Fighting Monsters

Browse by Tags

• 7 july
• 7/7/05
• A
• academia
• academic
• active care
• Advanced Level
• Age Discrimination
• Alan Smithers
• alzheimers
• animals
• appraisal
• approved mental health professional
• approved social work
• approved social worker
• assessment
• ASW
• bed blocking
• beijing 2008
• benefits
• blog
• blog writing
• blogging
• bonkersfest
• bored
• boredom
• british newspapers
• care home
• care management
• caregivers
• carer
• carers
• csci
• daily mail
• dementia
• Department for Work and Pensions
• direct payment
• direct payments
• disaster relief
• discharge
• discrimination
• dog
• dwp
• Education
• elderly
• Elderly care
• England
• equality bill
• event
• fair access to care
• family
• files
• GCSE
• gscc.
• Guardianship
• health
• health care
• Home Care
• hospital
• House of Commons
• housing
• housing stock
• how to
• how to complain
• howto
• if
• institute for public policy research
• James Plaskitt
• job losses
• kennels
• kipling
• kitten
• language
• local authority
• local government
• london
• long-term care
• member of parliament
• mental health act 1983
• mental health
• mental health act
• mp
• news
• old age
• older people
• personalisation
• politics
• residential care
• sectioning
• social care
• social issues
• social justice
• social policy
• social services
• social work
• social worker
• socialcare
• stress
• United Kingdom
• work

• Social Work - a Daily Mail interpretation

  I know I shouldn’t do it. I know it will just make me unnecessarily angry and raise my blood pressure. I know exactly what I’ll find but sometimes, just occasionally, my curiosity gets the better of me and I dip into the Daily Mail’s... Posted Sep 04 2008, 06:38 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, work, local authority, politics, uk, media, United Kingdom, local government, mp, daily mail, County council, Children Act 1989, adoption, pregnancy, scaremongering, children act

• Guardianship - or a journey into Section 7 of the Mental Health Act

  I was called into one of the CMHT (Community Mental Health Team) meetings last week. It was a bit of a surprise. We don’t tend to go into other peoples’ meetings. It is almost like entering an alternate universe. People have the same roles... Posted Sep 01 2008, 06:25 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, older people, work, ASW, mental health, MCA, old age, elderly, uk, health, mental health act, approved social worker, mental health act 1983, mental capacity act, Mental disorder, Mental Capacity Act 2005, approved mental health professional, Guardianship

• Caseloads

  Supervision for me is generally a fairly relaxed affair. I use the time to run through my current caseload - partly just to re-evaluate where I am and where I’m going and partly just to make sure my manager actually knows what I’m doing. We... Posted Aug 30 2008, 07:24 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, mental health, reorganisation, local authority, uk, stress, local government, files, work-related stress, caseload management, clinical supervision, supervision

• How to Complain About Me (or to the Local Authority generally)

  A brief guide to how to complain from someone who has been on the other side of complaints. Not many times, I hasten to add, and none that have actually gone very far - but I know what ticks the boxes as far as official complaints procedures are concerned... Posted Aug 28 2008, 06:14 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, local authority, uk, health, social services, kitten, mp, council, how to, Complaint, how to complain, complaints procedure

• Delayed Discharges

  Since moving from a generic Community Care team into a specialist Mental Health team a few years ago, I haven’t had as much contact with the vagaries of the delayed discharge system as I did back then. Yesterday was a rude (in every sense of the... Posted Aug 27 2008, 06:25 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, mental health, old age, elderly, long-term care, uk, health care, health, social services, nurse, hospital, robert burns, delayed discharge, section 5, section 2, community care (delayed discharge) act 2003, bed blocking, to a mouse, discharge

• The leaving (and rejoining of) Unison

  Unison is one of the largest trade unions in the UK. I generally feel that being a member of a trade union is important and seeing as most of the social workers in my local authority are in Unison, it seemed like an obvious choice. I’m a bit of... Posted Aug 26 2008, 07:14 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: work, local authority, uk, health, nhs, local government, Trade union, Unison, leaving unison, union

