Community Care articles from October 2006

Community Care archives from October 2006

child protection Met revises child abuse desk system.(Metropolitan Police Office)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The Metropolitan Police is to cut the number of child protection referral desks, which take calls about child abuse from social services and the public, from 19 to four. Detective chief inspector Nigel Verrill, regional manager for west...

local government Lewis drops lead adult member plan.(Department of Health )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The Department of Health has dropped plans to legislate to make local authorities appoint a lead councillor with responsibility for all adult services, after opposition from councils. Town halls had been opposed to the measure, proposed in...

Special guardians Low allowance may face legal review.(Kirklees Council )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Kirklees Council could face a judicial review over the level of support it gives to carers who become special guardians. Huddersfield family law solicitors Ridley and Hall are taking the advice of a barrister on the possibility of...

funding by mithran samuel Councils to stop footing bill when NHS wrongly limits continuing care.(National Health Service)
October 5, 2006... Councils will stop automatically taking responsibility for service users who should be receiving NHS continuing care, a leading social services director has said. Jeff Jerome, co-chair of the Association of Directors of Social Services...

ready for blue labour?(Compassionate Conservatism)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Back in the mid-1990s the Labour leadership stole some of the Conservative's clothes and gave us New Labour. Now it seems the Tories have snatched some back again and they are offering us Blue Labour. At least that's what it felt like down...

ADULTS' SERVICES Day centre jobs in Wiltshire may go.(Wiltshire Council)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Up to 40 per cent of staff working in Wiltshire Council's day centres for people with learning difficulties could lose their jobs under restructuring plans, a union leader has claimed. Janet Dapson, secretary of Unison's Wiltshire Council...

Children's services Executive disputes underfunding claim.(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... T he Scottish executive has been called on to revise its funding formula for children's services after a finance expert found that Scotland's councils will spend [pounds sterling]161m more this year than the executive's estimates. ...

DELAYED DISCHARGES Councils blamed for delays in transfers.(Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... A Welsh hospital trust has blamed "council inaction" for a jump in the number of delayed transfers of care. Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust chair Simon Jones said most new delayed discharges in the past two months had been caused by delays in...

Garnier signals criminal justice rethink.(Edward Garnier)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The Conservative Party is ditching hard-line attitudes on tackling crime, according to shadow home affairs minister Edward Garnier. He told a fringe meeting, organised by Community Care and the Barrow Cadbury Trust, that Labour's get tough...

If you ask me...(Wayne Bridger )(Interview)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Wayne Bridger attends at Bells Piece, a Leonard Cheshire service in Farnham, Surrey Who has influenced you the most? Alina Martinez, my care worker. Which professional helped you the most? Vince Crowley, my support worker when I first...

MENTAL HEALTH Fewer users offered talking therapies.(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Mental health campaigners have called on the government to improve access to talking therapies in the community after the number of people being offered them fell. A Healthcare Commission survey of 19,000 community mental health service...

'We need you and you need us'.(Nigel Verrill of Metropolitan Police's Child Abuse Investigation Command )(Interview)
October 5, 2006... Nigel Verrill of the Metropolitan Police's Child Abuse Investigation Command tells Amy Taylor how co-operation between police and social services has improved The Metropolitan Police and social services both came in for strong...

Personnel New editor for Community Care.(Mike Broad appointed)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Mike Broad has been appointed as the new group editor of Community Care. Mike was formerly the editor of Hospital Doctor magazine and has a background in public and voluntary sector journalism. "I feel privileged to be working on such...

a picture of health.(Start Manchester)
October 5, 2006... The work of people with mental health needs has been exhibiting outstanding success in Manchester. Graham Hopkins looks at the role of the Start Manchester project in using art as therapy For Jane Evans* a traumatic childhood had made adult...

TRaining materials.(Children First: Disabled Children and Their Families)(Sound recording review)
October 5, 2006... Children First: Disabled Children and Their Families ----- Research into Practice Audio series, [pounds sterling]10 from CD is from www.rip.org.uk This CD evaluates the state of services for disabled children and their families, writes...

