Community Care articles from March 2004

Community Care archives from March 2004

NO shocks from Bennett inquiry.(Race discrimination)
March 4, 2004... The most surprising aspect of the inquiry into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett is that people seem so shocked. Yet mental health services have been failing black and ethnic minority communities for years. For too long people from ethnic...

Behind the headlines.(Interorganizational relations)(Panel Discussion)
March 4, 2004... Our regular panel comments on a topic in the news: THISWEEK, can industrial disputes that affect vulnerable people be justified? A fortnight ago Nottingham Council obtained an injunction to prevent a strike by its approved social workers....

death was not a worry.(Self injurious behavior)
March 4, 2004... Last October I relapsed into serious self-harming. I don't know what triggered it except perhaps my continued fears around recovery. There was also a family crisis and the lead up to Christmas was stressful and lonely. Once I started harming...

passport to independence?(Evaluation of Disabled services)
March 4, 2004... In the second of our features on sensory impairment, charity campaigns manager Dan Vale looks at whether registration has benefited blind and partially sighted people The Department of Health's guidance on the identification, referral...

barriers to understanding.(Disabled services)
March 4, 2004... A shortage of interpreters, technology and staff awareness training is denying many deaf people access to health care. Natalie Valios looks at some solutions, while on page 32, Dan Vale looks at the impact of registration for blind people ...

rules of engagement.
March 4, 2004... Voluntary organisations are having to work more closely with the statutory sector. Ade Adeagbo suggests some guidelinesfor avoiding conflict The days when the voluntary sector could operate in isolation are over. Organisations are now...

roots of quality.(Performance assessment framework)
March 4, 2004... In the second of two articles, Lancashire social services' David Burnham looks at how the expectations of service users provide the roots to the framework in which staff's performance can blossom We live in a world where everybody...

Halt! ; who goes there?(Asylum and Immigration Bill)
March 4, 2004... When the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill was published last November the news was filled with reports of its controversial plans to take into care the children of failed asylum seekers who refused to return to their...

making a mark.(Benchmarking of Social services)
March 4, 2004... Claire Smart looks at a successful benchmarking scheme in south west England which has helped to integrate and improve the quality of children and young people's services Benchmarking, like any other activity, needs an objective. If it is...

liberal powellism?
March 4, 2004... The debate on immigration has recently taken a new, in some ways more adult, turn. Relieved by official confirmation of the dramatic drop in numbers seeking asylum in the UK, the government is now claiming to have taken the sting out of the...

supporting people by natasha salari; Housing federation demands more clarity on housing-related support.(National Housing Federation )
March 4, 2004... A clearer definition of housing-related support is needed in the wake of the review into the Supporting People programme, the head of care at the National Housing Federation has warned. Diane Henderson told delegates at the annual...

young people; Disadvantaged need support, says Trust.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The government, industry and the voluntary sector should do more to help disadvantaged young people, urged the Prince's Trust this week . "Only by listening to the evolving needs of young people and remaining constantly relevant can we...

asylum seekers; Consortium failure hits Newport funds.(Welsh Consortium for Refugees and Asylum Seekers)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The collapse of the Welsh Consortium for Refugees and Asylum Seekers has left Newport Council with a bill for [pounds sterling]160,000. The National Asylum Support Service asked the council to set up the consortium four years ago to deal...

children; Data-sharing 'vital to tracking project'.(IRT projects)
March 4, 2004... Common protocols should be created to allow basic information on vulnerable children to be shared across local authority boundaries, the manager of one of England's 10 identification, referral and tracking trailblazers has warned. Sara...

poverty; 'Weight benefits for high-cost living'.(London weighting)(Association of London Government)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... A"London weighting" adjustment for people on benefits would help reduce child poverty in the capital, says the Association of London Government. The association is urging the government to allow people in high-rent areas to earn more...

children in care; Hodge backs call for sleepover rights.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Looked-after children will be given the same freedom as those living with their own families to stay overnight in their friends' homes. Children's minister Margaret Hodge has published guidance clarifying the issue after a recommendation...

workforce; Council denies TV bullying claims.(Pembrokeshire Council )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Pembrokeshire Council has hit back at allegations of bully-boy management tactics and under-funding in social services. In a Welsh regional television documentary shown last week, an unnamed female social worker told of a "disaster waiting...

young people; Cash boost to fight substance abuse.(Young People's Development Programme)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Projects to reduce drug and alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancy in some of the UK's most disadvantaged areas have been given [pounds sterling]1.6m by the government. The money will fund the Young People's Development Programme, offering 13...

