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Lead children's councillor resigns over poor Ofsted rating

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Wed, 04/10/2013 - 14:59
Sandwell’s cabinet member for children’s services, Bob Badham, has resigned after Ofsted rated the council’s services for safeguarding children as inadequate.
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'Social work is in my psyche', says new directors' chief

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Wed, 04/10/2013 - 11:02
Incoming president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services Sandie Keene discusses why she maintains her social work registration and how adult care cuts must be limited to avoid a "downward spiral".
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Drop in number of social workers funded to train as AMHPs

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Tue, 04/09/2013 - 15:38
Overall number of social workers being put through AMHP training by local authorities drops, as social workers warn that budget squeeze and workload pressures are contributing to shortfall in trainees.
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Direct payments, personal budgets and individual budgets

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Direct payments and personal budgets are a central part of the personalisation agenda to give service users choice and control over their care and support.
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Why my social work experience led me to specialise on foetal alcohol spectrum disorders

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
After 27 years as a practising social worker Liam Curran became a certified trainer on foetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Here, he tells Community Care about the highs and lows of his new job.
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Social work 'should be transforming mental health'

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
It’s time for mental health social work leaders and councils to pull together to assert social care and social work’s role in mental health care, writes the College of Social Work’s Ruth Allen.
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Social workers need to fight the threat to social models of mental health care

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
The medical domination of mental health threatens to railroad the social perspectives that underpin social work and are vital to quality care. It’s time to fight back, writes Daisy Bogg.
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Three-quarters of Camhs staff see budgets slashed as morale plummets

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Survey of workers in children's and adolescent mental health services reveals a demoralised workforce struggling with rising caseloads, lengthening waiting lists and dwindling team numbers.
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How the law decides responsibility for funding mental health care

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
A recent case shows that councils can still be made responsible for funding a person's mental health aftercare even if they have no previous connection with the area, says legal columnist Ed Mitchell.
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10 ways service users want AMHPs to improve Mental Health Act assessments

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
The 2012 national AMHP leads network conference heard from a service user who is using her experiences of the mental health system to help AMHPs reflect on Mental Health Act assessments. Andy McNicoll reports.
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Mental health patients sent 80 miles away for 'poor care' amid bed crisis

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Year-long inquiry into schizophrenia care calls for "radical overhaul" of poor acute mental health care and warns many inpatient units are "stressful, chaotic" places.
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Social workers 'less risk averse and more imaginative' after service overhaul

CommunityCare.co.uk MH services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
An overhaul of the way Bromley’s mental health services work has saved social services £800,000 in three years and freed social workers to practice more creatively, argues social worker Olu Afuape.
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Practice standards for best interests assessors launched

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
College of Social Work sets six capabilities that councils should require of professionals appointed to make key recommendations about people under Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
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Learning disabled people die 16 years earlier than others, finds study

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Research finds people with learning disabilities more likely to die from causes that could have been prevented by good healthcare than other people.
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How social workers can help bring learning disabled people home

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Supporting people with learning disabilities to return from out-of-area placements requires thorough assessment, person-centred commissioning and time, according to social workers in one service praised by government.
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Social investors urged to help end learning disability housing crisis

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Government cuts to social housing and capital spending are reducing housing options for learning disabled people. Mencap's housing arm is asking socially-minded investors to fill the gap through its new charity bond, says director Alastair Graham.
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Direct payments, personal budgets and individual budgets

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Direct payments and personal budgets are a central part of the personalisation agenda to give service users choice and control over their care and support.
Categories: Communities RSS Feed

How Winterbourne-style placements can be brought to an end

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Chris Bull, the person charged with helping end inappropriate hospital placements for people with learning disabilities, outlines how he intends to support commissioners to achieve this aim.
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Criminal record checks relaxed for social care recruits

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Minor offences and cautions will be removed from records after a period of time, says government in response to court ruling.
Categories: Communities RSS Feed

Council suspends senior manager ahead of critical Ofsted report

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Sandwell council is expected to receive a critical report into its children's services
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Recent Additions and Updates

Judicial System - If I were running the country

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Mon, 05/27/2013 - 22:22

Scales of JusticeHow do we make the courts run more smoothly?  Cases take too long and are too expensive, mired in endless argument and counter-argument that are the hallmarks of our adversarial system.  What if we were to set time limits?  Would that work?

Well, let's try it.  Each side presents their best evidence, and if magistrate or jury isn't convinced, they can ask for more time from each side.  If it works for Cricket, that most venerable of British institutions, it should work for courts.  Who knows, they may even become spectator sports?

If I were running the country - encouraging business

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Tue, 05/21/2013 - 09:33

Keywords:

Minimum wage

Fantasy government - what would I do if I were in government?  Well how about reduce corporation tax, increase income tax, increase minimum wage and invest in job creation in the regions?  That would be a good start - create jobs where there are workers, then make sure that the right amount of tax is collected and at the same time reduce spend on benefits which are only used to increase profits of selfish organisations.

Would it work?  Have your say.

PwC Report on the Current State of Project Management

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 10:44

Keywords:

PwC Project Management ReportPwC found that successful companies are getting more mature in their project management ability.  This raises the game – successful companies have lower costs from fewer failed projects, and less successful companies have to work harder to catch up.  There are some important lessons to take this report for everyone – Read more…

Joy instead of tedium

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 21:04

Keywords:

The Office

Every office has them - the tasks that have to be done that nobody likes doing.  Whether it's the audit, the wages, standard letters, whatever it is - someone has to do it and it feels like a waste of time and money.

Why should you care?

So you employ somebody, so why do you care about how tedious the task is? Well they are costing money, to do something that could be done far more effectively.

Learning from the Past

Submitted by HugoM on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 20:27

Evidence for service improvement

Many public service changes have little basis in evidence. Their success (or otherwise) does not appear to depend on how 'good' the policy itself is, but rather on how it has been implemented. This relies on staff attitudes and relationships. My research falls into a number of broad categories: finding out what is currently happening; what people think about it; and what people think it will mean.

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