December 2009 - Fighting Monsters

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Looking Back – 2009

I was wondering how to finish the year off and mark it. So I looked at last year’s posts for inspiration to see how I marked the end of the last year. I ran a couple of posts – one looking back on the year in my first ‘proper’ year of blogging and another...

Published 31 Dec 2009 6:43 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: 2009, AMHP, ASW, asw to amhp, blogging review, dols, in review, local authority, looking back, mental health, new horizons, old age, older people, personal, social care, social issues, social work, social work taskforce, work
Ginkgo fails

USA Today reports that a research project studying the effectiveness (or not) of Ginkgo Biloba – a ‘traditional remedy’ thought to aid memory has shown that it has made absolutely no difference in affecting the cognitive decline or otherwise in older...

Published 30 Dec 2009 6:52 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: alternative medicine, complementary medicine, dementia, fail, ginkgo, ginkgo biloba, health, herbal remedies, memory loss, old age, older people, personal, usa today, work
Akmal Skaikh

Akmal Skaikh was killed this morning by the Chinese government. He was a convicted drug smuggler and China operates a system of capital punishment that decrees that such a crime should be punished by death. His case has been raised partly due to circumstances...

Published 29 Dec 2009 7:45 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: akmal skaikh, capital punishment, chinA, death penalty, drugs smuggling, execution, personal, politics, skaikh
Merry Christmas

Not really much to add except that I’m wishing everyone a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas time. And with that thought, I’m off to tend the turkey.. Read More...

Published 25 Dec 2009 9:24 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Christmas, personal
Neighbours

Unsurprisingly, confidentiality and the maintaining of such is a key part of our job. Over the past few months really, an interesting and in some ways warming story has developed in front of me that I thought I would share just before Christmas. It involves...

Published 24 Dec 2009 7:05 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: companionship, confidentiality, elderly, friendship, housing, local authority, lonely, old age, older people, personal, sheltered housing, social care, social work, social worker, work
Birthday

I had another post all written up. I’ll probably publish it tomorrow – because yesterday was quite eventful in the work stream of things. But today would have been my father’s 70th birthday. It has always been a date to associate with him and to have...

Published 23 Dec 2009 7:12 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: grief, personal
Of Snowiness

Really it was a fairly busy day yesterday. The person I had been scheduled to visit and had completely expected to be out when I called was actually in. Of course, he wouldn’t let me in but we managed a fairly useful chat through the front door and kitchen...

Published 22 Dec 2009 6:40 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: carer, carers, cmht, local authority, london, mental health, old age, older people, personal, snow, social care, social work, socialcare, traffic, travel, work
Towards Christmas

Certainly it’s been picking up this week in terms of the rush – and compounded by more than the usual number of people off work at any given period, mean that it’s likely to be a busy week. I am used to working over the Christmas period – I can’t remember...

Published 21 Dec 2009 7:14 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: carer, carers, Christmas, christmas turkey, foster care over christmas, fostering, local authority, long-term care, mental health, old age, older people, personal, social care, social issues, social work, turkey, work
Are Social Work Lecturers out of touch?

This is a question which was raised by the Social Work Taskforce report and challenged by said lecturers in a Community Care article after the report suggested that there is an element of being ‘out of touch with current practice’. When I was studying...

Published 18 Dec 2009 6:41 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: british social work, Education, lecturers out of touch, local government, personal, Research, social care, social issues, social work, social work as academic discipline, social work lecturers, social worker, work
Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes – thoughts after the series.

Last week, I wrote about the programme in general and my thoughts after watching the first in the two-part series presented and put together by Gerry Robinson which explores care homes and how they can be improved. In the meantime, the Guardian has published...

Published 16 Dec 2009 7:29 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: can gerry robinson fix dementia care homes, Care of residents, dementia, dementia care homes, elderly, gerry robinson, government, health, Home Care, local authority, local government, long-term care, mental health, old age, older people, personal, social care, social issues, social work, work
Mischievous

So on the fostering front, girl has been with us for two and a half months now – more or less. We went to a local pantomime at the weekend and I’d forgotten how much fun it could be and had to explain away my somewhat hoarse voice when I got back to work...

