Showing posts tagged with: social care

NHS and social care budgets 'should merge'

Ministers have been told they must go further with their overhaul of social care in England by merging its budget with the NHS.

The government is currently pressing ahead with plans to introduce a cap of £72,000 on elderly care bills.

But the King's Fund said that on its own the policy was not enough to solve the growing problems.

Instead, it called for a joint budget to encourage the two systems to work together more closely.

The report is being published on the day the government's care bill gets its second reading in the House of Lords.

The legislation will pave the way for the introduction of a cap in 2016.

Ministers have also said pilots will start in September to foster greater integration between the NHS and social care on issues such as assessments and hospital discharge.

To read the full article click here.

Social Worker Struck Off

Social Worker Struck Off

Concerns about the social worker's practice came to light after a foster carer complained about the lack of support he was receiving.

A social worker who falsified records of visits to a vulnerable child and failed to act on a disclosure of abuse by a young girl with learning disabilities has been struck off.

Emily Coghlan’s failings came to light after a foster carer complained to Swindon council in May 2011 about the lack of social work contact and support he had received in relation to Child TS.

An assistant team manager reviewed Child TS’s file and found the child’s allocated social worker, Coghlan, had filled out notes in relation to a number of visits. But Child TS’s foster carer said these visits had never taken place.

An internal investigation found Coghlan had provided elaborate details of these alleged visits, including actions taken by Child TS’s foster carer and school, none of which were true, a panel of the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC) conduct and competence committee heard.

Coghlan was suspended by the council following the complaint and later dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct.

Three witnesses, including Coghlan’s assistant team manager and team manager, gave evidence at the HCPC’s hearing. Coghlan did not attend and was not represented.

The assistant team manager told the HCPC that, when investigating Coghlan’s behaviour in the case of Child TS, she also discovered that Coghlan had failed to act on a child protection referral made to her concerning a young child with learning disabilities, Child ES.

Child ES had reported issues of past abuse that had occurred when she was in her father’s care, the HCPC’s panel heard.

Coghlan claimed in writing that this disclosure was not as important as suggested and that she would have dealt with it in due time; however, she was then suspended and said she was not given the opportunity to handover any outstanding work.

But the HCPC heard evidence that Coghlan had been asked whether she had any work to handover, and she had failed to mention this case. The panel therefore found this allegation proved.

In both of these cases, Coghlan put vulnerable children at significant risk of harm, the panel found.

She was not newly qualified, but an experienced and fully trained social worker. The panel concluded that it “could not be satisfied in the light of the registrant’s lack of insight into the impact of her failures on vulnerable children that there would not be a continuing potential risk to service users”.

This is the second time this month that a social worker has been struck off after falsifying records about visits to a child.

Another example of our vulnerable people falling foul of unacceptable practices, we like to think that abuse cases are few and far between but this is often not the case. Let’s keep our eyes open people and our documentation accurate.

Reg Storey

Social Care Workers given £8m training boost

Social care workers given £8m training boost

The Welsh government said it wanted to boost the esteem in which social work and care was held in the public eye.

Training for social care workers in Wales has been given a boost with news of an £8m grant.

The money announced by the Welsh government is part of a package worth £11.6m for this financial year.

The social care workforce development programme aims to increase the take-up of training across the whole social care sector.

Great news that the Welsh government have recognised the importance of investing in training - fingers crossed the English government will soon follow suit.  We at Routes Healthcare believe training is so important and continue to invest heavily in our team -Reg Storey Routes Healthcare Training Dept.

End unfair split between NHS and council care, review says

To read the full article please click here.

'Cuts forcing English councils to limit social care'

Almost 90% of councils in England no longer offer social care to people whose needs are ranked low to moderate, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) has said.

The group is warning cuts are making the care system "unsustainable".

The government says councils have been given an extra £1.1bn to help protect social care this year.

But charities say hundreds of thousands of people are struggling without help.

When someone applies for social care, their needs are determined as either critical, substantial, moderate or low.

In recent years the number of councils able to help those at the lower end of the scale has gone down as they struggle to balance their budgets.

To read more about this, please click here.