'Measures may put children on streets'.
March 4, 2004... Many children could end up homeless and sleeping rough because of measures in the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill, social workers and children's charities have warned. Under clause seven of the bill, debated in the...

workforce; Nottingham deal follows new ruling.(Social services administration)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Approved social workers at Nottingham Council have called off their proposed strike after reaching an agreement with the local authority over backdated pay. Council managers and officials from the trade union Unison agreed a deal, which...

GUNN on Politics.(Sheila Gunn)
March 4, 2004... For newspapers the latest opinion poll or survey result can be a godsend. There, within a couple of sentences, is a "story", an "angle" - and what we all yearn for - an easy "headline". Just think of it. The words slip into the computer....

exclusive by derren hayes; MPs to order shake-up on issuing death certificates in nursing homes.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... MPs are set to demand that GPs check the bodies of nursing home residents when they die for signs of abuse or neglect. The House of Commons health select committee will call for a tightening of the law on the procedures for GPs issuing...

homelessness; Begging crackdown 'causing mistrust'.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... An "audit" of beggars in the City of Westminster has been condemned by a homelessness charity as creating a "culture of mistrust and suspicion". The joint operation between Westminster Council and the police last weekend was intended to...

Public order; Schools may spurn new power to fine.(school safety)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Youth offending teams, local education authorities and the police will get more powers this week to deal with truancy and antisocial behaviour in and out of schools. However, there remains some doubt as to what extent the new powers,...

public health; 'Local and national action is needed'.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Local authorities and primary care trusts need to play a greater role in improving the population's health, says a government-commissioned report published last week. Schools, local authorities, employers, and the private and voluntary...

care management; Clients missing out on direct payments.(Joseph Rowntree Foundation)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Ill-informed care managers are restricting the uptake of direct payments by clients, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found. It found that demand for direct payments was related to the quality and accessibility of...

older people; Assessments still taking too long.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Social services departments are still struggling to assess older people's needs within 48 hours of first contact, new figures reveal. Department of Health community care statistics for 2002-3 show that only one in five assessments of the...

alcohol misuse; 'Lack of funds will hamper treatment'.(Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Alcohol organisations have expressed fears that the imminent Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy will not be accompanied by additional funds. Richard Phillips, Alcohol Concern's director of policy and services, said the charity had always had...

impossible to justify.(asylum bill)
March 4, 2004... Does David Blunkett ever have a moment of self-doubt? Does he ever wake up at 4am wondering whether the draconian measures proposed in his asylum bill are either necessary or justified? If he does he certainly gives no hint of it, although...

a chance for children.(Children's Bill)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... The Children's Bill, expected to be published this week, will make the most significant impact on services since the Children Act 1989. Among its main provisions are likely to be a children's commissioner, safeguarding children boards and...

readers' views; Huge backing for ; tax replacement.
March 4, 2004... Ninety per cent of visitors to Community Care's website thought that a more effective means of funding local services than council tax was needed. This week's question asks: Do you believe measures in the asylum bill to deny support to...

child care; Study spells out dangers for strategy.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... More than 600,000 child care places have been created in England since the National Childcare Strategy was launched in 1998 but their long-term sustainability is in danger, according to a new report. The National Audit Office report finds...

children by Amy Taylor; Directors' alarm at Edinburgh plans.(children's services)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... Plans to restructure social services at Edinburgh Council would make it "possible and even likely" that outcomes for children would be damaged, the Association of Directors of Social Work has warned. The council is considering plans for an...

