July 2011 - Fighting Monsters

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Fear and Loathing in the Public Sector – Or Why I despise Oliver Letwin

Yesterday I read this article about Oliver Letwin, who, according to the Guardian article ..warned that it was only through “some real discipline and some fear” of job losses that excellence would be achieved in the public sector. Letwin added...

Published 31 Jul 2011 7:13 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, local authority, politics, health, conservative party, public sector, National Health Service, member of parliament, personal, david cameron, conservative party policy, KPMG, Oliver Letwin, Public policy, the nasty party
Weekly Social Work Links 26

After my somewhat truncated break, I’m back (not that I ever went away but that’s another story for another day!). Nectarine at Going Mental has to deal with too many consent forms. It’s an interesting take on the invasive nature of forms. The Modern...

Published 30 Jul 2011 6:38 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, links, Social Work Blogs, National Association of Social Workers, social work blog links, week in social work
Castlebeck and CQC – Brief Thoughts

I don’t have time for a long post today, just a few brief thoughts that came to me as I considered the unsurprisingly critical report on Castlebeck by the CQC. Of course it’s easy to be wise after the event but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth when...

Published 29 Jul 2011 7:04 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, long-term care, health, adult care, Home Care, nursing home, BBC, Disability, personal, Ofsted, Care Quality Commission, cqc, panorama, paul burstow, castlebeck
Sadness, Sympathy and Self

Sometimes, some days feel filled with sadness. I had one of those days this week. I don’t like to use the word ‘hardened’ but to put it this way, in over 10 years of frontline social work practice in some of the most deprived areas of the country and...

Published 28 Jul 2011 6:38 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, mental health, politics, uk, health, Mental disorder, personal, AMHP, philosophy, injustice, Sadness
Why Deaf Awareness?

This is a guest post by Suzie Jones – @suziejones2010 . Many thanks to her – cb Why deaf awareness? When you think about the people you meet and talk to in your everyday life, I wonder if it crosses your mind that one in every six has a hearing loss?...

Published 25 Jul 2011 6:28 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, discrimination, health, Disability, deaf, guest post, Awareness, British Sign Language, Communication, deaf awareness, hard of hearing, Hearing impairment, learning about deafness, lipreading, social work and deafness, suzie jones
Break

In the absence of a summer holiday, I am taking a break from the blog for about a week of so because I have a few more projects I’m working on that I need to devote a bit of concentrated time on! There will be some guest posts and some posts I’ve been...

Published 21 Jul 2011 7:30 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work
Selling the NHS – The Beginning

Yesterday, while most of the media, fixated self-referentially on the Murdoch hearings and Cameron was flying back into the country, Lansley began to dismantle the National Health Service. As The Guardian reports In the first wave, beginning in April...

Published 20 Jul 2011 6:53 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, socialcare, mental health, politics, health care, health, nhs, National Health Service, personal, Guardian, Secretary of State for Health, david cameron, andrew lansley, lansley, Primary care, private sector healthcare, privatisation, selling the nhs
Light Touch Inspections, Winterbourne View and the CQC

There was a report on the Community Care website on Friday that the CQC were ‘calling time’ on their so-called light touch inspection ‘regime’ thereby rolling out potentially to annual inspections for adult services and care homes. As the article emphasises...

Published 19 Jul 2011 7:39 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, long-term care, nursing home, BBC, Disability, personal, Inspection, Care Quality Commission, cqc, panorama, care in the community, paul burstow, cynthia bower, winterbourne view, bower, light touch inspection, winterview
Weekly Social Work Links 25

A day late this week (although my original intention which might not have been very clearly stated) was always that it would be a ‘weekend’ project rather than a specifically Saturday project! This was a fairly emotionally trying week for me at work with...

Published 17 Jul 2011 7:41 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, health, links, Social Work Blogs, social work links, Charlie Sheen
A Lament for Lost Genericism in Social Work

It was reported over the week that the Government is to appoint a Chief Social Worker. This is apparently a response to recommendations in the Munro Report and pressure from BASW (British Association of Social Workers). I have previously mentioned by...

Published 15 Jul 2011 7:04 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, mental health, uk, health, Social Sciences, Department of Health, personal, General Social Care Council, Child protection, British Association of Social Workers, british social work, munro report, chief social worker, department of education, generic social work, social work development
Age Discrimination and Language – or why I don’t like ‘The Elderly’.

What is age besides a classification? When do we become old? What language is used in relation to people who reach certain points in their life cycle. Does a child become an adult at 18? Legally perhaps but in a sense these are rough brush strokes which...

Published 13 Jul 2011 7:03 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, old age, Age Discrimination, Disability, personal, Independent living, Disabled, ageing, Adult
Goodbye Southern Cross, Hello Open Public Services

So Southern Cross – the largest private care home provider in the UK will be closed. What of the 31,000 residents who live in their properties? Well, the government has given us its assurance that they will be ok so that’s alright then. Or not. m kasahara...

