Community Care articles from October 2003

Community Care archives from October 2003

'Home Office failures fuel asylum lies'.
October 2, 2003... Liberal democrat MP Simon Hughes has criticised the government for allowing the issue of asylum seekers to overwhelm it because "of its own incompetence". During a debate on asylum, the party's home affairs spokesperson said it was...

acting the partners.(health and social care agencies working together)
October 2, 2003... In the second of our articles on partnership, Julie Charlesworth, Jill Reynolds and Claire Smart consider the possibilities and problems of health and social care agencies working together Health and social care agencies have been working...

book reviews.(A Brief History of Crime; A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook)(Book Review)
October 2, 2003... A Brief History of Crime Peter Hitchens, Atlantic Books, ISBN 1 84354 148 3, [pounds sterling]16.99 A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook Erwin James, Atlantic Books, ISBN 1 903809 98 3, [pounds sterling]7.99 Peter...

'help us plan our lives'.(disabled youth )(Column)
October 2, 2003... I am almost 17 and live at home with my family. Once a week and some weekends I go to a children's respite care home. It gives my mum a break and I enjoy going out with the staff. I go to a special needs school. Last year I joined my local...

action not words will beat abuse.(National Service Framework for Older People)(Column)
October 2, 2003... In 1990 I was working as a social worker in a hospital social work department and knew little about elder abuse. One woman, Edwina (not her real name), had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and we planned her discharge from hospital into...

race; Most people see no rise in prejudice.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Two out of five adults surveyed by the Home Office believe there is more racial prejudice now than five years ago. The poll shows that 43 per cent of white adults questioned for the research in England and Wales think society is more...

children.(social workers in U.K. worry about unaccompanied immigrant children)
October 2, 2003... cut adrift Social workers often go beyond the call of duty to help unaccompanied asylum seeking children. But this is because councils fail to provide for them as the law requires, finds social policy researcher Charlotte Ritchie ...

first of the few.(first deaf mental health nurses complete qualifications)
October 2, 2003... The inability of professionals to communicate properly with deaf clients with mental health problems undermines client care. That is why the qualification of the first deaf mental health nurses is such a breakthrough. Maggie Clark reports ...

Local authorities; No dual director for Northamptonshire.
October 2, 2003... A local authority currently advertising for a permanent director of children and family services has decided against making the successful candidate responsible for education as well as social services, despite the children's green paper...

young lives in limbo.(Immigrant children)
October 2, 2003... 'families play host to unaccompanied children' Unaccompanied children can be impressionable and fall in with the wrong crowd because they want to fit in, says Neil Amas, community services manager of Praxis Hosting Scheme. "Unless they are...

degree of hope.(English Universties offer new degree program in social work)
October 2, 2003... Pencils are being sharpened as students across England prepare to begin the first ever social work degree this autumn. John Hutton, former health minister, announced the new training programme for social workers in March 2001, with assurances...

child Welfare by Sally gillen andLauren revans; Health professionals say green paper betrays a misguided set of priorities.
October 2, 2003... system of integrated inspection, under which some but not all areas of children's health care would fall, would leave Chai's ability to carry out its responsibilities to children "in some doubt". Health care was "simply too complex" to be...

Party votes to ban smacking children.
October 2, 2003... Liberal Democrats voted to ban the smacking of children, despite warnings that it would increase pressure on social workers. Party spokesperson for social care Paul Burstow MP said that as the law stood "dogs and cats" were better...

children by amy taylor; Education and care staff nervous over 'rush' to create children's trusts.
October 2, 2003... The government's proposal to roll out children's trusts in England by 2006 has been criticised by leading figures in social care and education as premature. Speaking this week at a conference on children's trusts, Christine Davies,...

child protection; Microsoft chatroom closure is welcomed.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Microsoft's decision to close its European chatrooms to protect children from paedophiles has been welcomed by children's charities. NSPCC internet safety expert Christine Atkinson said the move would "help close a major route for sex...

scotland; Demands rise on mental health staff.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Demands on the services provided by mental health officers in Scotland have increased since the Adults with Incapacity Act 2000 and look set to rise further under the new mental health act, says a national survey commissioned by the Scottish...

