March 2009 - Fighting Monsters

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Crisis and Discrimination

We had a meeting with our crisis team a couple of weeks ago. There is a general perception that they don’t like taking referrals for over 65s. It has increasingly developed into something of an ‘us and them’ situation so an attempt at some kind of reconciliary...

Published 31 Mar 2009 6:13 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: ageism, Care Quality Commission, crisis resolution team, crisis team, health, health care, health care discrimination, Healthcare Commission, hospital, Mental disorder, mental health, work
Avoiding Alzheimer’s

A couple of related articles I came over at the weekend which are linked in a way that they both refer to delaying the development of Alzheimer’s Disease. The BBC reports on a study which shows that longer schooling ‘cuts dementia’. The link is made between...

Published 30 Mar 2009 7:03 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Alzheimer's disease, avoiding alzheimers, dementia, elderly, health, Mini-Mental State Examination, old age, older people, Omega-3 fatty acid, Research, uk, work
Assessing Capacity

We have, over the last 18 months or so, carried out a lot of capacity assessments in our team. Actually, truth be known, we were and have been carrying out capacity assessments for far longer but as far as codified assessments go, the paperwork has been...

Published 28 Mar 2009 9:32 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: assessment, Best Interests Assessor, Care of residents, carers, Court of Protection, dementia, elderly, health, long-term care, MCA, Mental Capacity Act 2005, mental capacity assessment, old age, older people, social work, work
An Assessment

I mentioned in passing that I was out at an early morning assessment earlier in the week. I wanted to reflect on some of the issues that arose without mentioning too much of the detail. It was the second attempt to assess as the first visit, Mr A had...

Published 27 Mar 2009 6:20 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, assessment, ASW, elderly, General practitioner, health, hospital, mental health, mental health act assessment, old age, older people, Psychiatrist, social work, work, work-related stress
Learning Disabilities and Health Care

It’s amazing how easy it is to become accustomed to writing on a regular basis. I miss one day and it feels distinctly odd! Habit or obsession, well, you can make that judgement! The reason I didn’t update yesterday is that I had an early morning (meaning...

Published 26 Mar 2009 5:01 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: discrimination, learning disability, social care, social issues, social work, work
Direct Payments and Continuing Care

We are used to ‘Direct Payments’ in the social care sector. They were introduced in the Direct Payments (Community Care) Act 1997. While without doubt they are incredibly beneficial and empowering to some service users as they allow the user to receive...

Published 24 Mar 2009 4:46 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: continuing care, Department of Health, direct payments, discrimination, England, health, health care, local authority, london, long-term care, National Health Service, NHS primary care trust, Primary Care Trust, social care, social issues, social work, socialcare, work
Training, Universities and the CWDC

Community Care have an article on their website today about CWDC (Children’s Workforce Development Council) and their submission to the Social Work Taskforce which is considering the future of the Social Work profession following an interview published...

Published 23 Mar 2009 6:30 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: ASW, cwdc, Ed Balls, education in social work, health, local authority, mike leadbetter, social care, social issues, social justice, social policy, social work, social work taskforce, social work training, training social workers, university, work
Countdown to DoLs

The Deprivation of Liberties Safeguards (DoLs) go ‘live’ in just over a week now. These were a part of the amended Mental Capacity Act (2005) which establish a legal framework by which someone who lacks capacity may be ‘deprived of their liberty’ if it...

Published 22 Mar 2009 6:50 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, Best Interests Assessor, bia, deprivation of liberties safeguards, dols, elderly, England, health, local government, long-term care, MCA, mental capacity act 2005. mental capacity, mental health, Mental Health Trust, NHS primary care trust, old age, older people, Primary Care Trust, social care, social issues, social work, work
Crown Cleared

I saw on the BBC that the Crown Nursing Home in Harwell was cleared of the responsibility of the death of eight of the residents in January. As I was so quick to condemn, it’s only right that I raise this again. I wrote about it previously here. I want...

