement says...

mental health by simeon brody Charity's anti-stigma campaign aims to set example to health department.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... Mental health charity Rethink is to launch a [pounds sterling]100,000 one-month anti-stigma campaign in Norwich amid doubts about the effectiveness of the government's national anti-stigma programme. Billboard and radio advertisements,...

intermediate care Lack of integration hits service quality.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... Intermediate care services are not delivering their full potential because of a lack of integration with mainstream services and insufficient capacity, a report has found. Relationships between intermediate and mainstream care are...

schools Councils 'must issue admissions report'.(hildren's Services Network's proposal)(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... Local authorities should be required to produce an annual report detailing proposed school admissions policies in their areas, to ensure all children have fair access to education, according to a new report. The proposals, put forward by...

legal Experts protected by Meadow ruling.(Roy Meadow's case of mistaken evidence, immunities of professionals)(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... Doctors and other professionals writing reports for courts or giving expert testimony will be immune from disciplinary action after a landmark High Court ruling last week. The ruling came in the case of Professor Sir Roy Meadow, who won...

funding 'Extend service user charges' says report.(Social Market Foundation)(Brief article)
February 23, 2006... Charges for people using public services, including social care, should be extended to raise some of the extra revenue needed to meet future demand, a new report suggests. The Social Market Foundation study also says better off parents...

education Pre-school policy helps vulnerable.(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... The expansion of pre-school education in Scotland has benefited vulnerable children by intervening in their lives at a critical stage, a major report into the country's education system has found. There is now more awareness of the needs of...

a hard act to follow.(Social Care Institute for Excellence's Allan Bowman)(Brief Article)
February 23, 2006... The new chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, Allan Bowman, has a very hard act to follow; Jane Campbell is quite simply a one-off. It is pretty much down to the sheer force of her personality that the service-user movement has...

Listen and learn.(Carers UK focuses on member's interests)
February 23, 2006... Carers UK needed to refocus its sights on its members' priorities. Chief executive officer Imelda Redmond tells Sarah Wellard how this helped raise awareness of carers' needs and rights When Imelda Redmond took over as chief executive...

don't patronise me!
February 23, 2006... Eighty-seven-year-old Mary - in frail health and prone to memory lapses - insists that she wants to live at home, against the advice of health staff. Deborah Dreyer and Giles Gardner (left) worked hard to help her. Graham Hopkins...