January 2011 - Fighting Monsters

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The Decision Maker

Over the week, I have a few posts planned about different aspects of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 – it’s partly because I’ve been asked questions specifically about it and partly because I, personally, find the area enormously interesting. Working, …...

Published 31 Jan 2011 6:23 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, older people, dementia, work, mental health, MCA, old age, long-term care, health, carer, Home Care, nursing home, decision-making, mental capacity act, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Court of Protection, personal, Best Interests Assessor, mca 2005, assessing capacity, decision maker
Weekend Links 3

Another list of social work-related links that I’ve come across over the last week and have caused me pause for thought. 1. Whose side are you on? Mel at Mel’s Skim Cap asks herself. It’s certainly emphasises some of the … Continue reading →...

Published 30 Jan 2011 6:42 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, Social Work Blogs, personal, link post, Snow Day
Mini post – (AKA random weekend musing + plug)

I haven’t put together my social work links for the weekend yet because I was busying myself putting together this weeks ‘This Week in Mentalists’ on the ever excellent ‘Mental Nurse’. Anyone who doesn’t follow that site – do. It’s … Continue reading...

Published 29 Jan 2011 10:04 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: personal
Cuts – a personal tale

A couple of weeks ago, I had one of those deeply depressing moments that will generally punctuate a career in social care. I had to go and tell a woman, who cares for her mother with enormous patience and dignity, … Continue reading → Read...

Published 28 Jan 2011 6:56 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, dementia, work, carers, mental health, local authority, old age, politics, elderly, london, health, carer, direct payments, personalisation, respite care, family, Disability, caregiver, personal, personal care, personal budget, individual budget, sds, self-directed support, budget, evil tories, cuts
Johann Hari’s manifesto for change in care homes

A week or so ago, Johann Hari, a journalist and columnist for the Independent, wrote an article about his grandmother and the poor to verging on abusive care pathway that she experienced through devastatingly shoddy system that was and is … Continue...

Published 26 Jan 2011 5:53 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, dementia, work, mental health, local authority, old age, politics, elderly, long-term care, health, Home Care, nursing home, Alzheimer's Society, personal, Care Quality Commission, cqc, the independent, paul burstow, cynthia bower, Johann Hari
Justice : A Citizen’s Guide to the 21st Century – a review

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently thinking about the effects of some of the actions I take, particularly placing some of my work within an ethical and philosophical framework. Yesterday, I caught ‘Justice : A Citizen’s Guide to … Continue...

Published 25 Jan 2011 6:27 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work, politics, personal, ethics, 21st century, Aristotle, BBC iPlayer, bbc justice series, bentham, categorical imperative, justice - a citizen's guide, kant, michael sandal, philosophy, political philosophy, tv programme about philosophy, utilitarianism
Colleges and Conferences

Just a very quick post. 1. Excellent post by Malcolm Payne which gives a bit of background to the BASW College v SCIE College rift. Payne adds a great deal of information to the board and everyone should read this … Continue reading → Read...

Published 24 Jan 2011 6:05 PM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, london, local government, gscc., General Social Care Council, British Association of Social Workers, Leeds
The Two Colleges

I’m almost weary of this story before I start to write it to be honest. Unfortunately the story is ripe for pickings, I can’t really help but go with it. A bit of background. (note : this is my understanding … Continue reading → Read More...

Published 24 Jan 2011 6:25 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, politics, gscc., Trade union, Unison, England, personal, General Social Care Council, British Association of Social Workers, basw, scie, college of social work, Professional association
Weekend Links 2

A few social work related posts I came across over the last week that caught my attention Life of a Social Worker writes about the stigma of being a male social worker Going Public writes about the potential end of … Continue reading → Read...

Published 22 Jan 2011 6:34 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, mental health, politics, health, links, Social Work Blogs, personal, social work uk
Respite, Disability and Personal Budgets.

Rivan Vincent has been prominent in the news over the last day or so. She has a six year old daughter, Celyn, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. In the face of additional respite services being denied to her, … Continue reading →...

Published 21 Jan 2011 6:18 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, discrimination, local authority, old age, politics, health, personalisation, respite care, respite, Disability, caregiver, personal, personal budget, Disability Living Allowance, david cameron, celyn vincent, Downing Street, Mumsnet, mumsnet campaign, respite4riven, rivan, rivan vincent
Health and Social Care Bill 2010/1 – some comments and not much hope

I haven’t read the Health and Social Care Bill. I have glanced at it. I tried to look at anything connected with Mental Health and Social Care and there are a few bits and pieces nestled in there towards the … Continue reading → Read More...

Published 20 Jan 2011 6:29 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, socialcare, mental health, local authority, old age, politics, health, nhs, mental health act 1983, General practitioner, personal, General Social Care Council, NHS primary care trust, andrew lansley, destruction of the nhs, evil tories, health and social care bill 2011, HealthWatch, lying liberals
Placements and PQ – GSCC reports on Social Work Education

Community Care carries details from the GSCC (General Social Care Council) annual report on social work education in England and it shows a fall in the amount of social work placements provided by local authorities. This came as absolutely no …...

Published 19 Jan 2011 6:09 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, ASW, mental health, local authority, politics, health, local government, approved mental health professional, personal, General Social Care Council, AMHP
Changes in the NHS – initial thoughts

I’ll write more about the government proposals to reform the NHS after the Health and SOCIAL CARE Bill is published tomorrow. Oh yes, did anyone pick up that slight subtlety there that it is supposedly covering social care as well … Continue reading...

