by Jon Skone
Readers who have followed the events of the "Baby Peter" case will almost certainly be aware that Haringey Council has now dismissed four managers, including the director of children's services, and a social worker. I wonder, however, how many readers know what has happened to the other professionals involved in the events leading up to his death. I would hazard a guess not many.
Readers who have followed the events of the "Baby Peter" case will almost certainly be aware that Haringey Council has now dismissed four managers, including the director of children's services, and a social worker. I wonder, however, how many readers know what has happened to the other professionals involved in the events leading up to his death. I would hazard a guess not many.
For a number of years I have been interested in the ways in which certain elements of the media and also certain politicians respond to deaths where public services are involved or it is felt that they should have been involved. This interest took a particular focus when I read in the Times newspaper that as many as 40,000 hospital deaths are caused by errors by medical staff in Britain.
I remember remarking then to a friend that I didn't think that this story would generate much interest from the rest of the media but I wondered what the reaction would have been if the report had concerned the same number of deaths caused by errors by local authority workers.
As far as I am aware no social worker has ever deliberately or accidentally killed a client whilst doing their job and very few children have been killed whilst in care.
Has a senior police officer been removed from office by the home secretary as a result of the tragic events at the G20 summit which led to the death of a man?
When 400 people were reported as dying needlessly in a Staffordshire hospital was a petition organised by a national newspaper for the sackings of those professionals involved?
Have doctors and nurses been targeted as being professionals under suspicion as a result of Dr Harold Shipman killing at least 218 people in his role as a GP or Colin Norris and Beverly Allitt killing people in their care?
I wonder what the reaction would have been if local government rather than the Welsh health service had publicly acknowledged that 1,000 avoidable deaths and up to 50,000 episodes of harm could be avoided in two years. I doubt very much that the significant media support attached to the resultant 1000 lives campaign would have been as evident.
I am not simply arguing for sympathy. It is not my contention that other professions should be treated in the same way as social workers or that Baby Peter's death or any of the other deaths should be minimised. Nothing could be further from my mind.
It is absolutely right that when something goes wrong and there is an unacceptable tragedy, those responsible for protecting children, and others, are held to account.
But I would argue that a disproportionate response to these tragedies from any source does nothing to protect people. Indeed the opposite is more likely with poor morale and staff shortages meaning that fewer social workers available to do what is necessary.
Most people recognise the difficulties and challenges experienced by all professionals in their daily task of protecting vulnerable people from harm. At the same time people also find it difficult to accept the level of cruelty one individual can do to another, especially when that person is a parent.
It is important that we all understand our personal responsibilities for protecting children and others and be willing to take the appropriate action. Most children killed in Britain are not known to social services departments but they are known to family, friends and other professionals who may have concerns.
A no blame culture in the NHS is to be applauded and there has been wide spread support for the 1000 lives campaign which is already making significant improvements because it is understood that acknowledging the problem is the first important step in dealing with it.
It is essential that we adopt the same open and supportive attitude for child and adult protection because it is the only way to ensure that systems are as effective as possible so that when things do go wrong they are dealt with early, quickly and safely.
Jon Skone is honorary secretary of the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru.
I remember remarking then to a friend that I didn't think that this story would generate much interest from the rest of the media but I wondered what the reaction would have been if the report had concerned the same number of deaths caused by errors by local authority workers.
As far as I am aware no social worker has ever deliberately or accidentally killed a client whilst doing their job and very few children have been killed whilst in care.
Has a senior police officer been removed from office by the home secretary as a result of the tragic events at the G20 summit which led to the death of a man?
When 400 people were reported as dying needlessly in a Staffordshire hospital was a petition organised by a national newspaper for the sackings of those professionals involved?
Have doctors and nurses been targeted as being professionals under suspicion as a result of Dr Harold Shipman killing at least 218 people in his role as a GP or Colin Norris and Beverly Allitt killing people in their care?
I wonder what the reaction would have been if local government rather than the Welsh health service had publicly acknowledged that 1,000 avoidable deaths and up to 50,000 episodes of harm could be avoided in two years. I doubt very much that the significant media support attached to the resultant 1000 lives campaign would have been as evident.