Published 20 Mar 2009 5:15 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: BBC, Care Quality Commission, Commission for Social Care Inspection, crown residential home, elderly, hanwell, health, long-term care, old age, older people, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire County Council, social care, social work, Southern Cross Healthcare Group, uk, work
Funding Panels

I’ve worked in the same local authority for a while. Other authorities I’ve worked in have similar but not equivalent procedures so I’m not sure how much this experience is reflected. When we recommend a care plan or a placement – either permanent or...

Published 19 Mar 2009 6:36 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: care funding, dementia, elderly, funding panels, health, local authority, local government, london, longterm care, long-term care, old age, older people, Senior Health, social care, social work, uk, work
Student

A student came to spend the day with me yesterday. She is a first year social work student and she works part time as a home carer which is how she found me. She was chatting to one of the service users she works with about her course and mentioned she...

Published 18 Mar 2009 5:43 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Education, health, local government, Social Sciences, social work, social work theories, work
World Social Work Day

Happy World Social Work Day! A day to celebrate the joy of social work – I had an idea for a post planned but couldn’t let this occasion pass so my thoughts about the letter received by every registered social worker in the UK on Friday will have to hold...

Published 17 Mar 2009 5:56 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: advocacy, Alan Johnson, Ed Balls, Hilton Dawson, mental health, social work, social work in the uk, social worker, uk, work, world social work day
Abuse at Greenacres

I came upon a story over the weekend in the Daily Telegraph. It relates to a horrific series of abuses that took place in a residential home for adults with learning disabilities in Kent. No criticisms of money-saving private companies here this time...

Published 16 Mar 2009 5:28 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Abuse, adult abuse, crown prosecution service, discrimination, greenacres, health care, jonathan wilkes, long-term care, mark goldring, mencap, National Health Service, safeguarding adults, social care, social issues, social work, west kent nhs and social care trust, work
More Sunday Ramblings

Not a ‘proper’ post this time but a few random thoughts that have occurred to me. Firstly search terms on my blog. This is one of the more interesting aspects of having a blog and it is one that I’m sure others can attest to. Yes, I...

Published 15 Mar 2009 5:44 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: blog search terms, feedback, generic training, generic training for social workers, local authority, local government, mental health, old age, social care, social issues, social work, socialcare, uk, United Kingdom, work
Laming and Training

I will not pretend to have read Laming’s report which was published yesterday. I haven’t. Honestly, I’m struggling a bit with my workload at the moment (oh, the irony!) and getting home I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself...

Published 13 Mar 2009 4:07 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Ed Balls, General Social Care Council, gscc., laming, laming report 2009, mental health, social work, social work education, social work training, uk, work
Of Public Image and Social Work

Community Care launch their ‘Stand Up for Social Work’ campaign today. The aim is to focus on poor media images and misconceptions of social workers and to promote positive social work stories to the media and possibly even, dare I say it...

Published 12 Mar 2009 5:36 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Child protection, community care magazine, deirdre sanders, Ed Balls, ed balls idiot, Education, media campaign, positive images of social work, social work, stand up for social work campaign, sun agony aunt, work
Compulsion

The big difference between the work I am doing now and the work I was doing 18 months ago is the role that compulsion plays in my day to day work. A couple of weeks ago, a nursing student came up to our office - her placement is on the attached ward and...

Published 11 Mar 2009 5:30 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, ASW, elderly, health, london, MCA, mental health act 1983, mental capacity act, Mental Capacity Act 2005, mental health, mental health act, mental health act 2007, old age, older people, personal, social care, social issues, social work, social worker, uk, work
Training Social Workers

I read on the Community Care website yesterday, that the undergraduate Social Work course at Royal Holloway College is being suspended. As I briefly alluded to on my Twitter feed, this surprised me - and my expression of interest is that I went for an...