Problems stack up.(Jobcentre Plus customer management system)
October 5, 2006... welfare rights In one city, the Jobcentre Plus system is causing clients much trouble and distress, writes Gary Vaux Here are some of the problems with the Jobcentre Plus customer management system experienced by clients of just one city...

care trusts Solihull pledge to focus on integration.(Crispin Atkinson )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The new care trust in Solihull will aim to integrate health and local government rather than seek NHS control of social care, the project chief said this week. Director of partnerships Crispin Atkinson said the trust aimed to have...

child care Group bids to end child care barri ers for disabled children.(Council for Disabled Children, Contact a Family, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium)
October 5, 2006... Thousands of disabled children are losing out on quality child care. Gordon Carson reports Sure Start, children's centres and the Childcare Act 2006 are all evidence of the government's commitment to child care, which has undoubtedly...

Comedy.(Hearing Voices, Seeing Things)
October 5, 2006... What's So Funny? ----- Serpentine Gallery, London 17 September This comedy event, which launched the Hearing Voices, Seeing Things mental health exhibition (until 15 October), could have been groundbreaking, writes Mark...

conservative party conference by maria ahmed Tories make play for social workers' affections with promise on status.(Tim Loughton )
October 5, 2006... Social workers would be given the same status as doctors and teachers under plans being prepared by the Conservatives, shadow children's minister Tim Loughton told the party conference this week. Loughton, addressing a fringe meeting,...

disability Ex-Scope residents still living in hotel.(Brian Byfield and Allan Symonds, Scope and Cardiff Council)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Two former residents of a sheltered care facility sold by Scope to developers are still living in temporary housing a year after they were forced to move. Brian Byfield and Allan Symonds, who have cerebral palsy, moved to the [pounds...

education Herts takes action over admissions.(Hertfordshire )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... More than 50 schools in Hertfordshire have had their admissions arrangements changed to ensure they meet requirements to prioritise looked-after children, following action by the council. The authority referred 59 schools to the Office of...

education No checks on pupils who miss school.(Department for Education and Skills)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... More than a third of councils in England fail to monitor children who are not receiving an education in their area, despite a government target requiring them to. And more than half do not keep a record of children who have left education...

expert inspectors.(Nigel Smith and Frances of Sandwell People First)
October 5, 2006... People with learning difficulties were recently involved in the inspection of registered care homes in the West Midlands. What lessons were learned from the experience? Nigel Smith and Frances Hasler report "I wanted to help people get a...

conference call.
October 5, 2006... Natalie Valios visits a family who drew up their own blueprint to confront their problems with the help of Essex's family group conference service When a child draws a picture of how school feels for them and it shows teachers as...

finance Price 'key driver' in outsourcing care.(social care and mental health provision )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... More than [pounds sterling]5bn was spent on independent social care and mental health provision in the UK last year, a report has revealed. The independent sector accounted for more than 40 per cent of all services, with the majority...

more means less.(children live in poverty )
October 5, 2006... Thirty-seven per cent of four-child families and 55 per cent of families with five or more children live in poverty whereas only 12 per cent of families with one or two children are poor, according to research from the Department for Work and...

it wouldn't happen today.(Health Day )
October 5, 2006... To mark World Mental Health Day on 10 October, and as Mind's celebrates its 60th anniversary, Prabjit Korotana salutes the gains that have been made in treating mental health patients in the past 60 years and looks too the future It...

mental health Care failings of police under fire.(West Midlands Police )(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... Police have been slammed for failing to adequately care for a man with mental health problems but cleared of acting unreasonably by allowing him to leave custody in a white forensic suit. A report by the Independent Police Complaints...

mental health Mind study slams in-patient wards.(mental health in-patients)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... More than half of recent mental health in-patients rated their ward as unpleasant or very unpleasant, according to a survey. Just over a quarter of those polled were unhappy with the cleanliness of their ward and 28 per cent were not...

mental health by derren hayes Uncertainty over go-ahead for unit for male offenders in west Scotland.(Dykebar Hospital)
October 5, 2006... One of four new mental health units aimed at tackling the shortage of medium-secure facilities in Scotland looks likely to be scrapped following a review by health chiefs. A source close to the review of the Willowburn House development,...

news.
October 5, 2006... 100,000 people visit www.communitycare.co.uk every month for the latest social care news and views. The top stories you read last week on the website were: 1 Social care may lose out to education. 2 Councils made [pounds...

obstacle course.(social work)
October 5, 2006... In a practical discipline like social work, practice placements are hugely important. Students, otherwise immersed in their books and theories, find out what life is like on the front line where those client case studies leap off the pages into...

