“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

The formal launch of the final report of the Social Work Task Force will take place on Tuesday 1 December 2009 at Central Hall, Westminster.  This event will be the first opportunity to hear the contents of this report. Registration is required by Thursday 26 November.
This report will set out in detail the recommendations to Government for a programme of comprehensive reform of the social work system in England. Delegates at this event will be the first to hear the contents of the report, as well as a presentation by Moira Gibb, Chair of the Social Work Task Force, and to hear the Government’s response. Members of the Task Force will explore the contents of the report and answer questions. Register here

Indications about the final recommendations:
• The profession needs a stronger, more coherent voice
• A new organisation to support social work which could take the form of a National College for Social Work (interesting to contemplate the future roles of the GSCC, Skills for Care, Children’s Workforce Development Council, Social Care Institute for Excellence and the National Skills Academy for Social Care)
• Different progression routes and career pathways for social work – (management should be one of a number of routes)
• Development of the Advanced Professional Social Worker role
• The importance of high quality CPD (and presumably implications for the current GSCC PRTL)
• A post-qualifying framework which is linked to career progression 
• Support for social workers in improving their basic skills, where required (how basic?)
• Reforms to include guidance on supervision and caseloads
• Recommendations about the ICS and the need for development of IT systems which support social workers as well as providing management information
• A pre-qualifying year and a license to practice
• Closer collaboration between employers and educators (since these partnerships already exist at qualifying and post-qualifying level it will be interesting to see how the recommendations will promote more effective joint working).

Social Work Task Force Website

Tags: advanced social work practice, cwdc, DCSF, education, gscc, ICS, Leadership and Management, Learning and Development, post qualifying awards, professional practice, scie, skills for care, Social Work, social work skills

What is the greatest challenge confronting managers and leaders in the care sector? Possibly it is finding the time to attend management and leadership training at one of the numerous actual and “virtual” leadership academies established in recent years. 

Are the huge resources now being devoted to leadership and management training really making a difference to the quality of services being delivered? So many organisations are now involved in management and leadership training it would be difficult to calculate the total expenditure to date. But a crucial question remains – what quality indicators are in place to ensure that the rate of return justifies the current investment? How do we distinguish excellence from mediocrity, is there a relationship between star ratings and leadership, are leadership and management really the same?    

Paradoxically it is the law of unintended consequences which becomes apparent when there is a lack of focus and joined up thinking across the care sector especially within the critical area of leadership.   

Leaders and managers have a vital role in improving services especially in the critical area of developing and supporting staff to deliver a world class care service. But do we really need quite so many leadership academies, leadership programmes, new projects and initiatives?  Apart from the obvious cost and resource implications I believe that we now need to invest in qualitative research which demonstrates whether this investment is really making an impact on the front line. What makes an effective manager? Do effective managers attract and retain more highly qualified staff? Is the quality of management reflected in the experiences of people who use services?

There are a large number of different types of management and leadership programmes both accredited and non accredited, provided in-house or externally. Many programmes have identified outcomes which lead to nationally recognized awards such as DMS, MBA, MPA, RMA, and PQAASW. Some programmes seem more concerned with inputs (number of lectures delivered) and outputs (how many people attended). How is the aim of becoming a more effective manager translated into practice? With the growth in e-Learning and blended learning the plethora of toolkits and audits freely available is it too controversial to suggest that existing managers should already be able to evidence their competence in the key areas of management and leadership?

However, with everyone from SCIE, ID&EA, the Kings Fund, Open University, ADCS, CWDC, and Skills for Care offering or developing management programmes and Action Learning Sets there is the potential for considerable confusion for employers or students. How can employers identify the most appropriate and cost effective training available? Government targets and public expectations require managers to have a sophisticated set of skills and knowledge which will deliver quality services across an increasingly complex landscape which includes personalisation and direct payments.

In September we will be publishing an independent (and brief) guide to help you make sense of what is available in the area of leadership and management development. Keep in touch by signing up for our free monthly eLetter. In the meantime if you have any questions, comments or contributions please contact us.

You may also wish to refer to our jargon busters section for further explanations of acronyms etc and navigating the social care landscape to understand the different roles and purpose of the organizations listed above.

Tags: care sector, development, dms, education, effective critical area, leadership, leadership academies, management, mba, mpa, pqaasw, research, toolkits, training

Learning Resources for Social Workers is a partnership between SfC London and the NHS Health Libraries. It is aimed at supplementing existing SfC resources with a wider range of complementary materials.

Professionals are now able to benefit from a walk-in reference and study area; walk-in PC access to the social care database; inter-library loans; core social work books and related social care and health materials; and access to social work journals either on site or through the photocopying service. The project hopes to secure long term funding and this will be influenced by the numbers using the service and an evaluation of the impact of the pilot scheme.  

Librarians, trained in supporting social work learning needs, will also be able to provide training on use of PC and search skills, and most libraries will also provide a free information searching service. The libraries are located at the following sites:

LONDON REGION LIBRARY CONTACT DETAILS

North West London John Squire Medical Library

Northwick Park Hospital
Watford Road, Harrow, Middlesex. HA1 3UJ 
Main contact: Mike Kendall
Tel: 020 8869 3322

Central Middlesex Hospital Library
Acton Lane, London NW10 7NS 
Main contact: Marina Rossi
Tel No: 020 8453 2504

North Central London
Archway Healthcare Library
Holborn Union Building,
Archway Campus, Highgate Hill,
London N19 3UA
Main contact: Beverley Chapman
Tel: 020 7288 3580

Islington PCT Library & Knowledge Service
338-346 Goswell Road,
London EC1V 7LQ 
Main contact: Mandy Guest
Tel: 020 7527 1241 / 1242 / 1243

North East London

Aubrey Keep Library
St. George’s Hospital
Sutton’s Lane,
Essex RM12 6RS 
Main contact: Maureen Rouse
Tel: 01708 46 5530 / 29

Waltham Forest Healthcare Library
Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust
Whipps Cross Road,
London E11 1NR 
Main contact: Angela Head
Tel: 020 8535 6973

Central London

Bloomsbury Healthcare Library
Bonham Carter House,
52 Gower Street,
London WC1E 6EB
Main contact: Michael Larkin
Tel: 020 7380 9097

South West London

Croydon Health Library & Resource Service
Croydon PCT
12-18 Lennard Road,
Croydon CR9 2RS. 
Main contact: Jenny Williams
Tel: 020 8274 6316 / 6313

St George’s Library
St George’s University of London
Hunter Wing, Cranmer Terrace,
Tooting, London SW17 0RE
Main contact: Karen John-Pierre
Tel: 020 8725 5441

South East London

Health First Learning Centre
Mary Sheridan House,
15 St Thomas Street,
London Bridge, London SE1 9RY
Main contact: Heidi Fanning
Tel: 020 7188 2862

SLAM Multidisciplinary Library
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust,
108 Landor Road, Stockwell,
London SW9 9NT 
Main contact: Paul Harrington
Tel: 020 3228 6336

Bromley Central Library
High Street, Bromley,
Kent BR1 1EX
Main contact: David Brockhurst
Tel: 020 8461 7233

Tell us about your experiences. Are you a London based social worke, practice teacher or student? Have you used one of the libraries? Should this resource be available nationally?

Tags: access, education, health libraries, practice learning, social workers, students