Social care regulator the Care Quality Commission is seeking social workers working in mental health to help its inspection teams ‘peer review’ other services.
Professionals that sign-up to be ‘clinical advisors’ will help the CQC’s inspection teams review standards of care at another service. NHS mental health trusts will be reimbursed £300 per day through a secondment agreement if their staff sign-up for the programme, the CQC said.
Paul Lelliott, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector of hospitals, said: ‘We are seeking applications from those who want to participate as members of our inspection teams including those with metal health social work backgrounds. These professional advisers ensure that peer-review is at the heart of the inspection process. We need the best people in this role and would prefer that they are still actively working in mental health care. We need your help to achieve this.”
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While the idea sounds OK but it only works on the premise that the NHS departments are well staffed to be able to manage their caseload / workload and spare a few extra staff to be seconded to this programme. The £300 / day reimbursed to the Trust sounds attractive but their is a risk of further under staffing their departments and focusing more on this [secondment to CQC] to the detriment of their respective services. As far as I know most Trusts are already struggling in terms of staffing levels and workloads due to current cuts. A more sustainable solution will be to employ and train more staff for this special task.
The survey below is an indication of what staff and various departments are going through and is the base of my view:
https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2014/03/05/stress-among-social-workers-mental-health-teams-hits-record-high/#.UxcIefl_t8E?cmpid=NLC|SCSC|SCNEW-2014-0305
I am interested in becoming a mental health social worker. I am an RSW working at York House, which is a hospital for people with traumatic brain injuries who have challenging behaviours.
As well as the experiences that I have gained working in this field for the last 7 years, when I was 17 (I am now 43) I was involved in a road traffic accident and I received a brain injury myself. Since receiving my brain injury I have been to university and got my BA degree.
These experiences have given me a deep insight and personal understanding that would help me as a mental health social worker.