Published 15 Dec 2009 7:54 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Christmas, communication in social work, fostering, Holidays, local authority, personal, social work
The GJ judgement and DoLs

I’m coming back to Best Interests Assessments and DoLs for a while now so excuse my indulgence but it is something that has and is creeping back into my workload after a few ‘dormant’ months and a part of the reason has been the impact of the ‘GJ’ judgement...

Published 14 Dec 2009 6:50 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, approved mental health professional, Best Interests Assessor, bia, Case law, court of protection case law, deprivation of liberty safeguards, dols, gj judgement, gj v foundation trust, health, MCA, mental health act 1983, mental capacity act, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Mental disorder, mental health, mental health act, mental health act primacy, mental health act v mental capacity act, old age, older people, personal, social work, work
A day in the life.. of Approved Mental Health Professionals

Today, Deborah Orr in the Guardian has an article published today detailing a day out that she has spent with some AMHPs in the Camden Duty Office. It’s an interesting insight into the day to day work in their office and certainly worth a glance to understand...

Published 9 Dec 2009 6:39 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: AMHP, approved mental health professionals, ASW, deborah orr, local authority, mental health, mental health act, personal, social care, social issues, social work, the guardian, work
Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes?

This evening, BBC2 are running the first of a series of two programmes about the state of dementia residential (and presumably nursing) care in the UK. Gerry Robinson, a successful businessman, who, in 2007 brought us ‘Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?...

Published 8 Dec 2009 6:09 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: bbc2, can gerry robinson fix dementia care homes, Care Quality Commission, carer, carers, cqc, dementia, dementia care, elderly, gerry robinson, local authority, long-term care, mental health, old age, older people, personal, social care, social issues, social work, television, work
New Horizons in Mental Health

New Horizons, which is the 10 year plan for Mental Health strategies and plans is finally published today after a long gestation period of consultations. It is the successor to the National Service Framework for Mental Health which covered the periods...

Published 7 Dec 2009 7:07 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: government policy, health policy, mental health, national service framework for mental health, new horizons, new horizons in mental health, nsf, personal, politics, social care, social issues, social work, uk, work
Calm before the Storm

For some reason, that I wish I could capture in a bottle and keep, I woke up in a particularly good mood yesterday. I made a more conscious effort than normal to try and preserve my good humour and positivity throughout the day. It started with supervision...

Published 4 Dec 2009 7:24 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: chanukah, Christmas, elderly, Foster care, fostering, hannukah, local authority, lonely at christmas, old age, older people, personal, sad at christmas, social care, social issues, social work, supervision, work
Report Reporting

So the Task Force report yesterday was pretty much as predicted. Personally, I think a lot of the contents are very welcome with the main concern being the lack of money to implement them – but I’m willing to engage positively with the process of change...

Published 2 Dec 2009 7:29 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: Best Interests Assessor, community care, deirdre sanders, Ed Balls, personal, peter beresford, politics, Ray Jones, social care, social issues, social work, social work task force, social work taskforce, social work taskforce final report, the guardian, uk, work
Social Work Taskforce Reports

The final report of the Social Work Taskforce, set up to look at the profession as a whole, is published today. There are not going to be any surprises as there has been an interim report already and much discussion of its contents. The Guardian reports...

Published 1 Dec 2009 6:49 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: british social work, changing social work, health, local authority, moira gibb, personal, politics, public sector work, social care, social work, social work taskforce, social work taskforce final report, social workers, taskforce, work

December 2009 - Fighting Monsters

Syndication

Recent Posts

Tags

Archives

Looking Back – 2009

Ginkgo fails

Akmal Skaikh

Merry Christmas

Neighbours

Birthday

Of Snowiness

Towards Christmas

Are Social Work Lecturers out of touch?

Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes – thoughts after the series.

Mischievous

The GJ judgement and DoLs

A day in the life.. of Approved Mental Health Professionals

Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care Homes?

New Horizons in Mental Health

Calm before the Storm

Report Reporting

Social Work Taskforce Reports