Published 12 Jul 2011 7:05 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, local authority, old age, government, politics, elderly, long-term care, uk, health, Southern Cross, Southern Cross Healthcare Group, nursing home, care, Department of Health, personal, Care Quality Commission, david cameron, White paper, big society, Public services, uk government, GMB (trade union), open public services white paper, opswp
Making Adult Social Care Better 1

I think I’m fairly good at griping and raising ‘problems’. For the next week, I want to try and take a positive approach and look at solutions as well as problems. - A few conversations I’ve had over the past week have focused on what is wrong with adult...

Published 11 Jul 2011 7:11 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, work, mental health, discrimination, local authority, old age, politics, health, personalisation, advocacy, Home Care, Unison, Social Sciences, Disability, personal, British Association of Social Workers, social work in the uk, british social work, individual budgets, personal budgets, Internet forum
Topical Musical Sunday – Never Buy the Sun

Sometimes music can say more than words From Billy Bragg. And if you haven’t followed the reference about Scousers not buying the Sun, you can read about it here. The Sun is the ‘sister’ paper of the News of the World which closed today...

Published 10 Jul 2011 8:14 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: politics, Music, Sun, News International, rebekah brooks, Rupert Murdoch, Billy Bragg, billy bragg protest song, never buy the sun, World News
Weekly Social Work Links 24

The spectre of sickness has cast a shadow over my household this week. Fortunately I have more or less escaped the worst ravages but it’s been an interesting week work-wise and I hope to come back to some of the themes over the next week. As for the rest...

Published 9 Jul 2011 8:54 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, links, Social Work Blogs, facebook, social work links, facebook for social workers
Old Media, New Media and the Social Echo Chambers

I’m off on a bit of a tangent today and I apologise to my social work readers for that, but sometimes a story happens that causes me to think more widely about the implications on a societal scale. So in the wake of the death of the News of the World...

Published 8 Jul 2011 7:24 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, Twitter, Social media, Online Communities, Political Scrapbook, murdoch, News International, news of the world, old media, rebekah brooks, rebekah wade, Rupert Murdoch, Social Networking
Elaine McDonald, Kensington and Chelsea and Dignity

Yesterday, the High Court ruled in the case of R (on the application of McDonald) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This was a further appeal by McDonald against a previous decision at a lower court. Elaine McDonald is 68 year old woman who worked...

Published 7 Jul 2011 6:32 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, socialcare, discrimination, ageism, old age, politics, elderly, health, local government, Age Discrimination, Home Care, nursing home, personal, philosophy, agism, dignity in care, elaine macdonald, elaine mcdonald, kensington, mcdonald v kensington and chelsea, r v royal borough of kensington and chelsea, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Initial thoughts on the Dilnot Report on Funding of Care and Support

Scheduling and exhaustion meant I didn’t have time to look at the Dilnot proposals in detail yesterday so this morning I have fired up my browser and am going to make a few initial comments on the baseline main recommendations and hopefully over the next...

Published 5 Jul 2011 7:08 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social care, social work, older people, dementia, work, carers, socialcare, mental health, local authority, old age, politics, elderly, long-term care, health, carer, nursing home, Disability, personal, british politics, Means test, Andrew Dilnot, dilnot report, Funding, funding of care, care and funding, dillnot report, dilnot report on funding of care and support, dilnott report
Wikio Top 20 UK Health Blogs July 2011

Quick post with the top Health-related blogs for July 2011 1 PsyBlog – Psychology Blog 2 A boy with Asperger’s 3 Sarah Boseley’s global health blog 4 Dr Grumble 5 Where Are My Knees? 6 Militant Medical Nurse 7 Confessions of a Serial...

Published 4 Jul 2011 6:35 PM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: work, Wikio
Dilnot Discussion and Links

Although there are some good points which highlight the main issues which will be published in the long-awaited Dilnot report here and here. We have a good idea what might be discussed. Rich at arbitrary constant has opened up a discussion post for issues...

Published 4 Jul 2011 6:40 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, politics, links, Google, Andrew Dilnot, google plus
Weekly Social Work Links 23

I’m coming in a day ‘late’ with this week’s round-up post due to some sickness in the household. The benefits are that I can now pick up some of the great posts that were published yesterday. Might well stick to Sunday in the future! As always, please...

Published 3 Jul 2011 7:49 AM by Fighting Monsters

Filed under: social work, work, links, Social Work Blogs, links post

July 2011 - Fighting Monsters

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Fear and Loathing in the Public Sector – Or Why I despise Oliver Letwin

Weekly Social Work Links 26

Castlebeck and CQC – Brief Thoughts

Sadness, Sympathy and Self

Why Deaf Awareness?

Break

Selling the NHS – The Beginning

Light Touch Inspections, Winterbourne View and the CQC

Weekly Social Work Links 25

A Lament for Lost Genericism in Social Work

Age Discrimination and Language – or why I don’t like ‘The Elderly’.

Goodbye Southern Cross, Hello Open Public Services

Making Adult Social Care Better 1

Topical Musical Sunday – Never Buy the Sun

Weekly Social Work Links 24

Old Media, New Media and the Social Echo Chambers

Elaine McDonald, Kensington and Chelsea and Dignity

Initial thoughts on the Dilnot Report on Funding of Care and Support

Wikio Top 20 UK Health Blogs July 2011

Dilnot Discussion and Links

Weekly Social Work Links 23