Listen to the reasons behind bad behaviour.
October 5, 2006... I love reading. It has always seemed a wonderful thing to me that I can pick up a wad of paper covered in printed words and enter someone else's mind. I can learn from their research, experiences, insights and imagination without ever meeting...

substance misuse Warning on drug services ring-fence.(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The government has been warned not to stall progress in drug treatment services by removing the ring-fencing from funding. DrugScope chief executive Martin Barnes welcomed figures last week showing the government had met its target to...

my son is no 'nutter'.(schizophrenia)
October 5, 2006... this life Caring for a son with schizophrenia means having to put up with prejudice, writes Georgina Wakefield "What do they mean, mum?" my son's voice trembles, "they don't even know me. One lady says she is worried about her...

training by Sally Gillen Students' pockets hit by new rules on practice placement travel costs.(General Social Care Council )
October 5, 2006... Social work students in England say a new limit on the payment for travel expenses incurred during their practice placements could force them to leave their studies. The General Social Care Council wrote to students in August saying it...

WORKFORCE Social care employers ready to embrace laws to confront age discrimination.(United Kingdom. Employment Equality Regulations 2006)
October 5, 2006... New regulations should hold few fears for the social care sector but will not tackle the apparent age bias in the distribution of resources, writes Mithran Samuel From this week, social care staff will be protected from age...

workforce Shock suspension for Telford director.(Telford & Wrekin Council suspended Christine Davies)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... A leading figure in children's services has been suspended in a move that has shocked the sector. Telford & Wrekin Council said it had suspended Christine Davies, its corporate director for children and young people, as a precautionary...

workforce by amy taylor Surrey to hire 40 children's workers as front line benefits from rejig.(Surrey Council)
October 5, 2006... Surrey Council, which is bucking the trend among England's councils by merging its adults' and children's services, is to recruit 40 children's social workers as a result of the restructure. The council split the services in 2001 but is...

young offenders Report slams strip searches at prison.(Oxfordshire prison)(Brief article)
October 5, 2006... The prisons inspector has criticised the use of force on young people who refuse to be strip searched at Huntercombe Young Offender Institution. In a report this week, chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers said the Oxfordshire prison had...

book reviews.(Don't Miss Out: A Guide to Benefits and Services for Disabled Children and their Families, Personal Development and Reflective Practice in a Learning Disability Service, The Essential Carer's Guide)(Book review)
October 5, 2006... Don't Miss Out! ----- Daphne Hall, Disability Alliance ISBN 1903335361, [pounds sterling]7 (or [pounds sterling]3.50 for individuals claiming benefits) This excellent publication from Disability Alliance carries the sub-title A Guide to...

a word in your ear.(social services)
October 5, 2006... With new regulations governing complaints procedures now in force, Sarah Baalham looks at what this now means for those not happy with treatment they get from social services The regulations and guidance governing complaints about social...

'as a prostitute you don't exist '.
October 5, 2006... is how former drug addict and prostitute Tracy Kennett describes life on the streets. Josephine Hocking looks at the work of small charities in steering people away from working in prostitution and asks whether government initiatives north and...

Happy 30th?(Commission for Racial Equality celebrating its 30th birthday)(Agency overview)
October 12, 2006... What has been achieved by the Commission for Racial Equality? Anabel Unity Sale speaks to the body's critics The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) marks its 30th birthday this year. The publicly funded independent body was established...

Workforce Staff may strike against Care UK.(Islington Council)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Care UK could face industrial action in Islington, north London, over plans to halve pay and change conditions for some staff. Andrew Berry, deputy branch secretary of Islington Unison, said staff at two care homes and two day centres were...

Housing benefit Studies allay fears on new allowance.(Department for Work and Pensions studies)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... An allowance being piloted as a replacement for housing benefit has not caused greater arrears among tenants or increased homelessness, as some campaigners feared, according to government research. Department for Work and Pensions studies...

Asylum seekers Children agreement 'not being honoured'.(Unison)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Unison has accused the Home Office of ignoring an agreement that is meant to protect the children of failed asylum seekers in Scotland. The union said immigration officials had separated children from their parents during recent early...

Workforce Stonham staff vote to accept pay offer.(Stonham)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Staff at supported housing provider Stonham have accepted the company's latest pay offer, bringing protracted negotiations to an end. Amicus members were unhappy with the company's initial offer of a 2.5 per cent increase for all staff,...

