As a student social worker about to qualify, I have been watching the developments in the new social work degree with interest (News Analysis, 13 June).
The degree has two major flaws. The first is the lack of placements. I was lucky with my two-year DipSW in that I was able to get one voluntary and one statutory placement, both positive learning experiences.
However, many people on my course and other courses waited for long periods to start placements or have had very poor placements.
It is quite evident that there is a severe shortage of quality placements so increasing the number by 70 will further reduce the quality and safety of placements or the number of social work students.
The second flaw is the funding. If the government wants to increase the numbers of mature students the value of bursaries needs to be at least doubled. Many students on my course had full-time jobs as well. With a three-year course I would not have been able to afford to qualify.
Cris Evans
Liverpool
Child safety network
Your article on child protection in schools ("Off the curriculum", 30 May) did not refer to the recently established network of child protection co-ordinators within the education system.
Twenty-six posts have been funded by the Department for Education and Skills and their remit is threefold: to work with local education authorities throughout England to bring about improvements in staff training to enable them to recognise and deal with abuse; to improve policies and practice in this sensitive area; and to search for improvements in how allegations against education staff are dealt with.
Work has started in all regions of the country and recommendations about policies and practice are emerging. Training is being scrutinised and an audit about allegations has begun. In addition, work is being undertaken on how to define thresholds and provide clear definitions for staff referring child protection matters.
All this will take time but it is encouraging that the DfES have taken this initiative. In time it will enhance the response of the education sector by increasing child protection awareness, and by recommending improvements in training, to ensure that staff understand their roles and responsibilities in respect of the care and welfare of children and young people.
Margaret Hurrell
On behalf of the National Investigation and Referral Support
Co-ordinator Network
Cynics' diary does harm
Members of the government or general public who read Community Care's weekly diary will not feel sympathetic to any claims for improvements in our pay or conditions. Do your diarists represent a true picture of the day-to-day life of those working responsibly and with integrity in social care?
If so, we need to be concerned about the disappearance of our core values. We are accountable for the well being of those who use our services. Who could have a shred of respect for someone unable to remember where they should be (6 June)?
Being able to mock oneself and subvert grandiosity is one thing. Undermining the standards and working practices many of us are aspiring to achieve by portraying us as a bunch of incompetent cynics is quite another.
Name and address withheld
Men's health warning
Community Care covered National Carers Week very well indeed (Specialist articles, 13 June). But did you know that 10-14 June was men's health week?.
Being an Australian social worker, I am amazed at the apparent lack of interest or activity surrounding men's health issues in England. Back home, a national men's health promotion strategy and men's health centres have already been established.
Here are some worrying statistics.
- The average British man can expect to be seriously or chronically ill for 15 years of his life.
- Depression is a widespread but under-recognised problem in men. At least one in five men suffer clinical depression at some stage in their lives.
- Forty-five per cent of men are overweight. Another 17 per cent are obese.
- Twenty-seven per cent of men regularly drink more than the recommended limits. Thirty-six per cent of young men (16-24) drink excessively.
- The average male smoker smokes 111 cigarettes a week and 28 per cent of men smoke.
- The incidence of testicular cancer has doubled in the past 20 years.
- Nearly 22,000 men in the UK are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and about 9,500 die. This number is expected to treble over the next 20 years.
Don Mackenzie
Service development co-ordinator
Physical Impairment Day Services
Kettering
Mistakes are in the past
Last week an ombudsman's report was released that criticised the way Birmingham social services department handled a series of complaints from a Birmingham father (News, page 14, 13 June).
The ombudsman was right to highlight the errors. However, the complaints date back seven years and there have been many improvements over the past two years in the way the department is run.
In this particular case we carried out an independent investigation in 2000 and then implemented its recommendations.
The additional funding allocated to children's social workers in 2000 has enabled us to take steps to improve our assessment of any child who may be at risk of abuse and we have also improved the case management process that follows such assessments.
Susanna McCorry
Cabinet member for social services and health
Birmingham Council