BiCHARD INQUIRY by Sally Gillen; Social services accused of failingto liaise with police over Huntley.(North East Lincolnshire social services)
March 4, 2004... Social services did not pass on concerns to police that Ian Huntley was having a sexual relationship with a pair of school friends, the Bichard inquiry heard this week. Peter Billam, a former senior police officer with the Humberside...

asylum seekers by amy taylor; Bill voted through Commons intact despite MPs' cross-party opposition.(Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill)
March 4, 2004... The government's controversial plans to reduce the appeal rights of asylum seekers and remove their entitlement to benefits made it through the House of Commons unchanged this week despite two backbench rebellions. Thirty-six Labour MPs...

corporate giving woefully lacking.
March 4, 2004... Yvonne roberts Business boasts about social responsibility, but it should put its money where its mouth is Yet again, what we see is not what we get. According to the annual survey of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations,...

research into practice.(Social work education)
March 4, 2004... Practice needs to be guided by research. Tom Hopkins describes a website that will help practitioners and students base judgements on evidence In recent years there has been an increasing requirement that social care and social work...

race; 'Inspect prisons for equality measures'.(Prison Service procedures)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2004... A specialist team of race equality inspectors should be set up to investigate whether prisons and young offenders institutions comply with race equality policies, rehabilitation agency Nacro has said. Speaking at a Nacro conference on race...

care against the odds.
March 4, 2004... Practitioners must persevere in the face of kno ck-backs when working with vulnerable adults whose families are unco-operative. Graham Hopkins talks to Daron Perkins (pictured left) and Sue Simpson about one such case which involved suspected...

credit where it's due.(Pension funds)
March 4, 2004... Pensioners have been able to claim the new pension credit since April 2003; payments began in October 2003. Its success will be judged by how many of those eligible will actually go through the claims process. It is the problem that bedevilled...

carers; Court action will test discriminatory fostering payments to kinship carers.(Leeds city council)
March 4, 2004... Despite a 2001 court ruling that a local authority was wrong to pay kinship carers less than other foster carers as a matter of policy, the practice continues. Sally Gillen reports The long-running debate about how much money councils...

I want real action not paper policies.(social services )
March 11, 2004... As a disabled person, a dilemma now faces me for the first time. Until now, I have managed my own needs, asking for help from no one except my partner and, occasionally, willing workmates and friends. This has maintained my independence and...

Government sets out programme of new juvenile justice measures.
March 11, 2004... Legislation will be introduced to establish an intensive supervision and surveillance order as an alternative to custody for serious or persistent young offenders, the government announced last week. The new ISSOs will be one of four...

this life Judy Clinton recalls the challenges in raising a disabled child and the guilt and "tortured love" that she felt.
March 11, 2004... my tortured love In my two articles last year I looked at the life and death of my 22-year-old disabled son Robbie and my grieving process. But what is it like to be the mother of a disabled child? Bringing up any child is hard work...

mental health needs a lifeline.(ethnic minorities)
March 11, 2004... Mind's Shahid Sardar is critical of the current strategy for mental health services for people from ethnic minorities, which, he says, puts too much of an onus on the voluntary sector In September last year 200 delegates huddled together in...

assessments; Inspections 'on the way within a year'.(single assessment process)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Social services departments could be inspected on their single assessment process (SAP) by next year, older people tsar Ian Philp said last week. An inspection regime is likely to follow publication of the review of the older people's...

voluntary sector ; Staff critical of Mind service cut.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Staff of a Mind mental health crisis service in East Yorkshire have hit out at the charity's decision to close its residential unit. Mind's Hull and East Yorkshire crisis service is being integrated with a new social services-led,...

health; Services 'might be failing prisoners'.(juvenile corrections)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Prisons minister Paul Goggins admitted it would be "of great concern" if prisoners were in jail because services had failed to provide support before the offence had been committed. It follows disquiet expressed by the parliamentary joint...

season ; of goodwill.
March 11, 2004... The BBC's Taking Care series brought social care to wider attention, even if the term "social worker" was avoided. Graham Hopkins reviews the programmes If the media are mirrors on our world, then social work and the care system have...

care label sticks.
March 11, 2004... Despite the BBC's attempt to reflect the experiences of children in care, it would take a massive push to lodge the issue in mainstream consciousness - as Darren Laverty would testify, writes Alison Taylor The BBC's Taking Care season...

