Fighting Monsters

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• Looking for places

  In one of those strange group-think type situations, just after writing about the shortage of residential and nursing places in my own borough, the Telegraph print an article today with a bit more substance to follow through on the same topic. According... Posted Dec 05 2008, 05:44 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: residential care, social care, social work, older people, dementia, work, mental health, old age, elderly, long-term care, uk, health, alzheimers, conservative party, Neil Hunt

• Patching up

  While not being extremely well experienced in making applications for people to be detained in psychiatric units, I’m certainly building up a fair amount of experience quickly. This week was the shortest assessment that I have been involved with... Posted Dec 04 2008, 06:38 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, dementia, work, mental health, local authority, old age, elderly, long-term care, housing, health, mental health act, sectioning, family, nursing home, AMHP, section 2 mha

• The Witness

  I was on a routine visit yesterday. Mr R suffers from depression. He’s getting a lot better now and has had a significant amount of support from our psychologists. When I visit though, it’s as much to support his wife as him. She has gone... Posted Dec 03 2008, 06:50 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, work, carers, local authority, elderly, health, depression, witness, statement

• Respect and Protect

  Today is World AIDS Day. The Theme this year, the 20th Anniversary of the occasion, is Respect and Protect. I thought it would be useful then, to break down the topic of AIDS awareness and attitudes into these two areas. Sully Pixel at Flickr Respect... Posted Dec 01 2008, 07:07 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, social issues, work, health, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, AIDS, World AIDS Day, HIV, world aids day 2008, UNAIDS, HIV positive people, HIV / AIDS

• Mind the Mouth

  True story. I was out shopping yesterday trying to keep up with the million things I have on my to-do list. I’m on the phone to one of my friends - another social worker, actually someone I trained with. I was talking about something that had happened... Posted Nov 30 2008, 02:24 PM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, health, social worker, personal, big mouth, blurting

• Count Me In

  Yesterday the results of the 2008 Count Me In Survey were published. Count Me In is a survey conducted of in-patients of Psychiatric Hospitals nationally in the UK. The purpose of the surveys which have been carried out annually since 2005, is to highlight... Posted Nov 28 2008, 07:03 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, work, mental health, discrimination, health, United Kingdom, Minority group, Healthcare Commission, count me in, Black British, British African-Caribbean community

• Tricks of Fate

  I have worked with Mr K for a long time. In fact, in the rush of changing teams and switching caseloads, he is the only person I successfully managed to persuade my superiors to hold on to against the rush - change doesn’t really work well with... Posted Nov 07 2008, 07:21 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, older people, work, health, hospital, anxiety, Major depressive disorder, Cancer

• Vitamins, Dementia and Hope

  A new trial is being carried out in the New Year to look at the effects of dosages of B3 vitamin to people who have been newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and this is reported in the Guardian. It worked on the mice so there is going to be an open... Posted Nov 06 2008, 06:14 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: older people, dementia, work, medication, mental health, old age, elderly, health, alzheimers, Alzheimer, Conditions and Diseases, Neurological Disorders, vitamins and dementia, ucl, Clinical trial, cornelius katona, Alzheimer Disease, University College London, dementia research, cure for dementia, b3 vitamins

• Death of the ASW

  I left work yesterday as an Approved Social Worker (ASW) and by the time I go to work on Monday, I will be an Approved Mental Health Professional (AHMP). I signed my last papers and completed the last assessment at precisely 5.18pm (yes, I checked!) on... Posted Nov 01 2008, 04:40 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, ASW, mental health, local authority, uk, health, nhs, mental health act, gscc., approved social worker, approved mental health professional, General Social Care Council

• Moving Day

  Today is moving day. Although I have barely started the handover of case work, the actual physical move from one office to another is starting today. As I was in the somewhat more fortunate position than others of moving into an empty desk and not having... Posted Oct 30 2008, 04:53 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, mental health, local authority, health, mental health act 1983, moving, office

• Assessment for Guardianship

  I mentioned a Guardianship application I had in the works a few weeks ago. Nothing happens quickly around here at the moment with changes in the teams being imminent and what with trying to co-ordinate attendees, I finally managed the Guardianship application... Posted Oct 28 2008, 06:23 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, work, ASW, mental health, elderly, long-term care, assessment, health, mental health act, mental health act 1983, Mental disorder, Guardianship, social work assessment

• Elderspeak

  I admit, I had no idea what ‘Elderspeak’ term meant until I read this article in the Telegraph. Apparently it is defined by researchers as overly caring, controlling and infantilising communication - bears many similar traits to “baby... Posted Oct 27 2008, 05:49 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social issues, older people, work, socialcare, discrimination, ageism, old age, elderly, health care, health, Languages, Linguistics, Age Discrimination, Human, eldertalk, respect, babytalk, dignity, New York Times

