As our service users make clear in setting out their hopes and fears for 2006, the year ahead will not be a smooth ride. Older people will welcome the introduction of legislation on discrimination, but will wonder whether the empowering principles of the adult social care green paper will carry over to the joint white paper on health and social care.
Many people with learning difficulties will share these worries and, while plans to establish a “tsar” for the sector have won widespread support, concern about the extent to which Valuing People can bring about far-reaching change remain. And, for people with mental health problems, the potential of the much-delayed Mental Health Bill to scupper civil liberties is still a source of anxiety.
In many ways, the joint white paper, due this month, will set the tone. If it encourages a significant shift of emphasis from hospitals to the community and the development of more imagination in primary care trusts, service users can only benefit. As the split between children’s and adult social care becomes virtually complete in the course of the year, the white paper will be an important determinant of its success or failure. The future for social care, as for its users, hangs in the balance.
See Unfinished Business and What We Want in 2006
A year of challenges
January 4, 2006 in Children, Social care leaders
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Featured jobs
Workforce Insights
- ‘It’s hopeful work’: social work in an adults’ mental health team
- Podcast: supporting adults with learning disabilities and autism post-pandemic
- ‘There aren’t many roles where you get to take a child on holiday’: the benefits of residential care work
- Podcast: the benefits of a relational approach to social work
- ’Families feel heard’: the impact of a systemic approach on social work practice
- Workforce Insights – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
‘Massive’ cut in care population is key success measure for DfE reforms, says chief social worker
Regulator urges TV industry to ‘change the script’ on how it depicts social work
Minority ethnic social care staff face disproportionately high levels of bullying and disciplinaries – study
Non-statutory placements make up over half of provision for students in Scotland, report reveals
Comments are closed.