Book review: The Integration of Mental Health Social Work and the NHS

The Integration of Mental Health Social Work and the NHS

Review by Peter Corser, a social worker in mental health

★★★★

Book by Daisy Bogg

Learning Matters

ISBN 9781844451500

I am the kind of social worker who steers clear of the management world and gets on with my job at whichever desk I am assigned. Considering that I also work in a trust where social care staff manage none of the teams, or were even able to apply for the posts at the last re-organisation, I found this book very enlightening.

Much legislation and policy that underpins the situation for social care staff in the NHS was new to me. The author explains these aspects well. The fact that I will forget it all tomorrow and go back to my day-to-day work is hardly the author’s fault.

It covers all the subjects well and explains the history behind the current situation and the debates within social care.

The most interesting subject tackled here is the identity of social care staff, and the fear that we will be subsumed into the medical model. Thankfully, Daisy Bogg gives a balanced perspective on this.

The age of fundamentalist medical or social models appears, to me at least, to be on the way out.

This book would be indispensable for a social care worker going for management training.