Asylum seekers Proposals may cut access to legal aid.(The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association )(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Asylum seekers' access to good legal advice will be curtailed under government proposals on legal aid, campaigners have warned. According to The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA), some private practices and not-for-profit...

Registration Berry hints at direct payment extension.(Lynne Berry)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... People employed by users of direct payments will have to register with the General Social Care Council in future, its chief executive has suggested. Lynne Berry told the National Homecare Council conference that "the world was moving...

Domestic violence No to contact ban for violent parents.(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Children can have positive relationships with non-resident parents who have committed domestic violence, a conference heard this week. But violent parents had to accept and regret the impact of their actions for contact to be viable, said...

Blair wants lead role for social workers.(Tony Blair)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... The prime minister has backed social workers to deliver an improved service for looked-after children. Speaking to sector leaders at Downing Street ahead of the launch of the Care Matters green paper, Tony Blair said that social workers...

Everyone's a winner.(adults' services )(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Independence, well-being and choice are the buzzwords for adults' services this year, so it is heartening to see that they really work when put into practice. An evaluation of the In Control pilot scheme - which gives people with learning...

Good idea or diversion?(independent social work )
October 12, 2006... Although much of the substance of the very welcome looked-after children green paper was heavily trailed, it contains a few surprises. One of its most radical ideas is the proposal to introduce independent practices of social workers, along the...

BENEFITS Changes to mental capability check.(personal capability assessment)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... The assessment for incapacity benefit will be radically reformed to take more account of mental health, learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder. The government has accepted the recommendations of a review, published this week,...

Green paper promises an end to instability for lives of children in care.
October 12, 2006... The government has unveiled wide-ranging plans to provide "stability, stability, stability" for looked-after children in England. Care Matters, its long-awaited green paper on children in care, proposes testing GP-style social work...

If you ask me...(Debbie Dolan )(Interview)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Debbie Dolan uses Stonebridge Day Centre run by Brent Learning Disability Partnership in London Who has influenced you the most? People and friends who have supported me to do things I'm not sure about and helped me to make decisions. ...

MUSIC.(Chumbawamba )(Theater review)
October 12, 2006... Chumbawamba ----- Djangoly Theatre, Nottingham 27 September As far as public perception is concerned, Chumbawamba certainly resemble social work: much misunderstood and maligned. They are best known for their thumping worldwide hit...

The moral maze.(care service managers)
October 12, 2006... In practice, the manager's task is to negotiate a way through a maze of competing ethical principles. Jill Reynolds and Janet Seden provide a few signposts Managers are in a pivotal position to influence the ethical delivery of care...

Practices 'could set social workers free'.(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... The introduction of social care "practices", similar in style to GP practices, is one of the more radical ideas in the green paper. The Department for Education and Skills believes there is an "inherent tension" for social workers...

Private Fostering [pounds sterling]100 bonus brings in the registrations.(Southwark Council, Children Act 1989)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Southwark Council is claiming success with a scheme that gives a one-off payment of [pounds sterling]100 to private foster carers who come forward to register their arrangement. The council said 49 people had come forward to register in the...

She ate with the dogs.(therapeutic school, Lucy Johnson )
October 12, 2006... A history of neglect and abuse led a girl's behaviour to be difficult to contain. After a series of failed foster placements, three years at a therapeutic school directed by John Diamond (left) introduced stability. Graham Hopkins...

Tier system to boost status of foster carers.(Department for Education and Skills)
October 12, 2006... The green paper outlines plans to improve the status of foster carers through salaries, registration and training. As predicted by Community Care (news, page 6, 21 September), it proposes a graduated model of foster care placements,...

Adult protection Progress stalls after legislation pledge.(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... The government is yet to decide whether to put the protection of vulnerable adults on a statutory footing despite announcing it would consider the issue in March. Care services minister Ivan Lewis told a conference on elder abuse that the...

book reviews.(In Search of Belonging: Reflections of Transracially Adopted People)(Book review)
October 12, 2006... In Search of Belonging - Reflections by Trans-racially Adopted People ----- Edited by Perlita Harris, British Association for Adoption and Fostering ISBN 1903699770, [pounds sterling]17.95 This is a remarkable anthology of writings,...

Children Confusion on home visits for newborns.(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Plans for children's centres to run home visiting and outreach programmes for parents of all newborn babies have confused health visitors' leaders. Cheryll Adams, professional officer at the Community Practitioners' and Health Visitors'...