• Five a day

  We are advised to eat five portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day to keep healthy. Good sound advice. mjorge at Flickr The Times reports today on a different kind of five-a-day target that relates more specifically to mental health. The advised steps... Posted Oct 25 2008, 07:09 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: work, mental health, health, United Kingdom, Mental disorder, howto, advice, positive mental health, Britain, fruit, debt and mental health, good mental health, recession

• Finding places

  I was on the ward yesterday, chatting to the wife of one of the patients with whom I am currently working. It’s a difficult point for her. Her husband, Mr P, has a fairly advanced dementia. He was admitted to hospital after displaying increasingly... Posted Oct 23 2008, 06:00 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, nursing, local authority, old age, elderly, long-term care, health, hospital, psychiatric hospital, family, nursing home, house, Marriage, residential placement

• Changes

  The Guardian are publishing a supplement on both recent and proposed changes within the social care sector to coincide with the opening of the National Children’s and Adult Services Conference in Liverpool. Not having seen a printed copy of the... Posted Oct 22 2008, 05:56 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, carers, local authority, london, long-term care, uk, health, social services, United Kingdom, personalisation, local government, social worker, national children's and adult services conference, individualised budgets, John Evans, carer support, Independent living, informal care, newspaper, the guardian

• Training

  It’s a fairly busy month in the Mental Health teams with the impeding (3rd November) changes in the Mental Health legislation in England and Wales. Having attended my ASW (Approved Social Worker) to AMHP (Approved Mental Health Professional) conversion... Posted Oct 21 2008, 06:39 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, work, training, mental health, health, approved social worker, mental health act 1983, England, approved mental health professional, mental health act 2007 amendments, care services improvement partnership, uk mental health, csip, England and Wales, mental health legislation

• Sick Days

  I have been off work sick this year more than any other year in my working life. I am currently up to six days this year. Four of those days were in a block a couple of weeks back. Usually sickness makes me feel guilty. I think of the work piling up.... Posted Oct 20 2008, 06:23 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: work, mental health, health, depression, stress, stigma, Employment, stigma at work, sick day, Shaw Trust, time off work sick, mental illness, Illness

• Healthcare for Asylum Seekers

  I read in The Guardian yesterday that the government is to abolish her plans to tighten regulations that allow asylum seekers to seek free primary care. To be honest, I was horrified when I heard it had been proposed at all. What kind of society are we... Posted Oct 13 2008, 06:55 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, social issues, work, immigration, uk, asylum seeker, health care, health, nhs, National Health Service, England, General practitioner, doctor, British Medical Association, free nhs health care, failed asylum seeker, Refugee, BMA

• On Inspection

  The Commission for Social Care Inspection have a system of rating residential and nursing homes. I have written about it before. I possibly didn’t state obliquely how cynical I have become of this system even though the cynicism was always there... Posted Oct 11 2008, 05:06 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, local authority, elderly, long-term care, uk, health, residential home, csci, nursing home, Commission for Social Care Inspection, England, cmht, inspections by csci, registered residential home, Care of residents, cpn, Inspection

• World Mental Health Day

  Today is World Mental Health Day with a focus on promoting positive mental health. Wellbeing in the East of England (perhaps not the catchiest of monikers.. ) have produced a series of short films that have been put out on television in.. yes, you guessed... Posted Oct 10 2008, 06:12 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social issues, work, mental health, uk, health, Mental Health Foundation, Battersea Park, World Mental Health Day, Institute of Psychiatry, Mind, positive mental health

• Revisiting

  I have been in my current team for a couple of years. I worked in the same local authority before that though for about three years. The geographical boundaries of the areas that I work in don’t strictly overlap so I haven’t had it happen... Posted Oct 08 2008, 06:15 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, ASW, mental health, old age, elderly, health, hospital, psychiatric hospital, vascular dementia, approved social worker, mental health act 1983, Mental disorder, sectioned

• Dangerous Hamsters

  Not related to work I know, but I read this story in the Guardian today which warns about dangers that exotic pets pose to children’s health. About 11% of salmonella illnesses in children are thought to stem from contact with lizards, turtles and... Posted Oct 07 2008, 06:39 PM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: work, health, pet, dangerous animals, children, health dangers to children, hamsters, Exotic pet

• A duty to die

  Sarah Wootton wrote a piece in the Guardian, a few days ago, considering Baroness Warnock’s comments in the Church of Scotland’s magazine, Life and Work, in which she stated that dementia suffers may have ‘a duty to die’. Uproar... Posted Oct 01 2008, 05:45 PM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, old age, elderly, health, alzheimers, National Health Service, OAP, power of attorney, Lady Warnock, mary warnock, Euthanasia, right to die, sarah wootton, Baroness Warnock

• Rated Good

  The Commission for Social Care Inspection inspect and rate every registered care home in England - as well as every agency that provides care for others. The website provides access to inspection reports on every facility in England - both announced inspections... Posted Sep 29 2008, 06:10 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: residential care, social care, social work, work, learning disability, long-term care, health, csci, nursing home, Commission for Social Care Inspection, England, victoria house darlington, advocacy in darlington, winnie care, victoria house, Darlington<