Published 18 Jan 2011 6:23 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, mental health, politics, health, National Health Service, BBC, General practitioner, personal, health and social care, david cameron, andrew lansley, gp, gp commissioning, nhs and social care bill 2011, nhs reforms
Life as a Social Work Student 2 – Beginning the Placement

This is another post from a friend of mine who is in the first year of her studies as a social work student. We’ve followed her through pre-course shadowing and initial impressions. She’s now just started her first placement and … Continue...

Published 17 Jan 2011 6:33 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, politics, health, Education, social work placement, placement, personal, British Association of Social Workers, student social worker, Student, british university
Weekend Links

I used to try to have a weekly round-up post of social work blogs. I gave up a couple of years ago because it took too much time up but I’m going to try again… simply because there is so … Continue reading → Read More...

Published 16 Jan 2011 5:44 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, socialcare, links, Social Work Blogs, personal, blog round up
One Month Before Heartbreak #ombh

A fantastic initiative has been taken which hit the internet with force yesterday. The idea of ‘One Month Before Heartbreak’ which can be followed on their blog and on ‘The Broken of Britain’ blog – is to collate voices and … Continue reading →...

Published 15 Jan 2011 7:07 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social issues, work, discrimination, government, benefits, politics, health, Disability, personal, Twitter, Liberal Democrats, Disability Living Allowance, labour party, Employment and Support Allowance, ombh, one month before heartbreak
BASW vs College of Social Work

It was with more than a little weariness that I read in Community Care that BASW (British Association of Social Workers) may be about to launch their own ‘rival’ College of Social Work having been in dispute and frozen out … Continue reading →...

Published 14 Jan 2011 6:41 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, politics, health, local government, Trade union, Unison, personal, British Association of Social Workers, basw, college of social work
Rising Admission Rates

Yesterday, via Twitter, I was alerted to the publication of the ‘Mental Health Bulletin – Fourth Report from Mental Health Minimum Dataset (MHMD) returns 2010’. I know it’s a bit of a mouthful but briefly, it means statistics about admission, …...

Published 12 Jan 2011 6:06 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, ASW, mental health, MCA, discrimination, old age, politics, elderly, health, mental health act assessment, Mental disorder, England, personal, AMHP, Best Interests Assessor, mental health act 2007, mental health statistics
Women and Mental Health

There is a survey published today in The Guardian which indicates that out of 2000 women questioned in England and Wales, two thirds have had mild to moderate mental health problems. The survey was carried out by Platform 51 (previously … Continue...

Published 11 Jan 2011 6:12 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work
Social Work and Using Technology

Yesterday, I was reading the ‘Social Work Tech Blog’. It’s a blog which, as Roy Walker would say, does what it says in the title (forgive the Catchphrase reference – I expect you have to be ‘of a certain age’ … Continue reading → Read...

Published 10 Jan 2011 7:05 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, podcast, personal, Social media, social work and technology, social work technology, use of technology in professional practice
Eavesdropping

Earlier in the week, I went out for lunch at the local cafe. I often go there for lunch – usually with colleagues but this time I was on my own. It’s a typical ‘greasy spoon’. It gives me a … Continue reading → Read More...

Published 6 Jan 2011 6:17 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, mental health, gscc., personal, General Social Care Council, British Association of Social Workers, basw, social work students, eavesdropping, social work placements
Hospital Discharges or the Lack of Them

I’ve written a few times about some of the difficulties about managing and organising discharges from hospital so forgive me for reiterating previously presented points but I couldn’t resist because there’s an article about it in The Guardian who...

Published 5 Jan 2011 6:35 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, dementia, work, mental health, local authority, old age, politics, elderly, long-term care, nhs, local government, Home Care, National Health Service, Disability, bed blocking, personal, andrew lansley, delayed discharges
Re-registration

I was one of those many social workers who formed the first wave of ‘GSCC’ registrations when the General Social Care Council was established and the Care Standards Act (2000) deigned that social workers need to register and that no-one … Continue...

Published 4 Jan 2011 6:25 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, local authority, local government, personal, General Social Care Council, Durham University, Leeds Metropolitan University, social work courses, social work degree courses
Resolutions and Reflections

My only New Year’s Resolution this year was not to make any New Year’s Resolutions. I will try and make positive adjustments continuously rather than focus for this time on perceived (and real!) failings and shortcomings in my character – … Continue...

Published 3 Jan 2011 8:22 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: personal, Holidays, New Year's resolution, newyear
2010 in review

(note – this post was automatically generated by WordPress.com! Some of the stats surprised me – I wasn’t as prolific as I thought I was!). The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and …...

Published 2 Jan 2011 6:35 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work

January 2011 - Fighting Monsters

Syndication

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Archives

The Decision Maker

Weekend Links 3

Mini post – (AKA random weekend musing + plug)

Cuts – a personal tale

Johann Hari’s manifesto for change in care homes

Justice : A Citizen’s Guide to the 21st Century – a review

Colleges and Conferences

The Two Colleges

Weekend Links 2

Respite, Disability and Personal Budgets.

Health and Social Care Bill 2010/1 – some comments and not much hope

Placements and PQ – GSCC reports on Social Work Education

Changes in the NHS – initial thoughts

Life as a Social Work Student 2 – Beginning the Placement

Weekend Links

One Month Before Heartbreak #ombh

BASW vs College of Social Work

Rising Admission Rates

Women and Mental Health

Social Work and Using Technology

Eavesdropping

Hospital Discharges or the Lack of Them

Re-registration

Resolutions and Reflections

2010 in review