• Olympics

  Goodbye Beijing .. oddsock at Flickr Hello London! Robert Brook at Flickr See you in 2012.. Beach Volleyball on Horse Guards Parade.. I can’t wait! greenacre8 at flickr Read More... Posted Aug 24 2008, 10:10 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: work, olympics, london, uk, beijing 2008, tibet, A, london 2012, chinA, sports

• Leo Abse

  We all have views that jump to mind when we speak of politicians - they are some of the least trusted of professions. It’s easy to be cynical when power is on the table, so to speak. So taking the lead from Aethelread’s touching tribute, I... Posted Aug 21 2008, 06:55 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, politics, uk, United Kingdom, member of parliament, mp, Tam Dalyell, obituary, politician, rudyard kipling, leo abse, kipling, House of Commons, if

• Care Management for Pets

  There is much research about the positive impact that domestic animals can have to general mental health and well-being. Something about the non-judgemental nature of interactions, I presume - although I’m sure that more extensive scientifc research... Posted Aug 20 2008, 06:35 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, local authority, london, uk, social services, animals, pet, care management, kennels, national assistance act, cinnamon trust, dog, pet care

• Oxford, Education and Inclusion

  Oxford University and social inclusion aren’t necessarily two phrases that would naturally find themselves in the same sentence - but as was reported in The Guardian at the weekend, Oxford is going to take into account factors such as the applicants... Posted Aug 18 2008, 06:23 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, politics, uk, Education, social worker, social inclusion, university entrance, academic, Advanced Level, academia, Oxford University, GCSE, privilege, social exclusion, Buckingham University, Alan Smithers, university, oxford

• Active Care? Another tale of Southern Cross

  I write a few months ago about the difficulties faced by Southern Cross Healthcare but a quick recap a) They are the largest private operator of residential and nursing care in the UK b) Big financial problems c) Some disparate concerns about quality... Posted Aug 16 2008, 06:42 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: residential care, social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, socialcare, nursing care, learning disability, local authority, old age, elderly, long-term care, uk, health, care home, csci, southern cross healthcare, physical disabilities, active care, the alton centre, northamptonshire, business, northants evening telegraph

• The Way of Wirral

  Wirral Council are planning to replace qualified social workers with unqualified equivalents. This is apparently in the face of the new ‘personalisation’ agenda where there will be a stronger focus on self-assessment and providing guidance... Posted Aug 13 2008, 06:32 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, uk, care management, personalisation, local government, social worker, England, job losses, liverpool, adult social care, self-assessment, wirral, redundancy, social workers

• How I write

  While I was flicking through some websites, I thought I’d explain a bit about what I actually do when I write and post to this blog. I wouldn’t say I’ve set the world ablaze but for myself, I’ve found the process to be an... Posted Aug 07 2008, 05:35 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, uk, technology, news, live writer, writing, howto, british newspapers, blog writing, zemanta, blogging, positives about writing, windows live writer, blog, newspapers

• Where the pin drops..

  I wrote a couple of months back about an ongoing reconfiguration of services in the area in which I’m working that basically involves turning four separate teams based on geography into two based in much larger ‘patches’. I have some... Posted Aug 06 2008, 06:50 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, local authority, uk, local government, organisation, England, reconfiguration

• Appraisal

  I had my annual appraisal last week. I wavered about whether to write about it or not. Not for any reasons of confidentiality - because honestly, I would happily have had anyone who stumbles across this site sit in with me and they wouldn’t have... Posted Aug 02 2008, 07:00 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, ASW, local authority, uk, United Kingdom, local government, boredom, appraisal, bored

• Defending Political Correctness

  There seems many an implied or direct criticism of being ‘overly political correct’ - people find some random and strange judgement and laughingly refer to ‘political correctness gone mad’ amid the sniggers a - many of them facts... Posted Jul 21 2008, 05:54 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, work, mental health, politics, uk, political correctness, language, daily mail, semantics, politically correct

• Stigma in Parliament

  More than a quarter of parliamentary staff surveyed, including MPs, Lords and support staff, suffer from mental illness brought about by stress according to an article published in The Independent today. A MIND press release further breaks down the figures... Posted Jul 16 2008, 05:18 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, work, mental health, discrimination, politics, uk, health, mental health act, westminster, member of parliament, mp, stigma

• Normality?