Continuing care Wandsworth set to pay back care fees.(Wandsworth Council)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Wandsworth Council looks set to give [pounds sterling]27,000 to a woman who paid the sum in "unnecessary" nursing care fees for her mother. Local government ombudsman Jerry White found that Wandsworth had wrongly assessed Linda...

Funding Parties fall in with Wanless thinking.(Derek Wanless)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... All three main political parties recognise the current funding system for adult social care is not sustainable, the author of a landmark prospectus for change said this week. Derek Wanless told a King's Fund debate on his report, which was...

Learning difficulties by Maria Ahmed In Control pilots offer savings and a better quality of life, study finds.
October 12, 2006... Services for people with learning difficulties are more cost-effective and provide a better quality of life if users are given control over their money and support. The 18-month study of In Control, a pilot scheme that gives people their...

Learning difficulties Service users angry at Cardiff over cuts threaten.(Cardiff Council)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Cardiff Council has been blasted for cutting [pounds sterling]3m from its supported living budget for people with learning difficulties. The council said it could provide "better, more cost-effective" supported living services despite...

War wounds.(Military life)
October 12, 2006... It is well known that military service often leaves people unable to cope on their return to civilian life. And conflict, currently experienced by thousands of UK service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, serves only to...

Mental health by Simeon Brody Demand for royal commission into why system fails ethnic minorities.(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Atop government adviser has called for an official inquiry into why the mental health system is failing people from ethnic minorities. Mental Health Act Commission chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel said young Asian men could be the next group of...

Mental health by derren hayes Tribunal squeezes time spent with clients, say Scottish professionals.(Mental Health Tribunal )
October 12, 2006... Scotland's Mental Health Tribunal is putting so many extra demands on professionals that it is limiting the time available to treat patients, managers have claimed. Managers from Tayside, Ayrshire & Arran and Glasgow health boards told the...

Revolutionise care; revolutionise society.(social care)
October 12, 2006... This year about 6,000 young people will emerge from the care of the state. What is their future? Some 4,500 of them will leave with no educational qualifications whatsoever. Within two years of leaving care 3,000 will be unemployed, 2,100...

Just making you aware.(United Kingdom. Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000)
October 12, 2006... Should we be concerned that so few professionals are aware of the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, asks Anabel Unity Sale, who, overleaf, speaks to critics of the Commission for Racial Equality Race inequality...

Doing it for the money?(social workers)
October 12, 2006... then you could be in the wrong business. Mark Hunter finds that social workers are near the bottom of the heap in terms of public sector pay, although the picture locally, what with golden hellos and other inducements, may be rather different...

What's life like in other public services?
October 12, 2006... DEIDRE ATKINS (not her real name) Adult nurse on a general surgical ward in Birmingham Pay: [pounds sterling]22,266 Time in the job: Four years Training: Nursing diploma (three years) Atkins finished her nursing diploma four years ago and...

Soul searching.(mental health services)
October 12, 2006... this life Medicine is not enough for Laura Lea who has mental illness, but she has an idea of what she does need It has been impossible to tell my family about the experience of being mentally ill. No one apart from my ex-husband knows...

Vulnerable adults by Gordon Carson serious case review granted over treatment of man at Bournewood.(Surrey hospital, Hl)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... The carers of the severely autistic man at the centre of the landmark Bournewood judgment have won their fight for a serious case review into his treatment while illegally detained at the former Surrey hospital. The carers, who cannot be...

Workforce Cafcass staff fear redundancy plan.(Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service)(Brief article)
October 12, 2006... Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) staff fear the organisation is poised to propose a restructure that will lead to redundancies. Members of Cafcass union Napo claimed last week, at their annual conference,...

many happy returns.(return of social workers)
October 19, 2006... Fear of changes in a fast-moving profession deter many ex-social workers from returning to the sector. But in the North West and West Sussex tailored courses have addressed this, reports Louise Tickle When a professional describes as...

On the right track.
October 19, 2006... Last week's green paper on children in care has been broadly welcomed by those working in the sector but, as Lauren Revans explains, doubts remain over funding and suggestions of GP-style social work practices It is not often you hear...

Children in care 'need full section 8 rights'.(Brief article)
October 19, 2006... Looked-after children should be able to use the full range of powers to apply for residence and contact orders with carers if they are unhappy with councils' decision to change their placements, according to a children's rights expert. ...