Community Care articles from March 2007

Community Care archives from March 2007

Reviews.(Who Cares? How State Funding and Political Activism Change Charity)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Who Cares? How state funding and political activism change charity aaa Nick Seddon ISBN (10) 190338656X [pounds sterling]9.50 As the larger charities fall over themselves to answer Nick Seddon's diatribe in the press, they...

Diary.
March 1, 2007... Diary by an enhanced mental health social worker in a community team Monday Mornings are not my thing! I arrive at 8am so I can warm up before the rest of the team arrive. But things have not gone to plan and a colleague has arrived early...

If you ask me...(Kemi Banjo)(Interview)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Kemi Banjo is 15 and is in foster care. He is originally from Nigeria Who has influenced you the most? The Children's Society project New Londoners. It has helped me to socialise and feel more confident. Which professional has...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2007... Website banking woes Your article on the barriers physically disabled people face in opening and using bank accounts ("Credit where it's due," 15 February) was excellent, but what is less often considered is the particular challenge faced...

Home truths.(Management in Practice)(Linda Ayre)
March 1, 2007... After a 30-year career in managing children's homes Linda Ayre tells Graham Hopkins how care has improved. And, opposite, Peter Frampton warns against undervaluing children's homes Since the first children's home was opened in London in...

Practice comment.(child care)
March 1, 2007... Children's homes are becoming an endangered species and young people are suffering as a result, says Peter Frampton When a young person is taken into care after a traumatic experience, it is reasonable to expect that the authorities would...

News.
March 1, 2007... news in brief * probation The government was due to face a close vote on legislation to introduce contestability in the probation service yesterday (Wednesday). Speaking before the third reading of the Offender Management Bill, probation...

News in brief.(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... *e_STnScriminal records The Local Government Association reiterated calls this week for the government to make schools carry out retrospective Criminal Records Bureau checks on staff. The government rejected an LGA amendment to the Safeguarding...

Nowhere left to go.(Practice Panel)
March 1, 2007... Unable to live at home with her mother, a teenage girl who has been in care is fast running out of options. Our panel advises practice panel Warrington Council, social services and housing department Patrick Melia:...

Radio reviewsbook reviews.(Cleveland - 20 Years On)(From A to Z: A Woman's Guide to the Law)(Dementia: Walking Not Wandering - Fresh Approaches to Understanding and Practice )(Radio program review)(Book review)
March 1, 2007... Cleveland - 20 Years On aaaaa BBC Radio 4 20 February, 8pm "I was nine. We were taken to hospital, taken into a room and I remember being examined, which was rather graphic. Then we were bundled from that room and taken to...

Asylum seekers need a modern Wilberforce.(William Wilberforce)
March 1, 2007... Bob Holman is an author and voluntary neighbourhood worker in Glasgow Two hundred years ago this month an act was passed to abolish the British slave trade and celebrations will be taking place to mark the part played by William...

Do teenagers have less respect for human life than they used to?(The Big Question)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... richard west Inspired Services They do have respect but there has been a failure to support young people in poor areas, especially those from ethnic groups who have then drifted into gangs. Schools have failed them and so have the...

Diary.(mental health social worker)
March 1, 2007... This week's writer is an enhanced mental health social worker in a community team Monday Arrive at 8am so I can warm up before the rest of the team arrive but a colleague appears and starts the early morning banter I detest. My 10am...

Frontlines.(Column)
March 1, 2007... Regular theatre-goer Jennifer Harvey wonders "why should a single parent addicted to scratch cards subsidise my Shakespeare?" One of our team of practitioner columnists gives her take on super casinos and gambling So Manchester has...

News.
March 1, 2007... News tag text here styled using 2. News Analysis tag Headline here styled using 2. Heading analysis Secondary headline here styled using 2. Head secondary Standfirst here styled using 3. Standfirst with character style for Author...

Together therapy.(domestic violence)
March 1, 2007... Couple work offers both participants a chance to rebuild their The work undertaken at the Clermont Unit with couples seeking to rebuild relationships after domestic violence draws on strengths that the participants may have become...

The illusion of power.(learning disability partnership boards)
March 1, 2007... Learning disability partnership In his speech to members of learning disability partnership boards (LDPBs) last year, care services minister Ivan Lewis said: "As partnership boards, your role is to oversee the planning between all the...