children by amy taylor; Extended schools' community role may conflict with education targets.
October 2, 2003... New research coinciding with the announcement of 61 extended schools in England has indicated that a conflict of interest exists between school achievement targets and the new initiative. Minister of state for children Margaret Hodge named...

mental health; Death of client goes unnoticed for hours.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... An investigation has been launched into the death last week of a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Cardiff. The woman apparently lay dead at Whitchurch psychiatric hospital for about 10 hours before her death was discovered. The...

voluntary sector; Contracts should be ; long term, says chief.
October 2, 2003... A leading voluntary sector organisation is calling for the voluntary sector to run public services along private finance initiative lines. Launching a report last week, Stephen Bubb, the chief executive of the Association of Chief...

Associations 'must help communities'.
October 2, 2003... Housing associations are set to provide more than "bricks and mortar" and increase their focus on working in partnership with social services, health trusts and voluntary groups under a initiative launched by the National Housing Federation....

Peer urges housing associations to do more to help asylum seekers.
October 2, 2003... Housing associations need to engage in the problems surrounding asylum seekers and stop keeping their "heads down", the director of the social policy research charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said last week. Lord Richard Best told a...

'Enviro-crime' drive.
October 2, 2003... A government action plan to tackle anti-social behaviour will be launched in the next few weeks. Joe Tuke, the deputy director of the Home Office's Antisocial Behaviour Unit, told the conference that the general themes of the action plan...

drugs misuse; Alcohol projects need to 'bend rules'.
October 2, 2003... A leading policy officer at the Home Office has advised organisations working with alcoholics to "bend" the rules to get hold of funds "ring-fenced" for drug users. Speaking at a conference on social housing and drug abuse in north London...

social exclusion; Higher benefits and better indicators needed to cut poverty, claim charities.
October 2, 2003... The government's fifth annual poverty report records some progress in tackling poverty but important areas are still going unmeasured. Sarah Wellard reports At a time when the government is looking increasingly beleaguered, good news about...

policy; Vision for voluntary sector blurred by its failure to focus on solutions.
October 2, 2003... The government's consultation paper on developing the voluntary sector in England has positive points but has left groups unimpressed. Derren Hayes reports Adequate but uninspiring. That is the verdict of many when summing up the...

education; Minister bemoans extent of truancy.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Too many children are missing school through truancy and exclusions, a conference in London was told last week. Minster for young people and adult skills Ivan Lewis said: "Yesterday's truant all too frequently becomes tomorrow's young...

disabilities; New awareness course for police.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Police officers are to pilot a new training programme to increase their awareness of disability issues and avoid potential confrontations. Up to 100 London officers are to undertake the one-day course in November. The course will focus on...

ethnic minorities; Scots teachers look to boost equality.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Less than 2 per cent of teachers in Scotland come from ethnic minority backgrounds, a symposium on the recruitment of refugee teachers into the profession in Scotland heard last week. Matthew McIver, chief executive of the General Teaching...

mental health; Charities hit Sun with counterpunch.
October 2, 2003... Mental health charities have taken action to combat the stigmatisation of people with mental health problems after The Sun's treatment of former boxer Frank Bruno who was sectioned last week. The Sun reported the news of his detention...

asylum by janet snell; Letwin turns tables on Blunkett with pledge to avoid Tory hysteria.
October 2, 2003... Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin has pledged that Conservative MPs will "continue to bend over backwards" to avoid inflammatory language about asylum seekers. But he claims his opposite number, David Blunkett, has set a very different...

regeneration; Rows on the board blunt initiative.
October 2, 2003... Agovernment report into the government's troubled regeneration initiative New Deal for Communities will be published next month. The [pounds sterling]2bn scheme, launched four years ago to improve 39 deprived neighbourhoods across England,...

homelessness; Shelter worried by new benefit reform.(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... Ashake-up of the housing benefit system could lead to an increase in homelessness, the charity Shelter has warned. Nine local authorities will pilot the new local housing allowance, due to be introduced in England, Scotland and Wales. Under...

