Be Inspired! Shirley Ayres Consulting

BASW has welcomed plans to redefine the role of the General Social Care Council (GSCC) in a move that would restrict its activities to social work, but warned that a further proposal to make the body ‘financially independent’ of government will mean social workers bearing the cost.

The Department of Health revealed yesterday that the regulator for the profession in England is set to be renamed the General Social Work Council, losing responsibility for the wider social care workforce and itself becoming regulated by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence.

The plans, outlined in the social care white paper, Building the National Care Service, stated: ‘As with the health regulatory bodies, over time the GSWC will move to financial independence and become independent of government’.

Responding to the news, BASW’s chief executive Hilton Dawson said the ‘clarification and reforms of the GSCC’s role are a positive step’ but cautioned that the move would ultimately mean hit social workers in their pockets. “This move towards greater independence for the GSCC will mean that social workers will have to bear the full cost of funding the GSCC, or General Social Work Council as it will become, in the future. We regard this as inevitable, particularly given the parlous state of public finances.” Read the full BASW article http://ow.ly/1t8cH

Tags: basw, funding, gscc, regulation, Social Work, workforce engagement

Related Posts:

• How radical are the recommendations from the Social Work Task Force?
• General Social Care Council to be abolished
• Is social work ready for the social media revolution? How to become LinkedIn
• The GSCC launches Grow Your Own Social Workers: a Toolkit
• Launch of the Final Report of the Social Work Task Force

Get the picture with Social Care TV. An online channel for everyone involved in the social care and social work sector.

“Personalisation enables me to do the things that I took for granted for so long. My personal assistants help me to achieve my independence. Managing my own budget means that I can go to concerts, for instance at the English National Opera. I feel like I’m part of the world to which I once belonged.” Stephen Page, on Social Care TV.

It’s not always easy to explain what social care is, and Social Care TV, aims to stimulate debate about the big issues in the sector. Social Care TV programmes bring real world examples to social care staff, managers, commissioners and trainers.

This is the first time that social care has had its own TV service. Films are ‘on demand’ so they can be watched in the workplace, the training room or at home. But there aren’t just films; each web page also includes lots of guidance and advice, multimedia and e-learning resources. Social Care TV can be used as a training and learning tool; it aims to understand the needs of people who use services, by presenting real life stories and linking these to easy-to-use resources, giving staff a better understanding of good practice.

Ann Macfarlane is featured on Social Care TV. Ann now works as a social care consultant but she spent the first twenty-five years of her life in residential settings and hospitals. She says this about the film which shows how she has succeeded to change her life because of personalisation:

“It makes me proud about my achievements. I was brought up in a place where other children were dying in front of me. I didn’t have a childhood and so I feel like I’ve been making up for borrowed time. The film shows that I now live at home, run my own consultancy business and crucially, have choice, voice and control. I’m sure this film will help the workforce to do a better job and understand the role that they have to play.”

The project is run by The Social Care Institute for Excellence and has a number of innovative features. 

• You can watch the films, but you can also download them from the site into presentations for training
• You can watch segments of films. You can go to a specific point of a film to address a key issue in social care practice.
• You can email a film or just a segment of a film to a colleague, making the sharing of good practice very efficient
• Users won’t just see a film on a site. There are useful text and links to specialist areas. 

SCIE Chief Executive Julie Jones says:

“The films bring to life what we do every day in our work. The social care workforce is in for a treat. Along with the accompanying care and support information on the web pages, the films are thought-provoking, interesting and full of strong messages about delivering good quality, personalised social care.”

Watch Social Care TV now

Tags: education, elearning, personalisation, scie, social care, Social Care TV, Social Work

Related Posts:

• Knowledge Management in Social Care – time to embrace the internet?
• Launch of the Final Report of the Social Work Task Force
• Guest Blog: Why personalisation can only be achieved through creative engagement
• Radical proposals in the new health White Paper
• Guest Blog ~ Personalisation – the challenges for social work by Simon Duffy

Two publications have been launched by the Government office London ~ ‘Promoting the health and wellbeing of London’s Looked After Children – Learning from Emerging Practice and Scoping Review’ documents.

These publications came out of requests (in Spring 2009) for examples of practice from across London that increase positive health outcomes for looked after children, in order to share learning and ideas. The Scoping review provides a snapshot of how London services that promote health and wellbeing of looked after children are currently being developed and delivered.

This is supported by the Emerging Practice guide, which is a collection of examples of practice achieving positive health outcomes for looked after children across London. The case studies have been submitted from London Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts and focus on practice around:

 Annual Health assessments
 Immunisations and Vaccinations
 Access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
 Sex and Relationship Education
 Emotional Wellbeing

Download GoL Children in Care Learning from Emerging Practice Guide[1]

Download Children in Care Scoping Review[1]

Hard copies of these publications can be obtained from Amy Wilkinson amy.wilkinson@gol.gsi.gov.uk

Shirley Ayres Consulting were delighted to have been awarded the contract for the scoping review and to have identified so many innovative examples of emerging practice across London.

Tags: looked after children, professional practice, promoting health and well being, shirley ayres consulting, Social Work

Related Posts:

• New online Guide demystifies children’s services
• National Continuing Professional Development Conference for Social Workers~14th September 2010
• Guest Blog ~ Personalisation – the challenges for social work by Simon Duffy
• Shape the new College and build a strong voice for social work
• Social work practitioners develop a caseload management system