Skills for care is right.(Editorial Comment)(Editorial)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Simply put, the current funding system for workforce development in social care doesn't work. While sizable grants are allocated to councils to support training across all sectors, only one-third of the money filters through to voluntary and...

Open Forum.(Rolling Stones )
March 1, 2007... Like them or loathe them the Rolling Stones are embedded in everyone's rock consciousness. The 1960s were an incredibly creative period in rock music with the Stones leading the way. It was also an optimistic time, not least in terms of...

Young offenders Pathologist 'astonished' at restraint technique used on asphyxiated boy.(News )(Gareth Myatt)
March 1, 2007... The restraint hold used on Gareth Myatt before he died in a secure training centre should never have been authorised, the inquest into the teenager's death was told last week. Pathologist Dr Nat Cary said he had been "astonished" that the...

Voluntary sector by Mark Ivory Olympic raid on lottery cash 'will put thousands of projects at risk'.(News)
March 1, 2007... Thousands of voluntary sector projects will close if the government goes ahead with reported plans to raid National Lottery funds to pay for the 2012 Olympics, according to Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for...

News.(adult rehabilitation)(Rob Pickford joins Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... news in brief * older people Each health board in Scotland will need to appoint a local rehabilitation co-ordinator as part of the Scottish executive's new framework for adult rehabilitation. The [pounds sterling]2m initiative will also...

News.
March 1, 2007... p6-7webq Your responses: Would you be fearful of repercussions of whistleblowing over poor practice? (Yes: 55 per cent No: 45 per cent) This week: Have child protection services improved since the death of Victoria Climbie seven years...

Training by Simeon Brody Skills for Care looks to take over control of council training budgets.(News)
March 1, 2007... Social care training body Skills for Care has demanded it take control of more than [pounds sterling]100m currently allocated to local authorities for training so it can divert the money to the independent sector. The agency's chair Donald...

'You decide' on Care Matters green paper priorities, practitioners told.(News)
March 1, 2007... The government called this week for practitioners to prioritise proposals in the Care Matters green paper, amid concerns only some of them will be implemented. Tom Jeffery, the Department for Education and Skills' most senior children's...

Front-line viewsWhat proposals should the government prioritise to improve the lives of children in care? * Discuss this further at www.community care.co.uk/discussion forum and click on the children in care category.(News)(Discussion)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Byline: Jackie Coventry, fostering and adoption manager, Cambridgeshire Council "We need to look at education and how we can enable foster carers to ensure that they understand the education system. It still feels as if looked-after children...

News.
March 1, 2007... finance Wales to review social care funding Social care funding in Wales is to be reviewed as part of the assembly government's new 10-year plan for social services. The review - referred to in the final version of the Fulfilled...

News.(asylum seekers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... parliamentary lobby Two campaigners brave the cold in a sleepout in Parliament Square last week highlighting the government's policy of withdrawing benefits from failed asylum seekers. The Refugee Council, which organised the protest, says the...

News.(toy soldiers)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... toy soldiers Three boys play soldiers at an assault course in an event run by Torbay's youth inclusion programme, which is designed to divert 13 to 17-year-olds in the Devon area from antisocial behaviour and crime.

disabled children First indicator for disability services.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... A performance indicator for services for disabled children is set to be introduced for the first time, the junior children's minister said last week. Parmjit Dhanda told the House of Commons the indicator would be introduced as a part of...

Older people call for national dementia strategy.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The UK needs a national strategy for dementia and investment from this year's comprehensive spending review as the number of people with the condition soars, a report this week claims. The Alzheimer's Society-commissioned Dementia UK report...

Pay Councils banking on low rises until 2011.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Council leaders are assuming that local government pay will increase by 2 per cent a year until 2011, well below the current 4.2 per cent inflation rate. A paper presented to the Local Government Association last week said the LGA assumed...

mental health Therapists to face statutory regulation.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Psychotherapists, counsellors and psychological therapists are to be regulated by law for the first time, the government has announced. The white paper on health regulation, published last week, says the professions will be regulated by the...