  The question of ‘normality’ and what it is  has cropped up again in relation to this weekend’s Bonkerfest. I read about it in The Times at the weekend in an article which explains the ‘Mad Pride’ movement which has made... Posted Jul 15 2008, 05:57 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, mental health, london, uk, health, spikol, event, mad pride, bonkersfest, maslow

• Approval

  Yesterday, I received confirmation of the ‘approval’ part of my new role as an ‘approved social worker’ (ASW). After completing the designated additional specialist mental health training a couple of months back and having spent... Posted Jul 10 2008, 04:57 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, ASW, mental health, local authority, uk, health, approved social worker, mental health act 1983

• Memories and Remembrances

  Three years ago today I went to work by bus. I could have walked, but I didn’t. When I arrived, I started the morning with a cup of coffee - the regular pattern back then. I arrived before most people and liked the moments of quiet before I got... Posted Jul 07 2008, 05:26 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, london, uk, United Kingdom, Salvation Army, tube bombings, news, disaster relief, 7/7/05, counselling, 7 july

• Direct Payments - Chapter Two

  So, a week from the start of my journey into a Direct Payments referral and I have sent the appropriate forms, documents and paperwork to the appropriate people.  The figures are being checked and the amount that has been requested matched up against ... Posted Jul 03 2008, 05:34 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, carers, socialcare, old age, elderly, uk, fair access to care, carer, direct payments, social services, family, opening direct payments bank accounts, personal assistants, gscc., carer direct payments

• Trouble at Southern Cross

  Both The Times and The Guardian reported that Southern Cross Healthcare Group have been launched into some kind of financial crisis following the failure to repay a loan of some £46 million. Times are getting harder and a lot of firms are failing - but... Posted Jul 02 2008, 02:43 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: residential care, social care, social work, social issues, older people, work, old age, elderly, long-term care, uk, housing, health, care home, csci, Southern Cross, Southern Cross Healthcare Group, nursing home

• Legislating for Equality

  Details regarding the new Equality Bill were announced last Thursday. The Bill seems to be an attempt to consolidate existing legislation related to discrimination - a seemingly uncontenious issue - however combined with this are some new proposals which... Posted Jun 28 2008, 05:59 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, older people, work, discrimination, old age, uk, health care, health, Age Discrimination, Elderly care, equality bill, Home Care

• Direct Payments - Chapter One

  Direct Payments is the system of, basically, rather than giving a direct service, providing money to the user of the service to ‘buy’ the care that they need directly. ‘Direct Payments were introduced in the UK - for adults with a disability... Posted Jun 26 2008, 05:10 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social care, social work, older people, work, carers, old age, uk, caregivers, carer, alzheimers, direct payments, care services, carers direct payments, carers assessment, choice

• The Death of the Giro

  Image via Wikipedia I was minding my own business, listening to Moneybox on the Radio at the weekend - when I heard that Benefits Cheques are to be phased out. The Giro is on its last legs. I don’t want to be pessimistic at all, in the face of the... Posted Jun 24 2008, 04:51 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social issues, older people, work, benefits, elderly, uk, direct payment, United Kingdom, Pension, James Plaskitt, pensioners, dwp, National Pensioners Convention, Royal Mail, Department for Work and Pensions

• *The Road Not Taken

  I was asked over the weekend by someone who is just about to finish her Social Work degree and  if I would recommend she goes  for statutory or voluntary Social  Work when she qualifies. I had no hesitation in recommending voluntary sector... Posted Jun 23 2008, 05:49 AM by Fighting Monsters Filed under: social work, work, local authority, uk, social justice, social services, public sector, statutory social work, career choice for social workers, social work student