human rights; Watchdog points to failure over Act.(Editorial)
October 2, 2003... More than half of public bodies in England are not taking the Human Rights Act 1998 into account in their service delivery, according to a report by the Audit Commission released this week. Of the 175 organisations surveyed, including...

policy; Register by 2005 or find a new job.
October 2, 2003... Social workers who have not registered with the General Social Care Council by April 2005 may no longer be legally entitled to describe themselves as such. Community care minister Stephen Ladyman told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party...

disabled people; Parliament member numbers fall short.
October 2, 2003... The first ever disabled people's parliament meeting this week will be made up of fewer than half of the hoped for number of members due to a lack of funding. Around 70 people have been elected to become members of the parliament despite...

readers' views; Most want second look at green paper.(proposals for children's services)
October 2, 2003... Two-thirds of visitors to Community Care's website believe that it is wrong for the government not to give the social care sector a second chance to comment on the proposals for children's services before they are put in a bill. This...

an illness demystified.(mental illness often surrounded by stigma)(Brief Article)
October 2, 2003... The sight of journalists camped outside the psychiatric hospital housing Frank Bruno made for uncomfortable viewing. Even household names surely deserve some privacy and the early tabloid headlines added to the sense of gross intrusion. ...

splitting hairs on care.(report by the Royal Commission on Long Term Care)(Editorial)
October 2, 2003... This week's unprecedented second report by the Royal Commission on Long Term Care highlights the double standards of the Westminster government's treatment of older people compared with other groups such as children and in its consideration of...

asylum seekers; Children at risk at centre, says report.
October 2, 2003... Asylum seekers who have committed offences against children are being held alongside women and children at an immigration removal centre in west London, an inspection report published this week has found. Managers at Harmondsworth said it...

research into practice.
October 2, 2003... Research points to an unhelpful division that exists in advice, advocacy and information services for older people, writes Neil Thompson Researchers from the University of Reading have issued a study exploring the needs and circumstances of...

long-term care by NATASHASALARI; 'Implement free personal care now'.(Royal Commission on Long-Term Care)
October 2, 2003... The Royal Commission on Long-Term Care has issued a statement calling for the full implementation of its 1999 report, which recommended free personal care for older people. The statement from nine members of the commission, published this...

How good staff can become scapegoats.(professional negligence cases)(Editorial)
October 2, 2003... So, could it happen to a social worker? Could the white-collar crime of fatal professional negligence result in a member of social services finding themselves before a judge and jury, one day soon,? Last week, Paul Ellis, a teacher, was...

finance; Revised census may lift grant allocation.
October 2, 2003... The government has said that it will change council grant allocations based on revised population figures after a review by the Office for National Statistics found that the 2001 census figures, published last year, underestimated the...

a complex birth.
October 2, 2003... Pension credit comes into effect from 6 October. One complication is that pensioners who receive income support for dependent young people, will receive that support through child tax credit (CTC) from October. There are thousands of...

in need of an anchor.
October 2, 2003... Age Concern's Stephen Lowe explains why human rights legal protection for older people is vital when they are transferred between homes The death of Violet Townsend after leaving her Gloucestershire care home is just the latest in a series...

Media will add to a child's trauma.
October 9, 2003... Parents can harm their children in a whole host of ways. But a recent decision by the Court of Appeal shows that courts allow society to add to that harm in the name of freedom of speech. The Court of Appeal considered whether the court...

McTernan.
October 9, 2003... on Politics Who should provide public services? A loud public debate is raging about the appropriateness of private providers providing core services in the NHS. However, it has cast little light on the fundamental questions. The crude way...

community care awards; Shortlisted projects selected from hundreds of entries for 2003 awards.
October 9, 2003... The shortlist for this year's Community Care Awards, which attracted nearly 400 entrants, was announced this week. The awards recognise the achievements of social care professionals. Category winners at an awards lunch at the London Hilton...

start from scratch.
October 9, 2003... In April this year Amnesty International selected a particular social care home for men with learning difficulties in eastern Bulgaria for a training visit because its director was working hard to improve the filthy institution she took over....

