Professional Social Work, Dec. 2009, p. 18-19
This article considers the tensions emerging between the personalisation and safeguarding agendas, in the context of service users taking increasing responsibility for making their own care arrangements.
J. Glasby and R. Littlechild
Bristol: Policy Press, 2009
Direct payments and personal budgets are two of the most important developments in adult social care since the Second World War. From very small-scale origins, both have grown rapidly and are now set to transform the whole of adult social care. In future, the government has pledged that everyone will receive a personal budget, and managers, practitioners and students alike will need to be fully conversant with the implications of this. Against this background, this is the first UK introductory textbook on direct payments and personal budgets, summarizing the current evidence and implications for policy and practice. The book places these policies in context, explores their origins and impacts, and sets out the challenges and opportunities for practice.
Journal of Management and Marketing in Healthcare, vol.2, 2009, p. 355-365
In recent years there has been growing interest in the implications of direct payments and individual budgets for the interface between health and social care. Some user groups have needs that span health and social care to such an extent that separating support into different categories is both artificial and counterproductive. There is evidence from individual budget pilot sites that this funding is being used in practice to purchase services traditionally defined as healthcare, including administering medication, peg feeds and diabetes injections. It is therefore imperative that personalisation and individual budgets are extended to include healthcare.
C. Ham and J. Oldham
Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 17, Dec. 2009, p. 3-9
Since the Health Act 1999 came into force, government has focused on encouraging local authorities and NHS organisations to use the flexibilities introduced under Section 31 to integrate their services. These flexibilities are: 1) lead commissioning; 2) integrated provision; and 3) pooled budgets. Alongside these flexibilities, care trusts have been set up in some areas to promote integration. Care trusts combine NHS and local authority responsibilities under a single statutory body and focus on provision of services to specific groups such as older people. This paper reviews experiences in three areas that were early adopters in the use of Health Act flexibilities and the development of care trusts.
S. Gainsbury and R. Evans
Health Service Journal, Dec.10th 2009, p. 4-5
Reports that Labour is planning to propose the wholesale transfer of adult social care to the NHS in its manifesto for the 2010 general election. Although such a proposal would be unpopular in local government, it would be welcomed by many in the NHS and could lead to the creation of more seamless care packages for patients.
Care Quality Commission
Offers an update on the performance of 24,000 care homes, home care agencies, nursing agencies and shared lives schemes, focusing on whether quality is improving.
I. Ferguson and R. Woodward
Bristol: Policy Press, 2009
Radical social work is a tradition often identified exclusively with the movement which developed in the UK in the 1970s, yet the relevance of radical approaches to contemporary social work practice has never been stronger. Challenges to a neoliberal approach to social work have been gaining ground academically, and, to a lesser extent, in practice circles. This book provides a fresh understanding of the radical tradition and shows how it can be developed in contemporary social work. Using case studies and real life scenarios to illustrate the type of dilemmas faced by workers in their day-to-day practice, this book sets out the ways in which a radical social work approach can inform constructive responses. This book emphasises the need to understand the diverse lives of service users and to build confidence in tackling injustice at individual and societal levels.
S. Larkin and A. Fox
Journal of Adult Protection, vol. 11, Aug. 2009, p. 12-17
This paper examines the road to current adult safeguarding management and practice in Medway Council, focusing on the role of the adult protection co-ordinator. The safeguarding co-ordinator works to ensure that adult protection policies and procedures become a part of everyday practice for each practitioner, including those employed by commissioned service providers.
Exeter: Learning Matters, 2009
Social work in modern society requires practitioners to be culturally and spiritually sensitive. This book explores the often challenging relationships between spirituality, religion and social work. It considers the skills, knowledge and values that are required to incorporate a spiritual awareness into social work practice and in doing so explores in greater depth the social worker / service user relationship. By using case studies, reflective exercises and other learning features, it promotes an understanding of the importance of a spiritually-sensitive approach to social work practice.
A. Mantell (editor)
Exeter: Learning Matters, 2009
Social work practice with adults has been undergoing a major change in recent years. The traditional divisions between health and social services have been gradually eroded, with the shift to the single assessment process and with social workers increasingly finding themselves employed within the health or independent sector. Therefore, knowing the full-range of social work skills is vital and central to good practice with adult service users. This new guide helps us to understand these skills and includes chapters on intervention, empowerment and advocacy, skills for collaborative working, and self-presentation.