First meeting of social care forum

Social care leaders have met Department of Health heads in the
first meeting of a forum designed to give the sector a voice in
government, writes Mithran Samuel.

Representatives from the Association of Social Services
Directors, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, the General
Social Care Council and the Local Government Association attended
the first meeting of the social care forum.

Sector leaders are hoping that the forum, the brainchild of DH
permanent secretary Nigel Crisp, will give them greater input into
government thinking and raise social care’s profile within
the department.

Items discussed included the forthcoming joint health and social
care white paper and plans to restructure primary care trusts, and
the next meeting is in October.

West Sussex Council director of social services John Dixon, who
attended on behalf of the ADSS, said: “It’s one of our
guarantees about how we can have our say on how the white paper is
developing.”