News.
March 1, 2007... pp10-11click 1. Social worker warned over tax fraud. 2. 'A lot of young people have nothing to lose.' 3. Unison report on children's well-being: special report. 4. Coram Family to run Harrow adoption service. 5....

news in brief.(News)
March 1, 2007... *e_STnSworkforce Unison has called on Scotland's political and social work leaders to champion the sector to improve its "negative" image in the country's mainstream media. The union's social work convenor in Scotland, Stephen Smellie, called...

Funding Scotland braced for social care squeeze.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The expected squeeze in public sector investment in Scotland will make it harder for social work departments to meet policy targets set by the Scottish executive, sector leaders have said. They told a conference on the future of social work...

Human rights Phillips lauds Scots for funding equality.(News)(Trevor Phillips)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... The UK's equalities chief is to call on chancellor Gordon Brown to invest significantly more on promoting equality in England to match a sharp increase in funding in Scotland. Trevor Phillips, chair of the Commission for Equality and Human...

Carers 'New deal for carers' welcomed.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Campaigners have welcomed the [pounds sterling]33m "new deal for carers" and consultation on a new carers' strategy announced by ministers last week (news, page 9, 22 February). Counsel and Care chief executive Stephen Burke said updating...

Schools report warns over social segregation.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Schools should not operate their own admissions systems if the new admissions code of practice fails to reduce social and educational segregation, states a new report. The research, carried out by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy...

Older people call for a new strategy to deal with UK's dementia timebomb.(News Analysis)
March 1, 2007... The UK is ageing rapidly, which is heralding a big increase in the number of people with dementia. Yet a new report argues we are ill-equipped to face the care challenge this will create. Mithran Samuel reports the numbers * [pounds...

Standards A quarter of Scots care homes rebuked.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... More than one in four care homes for older people in Scotland had a complaint upheld against them by the country's care regulator last year, a landmark report on the quality of care in the country stated this week. In its most...

Continuing care Figures show extent of postcode lottery.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... New figures obtained by Age Concern have laid bare the extent of the postcode lottery for continuing care in England, with some areas recording over 40 times more care recipients than others. The statistics, obtained from the Department of...

News.(House of Lords rejects the bill)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... mental health Peers vote to restrict bill's remit Peers have inflicted further defeats on the government over its Mental Health Bill, voting to ensure compulsory community treatment is only used on people who would otherwise be...

Child protection Laming: protection only part of service.(News)(Lord Laming )(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Services must break free from the "vice-like grip" of child protection to ensure children receive support before it is too late, Lord Laming said this week at the Victoria ClimbiA[c] Memorial Lecture, marking the seventh anniversary of her...

News.(Connor McCreaddie to talk on weight control)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... GROWING PROBLEM Eight-year-old Connor McCreaddie this week helped reopen the debate about whether child protection measures should be taken to help obese children. ITV's Tonight programme said Connor, who weighs 15st, was due to face a child...

Mental health bodies slow to hire race equality staff.(News)(Brief article)
March 1, 2007... Health authorities have made only a "marginal improvement" in the already delayed recruitment of staff to help implement the government's key race equality programme for mental health. In a letter to strategic health authorities, health...

'Morgan is a hard act to follow'.(News Interview)(Graham Robb of Youth Justice Board)(Interview)
March 1, 2007... Graham Robb, interim chair of the Youth Justice Board, lays out his vision for the troubled body. Helen McCormack reports I am sitting in the Youth Justice Board's central London headquarters when Graham Robb bounds in. He has been at the...

Simon Heng.(physical disabilities)
March 1, 2007... Iwas reading the discussion forum for physical disabilities in the online version of Community Care many of the recent posts were about the effects that cuts in front-line services were having on individual lives, particularly in Wiltshire. ...

Good therapist guide.(This Life)
March 1, 2007... this life When a therapist says they are interested in your pathology it is time to find another, says Anna C Young A therapeutic relationship is one of the closest we are likely to have in our lives, and is a lifeline for those who have...

Cut and bruise.(one-parent families)
March 1, 2007... Proposals to squeeze benefit entitlement for jobless one-parent families would damage the emotional and financial well-being of many in the longer term, writes Louise Tickle The pressures on single parents could be about to increase if...

Rock bottom 'Blame the UK's culture of care'.(Features)
March 1, 2007... How come the UK is at the foot of Unicef's children well-being league, considering all the * children When the Unicef report into children's well-being ranked the UK bottom of the league of 21 industrialised countries there were,...