asylum seekers by craig kenny and amy taylor; Law Lord's criticism of bill's appeal process may lead to role for courts.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Home secretary David Blunkett is considering backing down on controversial plans to create a single tier of appeal for asylum seekers after they were heavily criticised by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf last week. Blunkett told a Sunday...

mental health by maggie wood; Services urged to raise morale and allow greater say for front-line staff.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Low staff morale and problems with working practices need to be tackled if the new Scottish Mental Health Act is to work, according to an assessment of mental health services. The report concludes that organisational culture for front-line...

mental health; Edinburgh staff threaten strike.(Mental health officers)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Mental health officers (MHOs) at Edinburgh social work department are threatening to withhold their services from the end of March. The move follows a "derisory" offer of an additional [pounds sterling]650 a year for qualified MHOs made by...

housing; Scottish Supporting People Fund frozen.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The Supporting People Fund in Scotland, this year set at [pounds sterling]408m, has been frozen for 26 of the 32 Scottish local authorities, according to the Scottish executive. A spokesperson from the Scottish Council for Single Homeless...

mental health ; GPs' 'ignorance' set out by consultation.(General Practitioner )(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The attitudes and ignorance of GPs towards mental health service users has been highlighted in a report put together by a strategic health authority. Dorset and Somerset SHA's response to the Fair for All, Personal to You consultation on...

homelessness; Health services 'are failing homeless'.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Homeless people are being left "largely unserved" by health services, according to a report from the charity Crisis. Stigma and discrimination are acting as "barriers to effective service use and delivery" for homeless people with multiple...

domiciliary care by craig kenny; Campaigners sound alarm over plan to allow staff to work before checks.
March 11, 2004... Older people who use domiciliary care services face an increased risk of abuse if "cynical" plans to relax criminal records checks are introduced, Action on Elder Abuse has warned. Last week, the Department of Health proposed scrapping...

domestic violence; Child protection measures extended.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Measures to protect children from domestic violence have been announced by the government. Family courts will have to consider the harm children might suffer as a result of violence in the home as well as what they might suffer after...

children bill; Government drives forward with radical reform of children's services.
March 11, 2004... A children's commissioner for England, improved data sharing and extra duties for councils head the proposals to improve the lot of young people, reports Sally Gillen When the children's green paper was published in September 2003, its...

children bill; Schools at the centre of minister's plan for delivering children's services.
March 11, 2004... In an exclusive interview, children's minister Margaret Hodge tells Lauren Revans that schools should be the focus of "an integrated approach to children's services" Margaret Hodge has a vision. But whether it is one she can make work, and...

child protection; Review clears staff in Caleb Ness case.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The five Edinburgh city social workers involved in the Caleb Ness case are not to be disciplined. A damning report published last year headed by Susan O'Brien QC highlighted faults "at almost every level" in the city's social work and...

Proposals allow for separate development of Welsh services.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The Children Bill has set out differences in the development of children's services between England and Wales. Under the provisions of the bill, councils in Wales will be required to identify a lead director for children and young people...

residential care by derren hayes; Care homes attack limited scope of fees investigation as a 'cop-out'.
March 11, 2004... Organisations have hit out at the Office of Fair Trading's decision to exclude fees paid by local authorities for publicly funded clients from its investigation into care home price transparency. The Registered Nursing Homes Association...

child protection; Paediatricians put off protection work.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The increasing number of complaints against paediatricians is putting many of them off child protection work, a survey from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has revealed. More than one in seven paediatricians have been the...

learning difficulties; 'Unacceptable level' of ethnic exclusion.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The "high levels" of exclusion from services that people with learning difficulties from ethnic minorities experience are "unacceptable" and need to be tackled, Stephen Ladyman said last week. The community care minister said both the...