Published 10 Mar 2009 5:03 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Brunel University, BSc Social work, Education, General Social Care Council, gscc., higher education, Royal Holloway, Royal Holloway University of London, social work, social work BA, social work course, social work training, training social workers, uk, university, work
Last week’s work

Over the weekend, I realised that I hadn’t really posted anything relating to the work I did last week. Sometimes I had touched on the more general newsworthy items and sometimes on items more personal to me, but a definite aim of writing when I...

Published 9 Mar 2009 6:10 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, Best Interests Assessor, health, local authority, local government, MCA, mental health, mental health act assessment, old age, older people, social care, social issues, social work, work
International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day. This was a celebration that I have to say would have completely passed me by had I not spent a few years living in Italy where it is a holiday which is both noted and actively celebrated (in inimitable Italian...

Published 8 Mar 2009 6:03 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: discrimination, Feminism, feminist, International Womens Day, million women rise, People, social care, social issues, social work, Voluntary Service Overseas, women
Balls

Image via Wikipedia Ed Balls irritates me. It isn’t perhaps the most measured judgement, I accept that, but every time now I see his name in any form of media representation, a little part of me cringes and mutters away to myself in language that...

Published 6 Mar 2009 5:38 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: baby p, Child protection, Ed Balls, ed balls criticism of social work, General Social Care Council, politics, Secretary of State for Children Schools and Families, social issues, social work, Sun, work
Angles on Stigma

A couple of unrelated articles that I turfed out today that both refer to stigma attached to those with mental illnesses in vastly different settings. Firstly, an article in the Times Higher Educational Supplement by an Australian lecturer, Caron Dunn...

Published 5 Mar 2009 6:04 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: discrimination, health, Medicine, Mental disorder, mental health, Policy and Advocacy, shidduch, shidduch with mental illness, social issues, students with mental illness, work, Yeshiva University
Paying for Care

Community Care reports on a study which has been published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which proposes a number of recommendations which could be implemented to make the way that adult care is funded in the UK ‘fairer’. The report is...

Published 4 Mar 2009 5:54 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: health, Home Care, joseph rowntree foundation, local authority, local government, long-term care, models for costing care, National Health Service, old age, older people, paying for residential care, social care, social issues, social work, uk, United Kingdom, work
Jade

Over the weekend, I was reading a post by Madmutt on his blog - about Jade Goody. He explains some of the excesses of the media coverage and I can’t help but agree. Jade made her name in Big Brother in the UK and has become a product of reality...

Published 3 Mar 2009 6:16 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Big Brother, Cancer, Cervical cancer, Death, grief, grief in children, Jade, Jade Goody, personal, Reality television, television
Preaching what you practise

There was a case a few weeks ago, that hit the national newspapers - about a nurse, Caroline Petrie, who had been suspended because she offered to pray for patients she was visiting in the community. She was able to return to work after some publicity...

Published 2 Mar 2009 4:28 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Caroline Petrie, Case law, chondol, chondol v liverpool city council, Christianity, discrimination, dismissed social worker, Employment Appeal Tribunal, Employment Tribunal, liverpool, mental health, mr chondol, naphtali chondol, personal, politics, Religion, social care, social issues, social work, work
Assessing Best Interests - Part 4

I have been through each day of the training to become a Best Interests Assessor except the last - but will remedy that now. The last day consisted of a legal recaps and a test , some role-plays (yuck) and lots of scenario discussions - taking through...

Published 1 Mar 2009 6:02 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work

March 2009 - Fighting Monsters

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives

Crisis and Discrimination

Avoiding Alzheimer’s

Assessing Capacity

An Assessment

Learning Disabilities and Health Care

Direct Payments and Continuing Care

Training, Universities and the CWDC

Countdown to DoLs

Crown Cleared

Funding Panels

Student

World Social Work Day

Abuse at Greenacres

More Sunday Ramblings

Laming and Training

Of Public Image and Social Work

Compulsion

Training Social Workers

Last week’s work

International Women’s Day

Balls

Angles on Stigma

Paying for Care

Jade

Preaching what you practise

Assessing Best Interests - Part 4