Safe as houses.(Features)
March 1, 2007... Older people's homes in Shropshire are becoming safe from crime and hazards thanks to a Community Care award-winning project. Natalie Valios reports Older people in Telford & Wrekin should feel safer in their homes thanks to a free home...

diary.(Diary)(adult care team manager)(Diary entry)
March 8, 2007... This week's writer is an adult care team manager Monday My day off, phew! However, having a day off on a Monday proves not to be as exciting as having one on a Friday. Tuesday I have recently escaped from being a social worker in a...

Ageism still the real enemy of better care.(00 Templates)
March 8, 2007... Yvonne Roberts is a writer and journalist Perspectives Yvonne Roberts The study published by the Alzheimer's Society last week has, for the first time, estimated the true cost of dementia. It puts the figure at [pounds sterling]17bn...

Book reviews.(Reviews)(Book review)
March 8, 2007... television preview The Insider: Orphanages aaaaa Channel 4 7.30pm, 9 March The government doesn't like them. Councils have sold them off or closed them down. Generally vilified, they are seen as the last resort. Fostering is...

Guard squad.(Features)
March 8, 2007... A project in Sheffield which ensures the city's public venues are aware of their child protection responsibilities has won a Community Care award. Anabel Unity Sale reports Keeping children safe is the responsibility of the whole community,...

My coping strategy.(This Life)(borderline personality disorders )
March 8, 2007... this life What support do those with borderline personality disorders need? What worked for Alex Williams? If you have met someone labelled with a borderline personality disorder they may have been in crisis at the time. Perhaps they were...

Housing Young offenders slip through the net.(News)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... Housing services are failing to meet the needs of young offenders who may end up homeless, according to a report for the Youth Justice Board published this week. Forty per cent of its sample of 150 young offenders had been homeless or had...

Dishonourable discharges.(Features)(hospital discharges for homeless)
March 8, 2007... Returning home from a hospital stay should be a cause for celebration. Unless, that is, the person is homeless and the hospital would prefer to see them back on the streets prematurely than face bed-blocking charges. Anabel Unity Sale reports...

Are carers getting a better deal than they were five years ago?(The Big Question)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... Len Smith Gypsy activist The five million carers are vital to maintaining some standard of care. In a socially responsible society I guess it is right to be able to depend on them, yet that should not mean they are taken for granted...

This matters.(00 Templates)(foster home services )
March 8, 2007... Senior practitioners, council lead members and policy-makers met last week to share their thoughts on the big ideas in the children in care green paper at the closing event of the Care Matters consultation process. Community Care reports on the...

The welsh way.(Features)
March 8, 2007... Wales has been encouraged by the UK * Special report Nowhere in Wales is the close working relationship between social services and other parts of the public sector better highlighted than in Blaenau Gwent. The council's social...

Frontlines.(Column)
March 8, 2007... Byline: One of our team of practitioner columnists gives his take on the medicalisation of mental health Medicalising behaviour has always been wrong. Yet the government persists with its Mental Health Bill, writes Nigel Leaney *...

Simon Heng.(disability benefits)
March 8, 2007... The Simon Heng column A service user's view of social care Our benefits system is there to ensure that people who can't earn enough money on which to live, such as most disabled people and those who care for elderly or disabled relatives,...

Features.(good practices for social services )(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... steps to good practice * Identify the organisations that should be involved in a person's admission to and discharge from hospital, such as social services, voluntary organisations and housing departments. * Set up steering a group...

If you ask me...(Thomas Wright)(Interview)
March 8, 2007... Thomas Wright is a volunteer and uses mental health services Which professional has helped you most? Dr Natarajan at the Chelmsford & Essex health centre. What one thing would you change about care services in your area? Cut...

Editorial Comment.(health care commissioning)(Editorial)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... A defining moment in how we deliver healthcare could have been reached this week as Community Care went to press with the launch of the Commissioning Framework for Health and Wellbeing. OK, it doesn't sound that exciting - but this document...

Letters.(Letter to the editor)
March 8, 2007... Deep discrimination The publication of the Equalities Review (see news, page 8-9) is a necessary reminder that there is still a long way to go before we live in a truly equal society. The finding that disabled people are one of the...