This is my life.
October 9, 2003... A scheme is supporting young asylum seekers and refugees to record their experiences of living in Huddersfield. Graham Hopkins reports The experiences of young refugees and asylum seekers of being dispersed and living in a new place often...

asylum seekers; Files to follow dispersed children.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children will no longer be left in unsupported bed and breakfast accommodation hundreds of miles from their social worker under a new pilot scheme. Kent Council has signed a deal with Manchester Council for the...

we are not criminals.
October 9, 2003... A coalition of groups is challenging the negative portrayal of young people and trying to balance the debate around youth crime, reports children's issues campaigner Paul Ennals From recent tabloid press reports, you could be forgiven for...

rearrange the pieces.
October 9, 2003... In the first of a series of features examining issues thrown up by the children's green paper, Natalie Valios talks to Lord Laming among others about the structural changes being envisaged Inadequate structures were among the...

early ; warning; system.
October 9, 2003... Kylie Minogue, Fosters and Neighbours are just a sample of the Australian imports that have become part of our culture. In April this year, another one arrived when seven health care and social work professionals on Shetland became the first in...

Party lines.
October 9, 2003... The conference season has seen the three main parties starting to formulate policies for the General Election in two years' time. Ruth Winchester outlines their thinking and policies on health and social care issues The Conservatives ...

mental health by katie leason; Timetable for bill remains vague as hint dropped on more consultation.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... The government is still unable to indicate whether the mental health bill will appear in the Queen's Speech in November. A conference in London last week on mental health was told that legislation would be dealt with as soon as...

service-user power.
October 9, 2003... Social care's values are the opposite of the alienation that defines modern political life, says Peter Beresford. So it is encouraging that some clients are winning their battle for democratisation There are few areas of public policy that...

12-hour child care for lone parents.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Unemployed lone parents are to be offered affordable child care for up to 12 hours a day in a scheme to help them return to work. Work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith said the school-based child care would run from 7am to 7pm to give...

escape from isolation.
October 9, 2003... I just love shopping malls. I don't really know why. I hate it when they are closed and cut us off from tracts of previously public space. I hate the way they put an end to the interesting by-ways of the built environment and one-off specialist...

mental health; Inquiry finds killer was poorly assessed.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... There were serious failings in the care and treatment of a paranoid schizophrenic who killed his ex-partner, a report of the independent inquiry into his contact with NHS mental health services finds. The man, who cannot be named, was...

Youth justice by clare jerrom; Home Office approach fails to tie in with green paper, say professionals.
October 9, 2003... The document launched alongside the children's green paper by the Home Office, Youth Justice - The Next Steps, fails to promote the welfare of young offenders, leading figures in the sector have warned. Chris Stanley, head of youth justice...

Blunkett aims to wrong-foot critics by accepting 500 'victims of terror'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Up to 500 "victims of terror" will be able to claim asylum in the UK in the first year of a new United Nations-backed scheme unveiled by home secretary David Blunkett. In an apparent attempt to placate criticism of the government's hard...

Inspectors accused of leniency towards residential care homes.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... The National Care Standards Commission is being too soft on care home owners whose staff neglect residents, Action on Elder Abuse's chief executive told a fringe meeting. Gary Fitzgerald warned delegates that the NCSC was "colluding" with...

child protection; Priests fear church has shielded abusers.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Many parish priests in England and Wales believe the Catholic Church has covered up incidents of child sex abuse, according to a study. An ICM poll, which had responses from 486 serving parish priests and was carried out for the BBC...

Paedophiles 'slipping through loopholes in police checks'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... A n expert in the behaviour of paedophiles says organisations are relying too heavily on Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks to detect child abusers among staff. Ray Wyre, an adviser and trainer to the police on paedophiles, warned that...

Economic fears if immigration slashed.(the effect of a tighter labour market is considered in Britain)(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Trevor Phillips, chairperson of the Commission for Racial Equality, said Britain would face disastrous economic consequences if immigration was scaled back. Phillips told a fringe meeting on immigration and asylum organised by the...