I am not simply arguing for sympathy. It is not my contention that other professions should be treated in the same way as social workers or that Baby Peter's death or any of the other deaths should be minimised. Nothing could be further from my mind.
It is absolutely right that when something goes wrong and there is an unacceptable tragedy, those responsible for protecting children, and others, are held to account.
But I would argue that a disproportionate response to these tragedies from any source does nothing to protect people. Indeed the opposite is more likely with poor morale and staff shortages meaning that fewer social workers available to do what is necessary.
Most people recognise the difficulties and challenges experienced by all professionals in their daily task of protecting vulnerable people from harm. At the same time people also find it difficult to accept the level of cruelty one individual can do to another, especially when that person is a parent.
It is important that we all understand our personal responsibilities for protecting children and others and be willing to take the appropriate action. Most children killed in Britain are not known to social services departments but they are known to family, friends and other professionals who may have concerns.
A no blame culture in the NHS is to be applauded and there has been wide spread support for the 1000 lives campaign which is already making significant improvements because it is understood that acknowledging the problem is the first important step in dealing with it.
It is essential that we adopt the same open and supportive attitude for child and adult protection because it is the only way to ensure that systems are as effective as possible so that when things do go wrong they are dealt with early, quickly and safely.
Jon Skone is honorary secretary of the Association of Directors of Social Services Cymru.
I rarely hear any stories in the media regarding the failures of health care professionals. I have heard vaguely about the Staffordshire Hospital issues as I live near the area. Imagine how the public would react if social workers were failing in the same way as mentioned in your blog! Infact I don't even want to imagine. It sends shivers down my spine. I enjoyed reading this. I only wish that someone in a national newspaper could write a similar story. Don't get me wrong, like the majority of social workers health professionals do a brilliant job. Several of my friends are nurses and I have very much respect for their work - I know I couldn't do it! However that is a lot of hospital deaths!
Thank you for your enlightened article. It is about time someone redressed the balance of the constant media attack on the social work profession. The question now is how do we change the media attitude towards social workers who, in the main, do an excellent job under very difficut and highly stressfull circumstances?
I think this is an excellent article and agree with the points mentioned. It is a real shame that the media seem determined to blame social workers for just about every tragic event where they have had some involvement. As mentioned, this is regardless of who else has been involved. It may sound simplistic but with the baby P case, I think the blame should lie entirely with the person/people who harmed and neglected that child although this view has rarely been stated! Clearly, there were others who played a part in not protecting the child however as usual the blame has been placed largely on the social services with no real mention of the failings of our health colleages. The media need to change their attitude towards social workers and recognise that we do a good job with very limited resources and even less appreciation, however I also realise that wouldn't sell newspapers would it???
I have been meaning to write this article myself for some time now and am delighted someone has beaten me to it. However, I think we should take some responsbility ourselves for the very low status of our profession. We have stood back whilst the best bits of the job have been handed to othr professionals and the voluntary sector leaving us with all the stuff noone else wants to do including an incredible amount of admin which is widely acknowledged takes up at least 70% of our time. When I came into the profession in the mid seventies as an unqualified social worker, I had my own office and coffee with the psychiatrists every morning. All my typing and filing, appointments etc was done by someone who was trained at these tasks leaving me to do what I was trained to do. Now I share an office with 50 other people and have to do all my own typing, photocopying etc which includes the new phenomenon of scanning documents into our information system. Questions are asked about why we have so many alienated young people. I am convinced that a significant number could have been helped by social workers who had at least 70% of their time to spend working creatively with them, their families and the community. We are potentially a skilled and economically effective resource and should stand up for our profession and refuse to be societies scapegoats.
I think this is an EXCELLENT acknowledgement, view and awareness and challenge to us all, but even more so for those within our society who see social workers as professionals to be 'scapegoated'. I am in favour and ion full support to raising the profile of the benefits of what we do and the respect that is long overdue to us as a profession.
Thank you very much for this article. This article should be forwarded to the media.Everytime i tell some that i am a social worker they always ask about the Baby P case.Its a shame that i am having to explain the role of the social worker all the time. I feel as though i have to defend my profession. As social workers we should push for a body which represent what we are about. Social workers are the unsung heros.