Welfare reform Minister counters critique of incapacity benefit proposals.(Jim Murphy)
March 8, 2007... The Editor Community Care Sir 'Compulsive Disorder' Article - The Knowledge Zone - 15 February 2007 Neil Bateman's recent article 'Welfare Reform Bill: dangers of reform to incapacity benefit rules' is wrong about our...

Knowledge Zone.(mental health carers)
March 8, 2007... PARTICIPATION IN BRIDGEND training and learning The author has provided questions about this article to guide discussion in teams. These can be viewed at www.communitycare.co.uk/prtland individuals' learning from the discussion can...

We should all respond.(Editorial)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... Has a defining moment in how we deliver health care been reached this week? As Community Care went to press, the Commissioning Framework for Health and Wellbeing was launched. OK, it doesn't sound that exciting - but this document sets out...

Open Forum.
March 8, 2007... Claiming the moral high ground is not enough to eradicate slavery, writes Blair McPherson As we celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery a report is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation providing evidence that not only...

Bateman responds...(News)(Neil Bateman on Welfare Reform Bill)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... Last month Community Care published a piece by welfare rights specialist Neil Bateman on the government's plans to reform incapacity benefit to get up to one million recipients into work, through the Welfare Reform Bill ("Compulsive disorder",...

'We are in the eye of the storm'.(News Interview)(Sister Ellen Flynn of Passage)
March 8, 2007... Since 2004 Sister Ellen Flynn has been on the front line as eastern Europeans arrive full of hope in the UK only to have their prospects dashed. She spoke to Simeon Brody Sister Ellen Flynn, chief executive of London's biggest day centre...

News Analysis.(Care Services Efficiency Delivery team finds way for economical adult care)
March 8, 2007... adults' services Re-ablement bandwagon rolls Government advisers claim to have found a care system that saves money and reduces dependence. Mithran Samuel reports Local authorities face two conflicting imperatives in adult social...

Social exclusion Therapy for young people to be tested.(News)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... The government is to launch four pilots to test behavioural therapy and intensive family support for young people with mental health and conduct disorder problems. Pilot sites will be announced by May and the first services will be opened...

Workforce town halls call for help over pay deal.(News)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... Council leaders made an 11th hour bid this week for government help in implementing equal pay settlements, less than a month ahead of a deadline to do so. The 1997 single status agreement is designed to tackle longstanding gender pay...

Commissioning by mithran samuel Call for GPs to buy social care gets cool response from council leaders.(News)(general practioners)
March 8, 2007... Government proposals for GPs to commission social care services have been greeted with scepticism by local government leaders, who have warned that the plans lack detail and may prove unfeasible for the cash-strapped NHS. The Commissioning...

News.(girls make suicide calls)(people trafficked end up in slavery in Ubited Kingdom)(short breaks bill failed)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... pp10-11Click 1. Girls make suicide calls to ChildLine. 2. People trafficked to UK are ending up in slavery, says Joseph Rowntree. 3. Short breaks bill fails due to lack of government backing. 4. Eight-year-old boy weighs 14...

News.(Commission for Social Care Inspection)(financial strains for social care )(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... news story tag News heading standard The new joint health and social care regulator will face huge financial strains and any new unfunded responsibilities could put service users at risk, the Commission for Social Care Inspection...

News.(personal care in Scotland)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... news story tag News heading standard Scottish councils should be asked to report to the executive on how they are tackling staffing issues that affect their delivery of free personal care, says a report. Half of Scottish local...

Workforce by simeon brody 'Pennies' separate pay between NVQ levels 2 and 3, survey reveals.(national vocation qualifications)
March 8, 2007... The pay difference between care workers qualified to NVQ levels 2 and 3 is just "pennies", according to early indications from a national survey of employers. Findings from just under 2,000 returns to the national minimum data set for...

News.(deficient of homes for young criminals)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... news story tag News heading standard Young offenders are at significant risk of homelessness but housing services are failing to meet their needs, a Youth Justice Board report this week finds. It found 40 per cent of a sample of...

News in brief.(social worker)(Brief article)
March 8, 2007... *e_STnSconduct A Southampton social worker has been struck off the register for sending and receiving offensive e-mails. A General Social Care Council conduct committee said Nicholas Martin had disregarded social work values and exhibited...