Minister ends hopes of awareness drive for Access to Work initiative.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... The government has no plans to increase promotion of the Access to Work scheme for disabled people despite evidence of lack of awareness among service users and businesses. Work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith said the government was...

asylum seekers; Refugee body ends emergency shelter.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... The Refugee Council will no longer be providing emergency accommodation to newly arrived asylum seekers in London, it emerged last week. The charity will refer all new asylum seekers to either Migrant Helpline or the Refugee Arrivals...

policy; Platt outlines her plans for social care's new independent regulator.(Interview)
October 9, 2003... Lauren Revans talks to Denise Platt about how the new regulation body for social care will champion service users - but expects social workers to stand up for themselves "We only go to the Department of Health when we need to do battle,"...

children; Head teachers could get powers to fine.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Education welfare officers, head teachers and police would be given powers to issue [pounds sterling]100 fines to the parents of children who are persistent truants, under guidance issued this week on the best use of antisocial behaviour...

older people; Minister warns care homes over 'cartels'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Care homes that threaten to turn-away council-funded residents could be breaking the law. Community care minister Stephen Ladyman has warned that some care providers were trying to raise fees by creating a system where residents who were...

delayed discharges; Councils and health bodies plan to reinvest fines to improve services.
October 9, 2003... Councils have three months to get used to the delayed discharges system before new financial penalties come in. Natasha Salari reports on their plans to work with health The new system of fining councils for the delayed discharge of older...

bed-blocking; Scots blame rise on temporary measures.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Bed-blocking in Scottish hospitals has increased in the past three months despite previous targets being met. The increase has been blamed on the use of short-term measures to reach April's targets. The number of patients waiting to be...

older people; Pension helpline giving 'bad advice'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Many people who attempted to apply for the pension credit, launched this week, were given bad advice by the government helpline, according to new research. A survey of 24 senior welfare rights officers in 22 local authorities in England,...

adoption; Change case records style, says charity.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Adoption social workers should consider changing the way they record an adopted child's case history, Baaf Adoption and Fostering recommends. In some cases, the Form E, which records case histories, may contain distressing details of...

charities by sally gillen; Voluntary sector 'being destroyed' by relationship with government.
October 9, 2003... The voluntary sector is being undermined by the government push to increase its involvement in the delivery of public services, research published this week reveals. Findings from the first phase of a five-year study, unveiled by...

Conservatives; 'Mental health bill is fatally flawed'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... The Conservative Party mental health spokesperson has called for the NHSto prioritise mental health care. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the party's annual conference in Blackpool this week, Tim Loughton said the draft mental health bill...

children in care; Young people might be 'written off'.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Children are in danger of being split into the "deserving and undeserving" in our future care systems, a leading academic has warned. Professor Robbie Gilligan, director of the children's research centre at Dublin university, told a...

silence speaks volumes.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Just three weeks after the government published its vision for the future of children services, it hardly warranted a mention at the Labour party conference. The two principal cabinet ministers charged with the task of ensuring services are...

keep your distance.
October 9, 2003... This week, research findings show that large voluntary organisations have been transformed - not necessarily for the better - by their symbiotic relationship with the state, while small organisations have been left out in the cold. ...

workforce; Shortage of social workers eases.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Efforts to train more social workers have resulted in a 3.4 per cent fall in the vacancy rate, the latest report from the Social Care and Health Workforce Group has shown. The average vacancy rate fell from 9.4 per cent to 6 per cent...

green paper; Platt seeks clarity on children's trusts.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Denise Platt, shadow chairperson of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, has urged the government to allay fears that integrated children's services projects will need to be dismantled if they do not conform to the green paper's model of...

children in care; Advocacy guides to sort out complaints.(Brief Article)
October 9, 2003... Looked-after children's organisations have broadly welcomed government guidance on how to implement advocacy services for children in care. Get it Sorted outlines how councils should introduce policies making advocacy services a right for...

mental health by Katie leason; Mind slams treatment of mentally ill following verdict of unlawful killing.
October 9, 2003... There have been calls for action on the control and restraint of people with mental health problems following the verdict of unlawful killing recorded at the inquest into the death of Roger Sylvester. Sylvester, a 30-year-old black man,...