Social care needs improved international links

European countries must collaborate more to plan for the aftermath of civil disasters such as terrorist attacks, the Association of Directors of  Social Services has warned.
 
Speaking at the 14th European social services conference in Vienna, ADSS international spokesperson Philip Cotterill said social care services needed to “move beyond boundaries”.
 
He told delegates from across Europe: “For many years the role of social care was to defend the vulnerable. That’s been the way we have done our business. But recent events have made us think we must do somethng different.”

Disasters such as the London bombings in July 2005 or the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, which affected people from across the world, showed that social care professionals need to be better linked, according to Cotterill.
 
“The effect of a bombing in London could be that nationals from your countries are caught up in it,” he said.