Bill toughens up private fostering rules.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Local authorities will be required to raise awareness in the local community of the need to inform councils of any private fostering arrangements, under measures outlined in the Children Bill. The bill will strengthen the Children Act 1989...

child protection by sally gillen; Manager admits handling of Huntley referrals was 'totally inadequate'.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... A senior social services manager has described his department's handling of referrals about a 15-year-old girl's relationship with Ian Huntley as "totally inadequate in every sense". Martin Eaden, deputy director of child care at North...

legal; First challenge to care orders fails.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... A woman who had her child taken into care after medical experts gave evidence that her daughter had been the victim of attempted smothering has failed to win an appeal. She and another woman are the first of what may be hundreds to...

Workforce and training plans published.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The government is to press ahead with controversial plans to separate the training bodies for social care professionals working with children from those working with adults. Although a new UK-wide sector skills council for all social care...

older people matter too.(United Kingdom. Criminal Records Bureau)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... The government says it is committed to protecting vulnerable adults, but its actions suggest otherwise. It is consulting on plans to scrap rules that prevent home care workers, care home and nursing agency staff working before they have...

something's missing.
March 11, 2004... It would be churlish not to welcome the new Children Bill as much of what it sets out amounts to much-needed reform. But as the dust settles after its launch, we are left with a feeling of pleasant surprise tinged with more than a little...

Jury still out on Bill as doubts overchildren's commissioner role linger.
March 11, 2004... The Children Bill set out by education secretary Charles Clarke last week has been broadly welcomed across the social care sector, although concerns remain around a number of its key proposals. The bill and its accompanying document Every...

adoption; Warning to parents on identity issues.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Professionals need to ensure that adoptive parents address race and culture issues with their adopted children, an expert has warned. Joseph Crumbley, a family therapist and social worker in the US, said adopted children and young people...

looking for a way back.(Trained nurses returned to practice)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Nurses Trained nurses who have been out of the profession for five years or more need to go on a return to practice course. These are free, offered all over the country and are made up of theory and clinical practice. The returner's status...

long-term care; More help for carers and patients urged.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Local authority care support services are frequently failing to meet the needs of people suffering long-term conditions and their carers, new research reveals. A survey of 52 service users, carers and voluntary workers carried out by the...

a portaKabin for every playground?(Children's services)
March 11, 2004... Ministers have set out an ambitious plan for a children's centre in every community, extended schools and increased integration of the professions. On paper, it's terrific. But what does it mean in practice? Is it yet another middle class...

research into practice.
March 11, 2004... The needs of disabled children and their families should be included in any study of, or changes to, housing services, writes Gaynor Wingham Disabled children and their families are rarely highlighted in reports about housing problems,...

no secrets in practice.
March 11, 2004... In 2000, the government issued guidance on the protection of adults from abuse. The Practitioner Alliance Against Abuse of Vulnerable Adults has set up a project to gauge its imple mentation. Project officer Andy Foskett assesses progress ...

AN END TO THE BLAME GAME?(new system for investiagting serious incidents)
March 11, 2004... Health and social care are to get a new system for investiagting serious incidents that focuses on system failures instead of blaming staff, writes inquiry chairperson Richard Lingham The Department of Health will announce in the next month...

Role.(Chance UK's crime prevention initiative)
March 11, 2004... models Staff at a mentoring project in north London realised many of the children's problems stemmed from the troubled lives of their parents. Out of this the UK's first parent mentoring scheme was born, explains Anabel Unity Sale ...

tropical training.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2004... Background Population: 1.5 million. The Gambia is one of the smallest yet most densely populated countries in Africa. The Gambia is about 11, 000 sq km (a third of the size of Wales). Life expectancy is 57 years. Half the...

Emotional rescue.
March 11, 2004... A scheme supports carers offering single placement therapeutic fostering to achieve some consistency in the lives of looked-after young people. Graham Hopkins reports "It feels like you're just being passed from pillar to post," says one...

time to assure confidentiality.(Youth counseling)
March 18, 2004... Young people are entitled to confidential services when seeking advice about sex, relationships and sexual health. However, how professionals should maintain confidentiality for young people needs further clarification. The government has...

a victory for justice.(asylum seekers)
March 18, 2004... The government has been forced to drop its plans to curtail the right of appeal for asylum seekers. This is not just a small concession to head off rebellion in the House of Lords over what remains a deeply unpopular bill. It is a victory for...