Karen Postle

Supporting people: Towards a person-centred approach

Foreword by Shami Chakrabati Setting the scene for social care Person-centred support The funding of social care The social care workforce Social care and carers Institutionalisation Organisational issues Social care practice Service user cameos Capacity building for support Access to the mainstream Participation Change for person-centred support Appendix.

Older people's participation in political activity—making their voices heard: A potential support role for welfare professionals in countering ageism and social exclusion

The discrimination that older people in the UK experience is replicated in barriers restricting their participation in political activity. Thus, the social exclusion that many older people encounter is compounded by political exclusion, including, significantly, exclusion from political debates and activities addressing issues that could influence outcomes in their interests across a range of policy areas. Drawing on findings from research, this paper explores key issues relating to older peoples participation, highlighting their disillusion with traditional political activity and the exacerbation of their exclusion through powerlessness. Some older people are taking part in new forms of political activity, marking a shift of focus from self-help to campaigning. This indicates their need to participate in political activity around issues directly affecting them. They frequently gain strength and encouragement from campaigning achievements. This offers potential for building capacity among older people. By supporting such activity and involving older people in the development of policies and services, health and social care workers can support older people to counter discrimination and influence issues that particularly affect them. The paper thus connects two so far unrelated discussions: issues concerning user involvement, health and social care service users and workers are discussed in connection with current concerns about declining levels of political participation.

Social Work: A Companion to Learning

PART 1: INTRODUCTION Social Work in Challenging Times - Mark Lymbery and Karen Postle PART 2: CONTEXTS The Political, Societal and Economic Context of Practice - Bill Jordan The Place of Values in Social Work Education - Richard Hugman Uncertainty: The Defining Characteristic of Social Work? - Jan Fook Social Work and the Use of Self - Kaeren Harrison and Gillian Ruch On Becoming and Being a Social Worker Why Bother? The Truth about Service User Involvement - Advocacy in Action Research Mindedness - Beth Humphries The Rise and Rise of Interprofessional Education? - Colin Whittington Social Work in an International Context - Steven M Shardlow PART 3: REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESSES Social Work Law - Robert Johns The Process of Social Work - Jonathan Parker Assessment, Planning, Intervention and Review Communication Skills in Social Work - Juliet Koprowska Understanding the Lifecourse - Paul Bywaters Partnership Working: The Interdisciplinary Agenda - Malcolm Payne Practice Learning In Context - Vicky Harris and Martin Gill Social Work in a Digital Society - Jackie Rafferty and Jan Steyaert PART 4: THRIVING IN PRACTICE Social Work in Its Organisational Context - Mark Lymbery Continuous Professional Development - Helen Gorman and Mark Lymbery Professional Development in the Workplace - Tina Eadie Partnership Working - Peter Beresford, Fran Branfield, Munir Lalani, Brian Maslen, Anna Sartori and Jenny, Maggie and Manny, All Service Users from Shaping Our Lives Service Users and Social Workers Learning and Working Together Using Supervision - Jeremy Peach and Nigel Horner Support or Surveillance? Management - Vicky White and John Harris Value Conflicts in Practice - Karen Postle PART 5: CONCLUSION Opportunities and Threats: Social Work in The 21st Century - Karen Postle and Mark Lymbery

Working together – innovative collaboration in social care research

This article reviews literature to provide context for a reflective narrative on a collaborative research project undertaken by disabled people, practitioners and academics. This approach required reconsidering many aspects of methodology and practice as the research relationships are altered. The article reflects on how the collaborative and participatory approach was developed and sustained and how it impacted on the research process and its outcomes. The article explores how the group of people worked together on a complex large-scale research project to bring the voices of service users and other key players together in a discussion about social care. The article is written by one of the academic partners and draws on consortium documents and reflections from other consortium members provided for the article.

The use of local community resources to facilitate a preventative approach to the care of older people: An examination in a rural context

Policies for older people in the United Kingdom (UK) highlight the need for preventative work as a means of promoting quality of life and independence while also reducing pressure on acute services. This paper draws on findings from a small study of ‘low level’ service provision in a rural area of England which highlighted the complexity and patchy nature of services and the difficulties which older people were likely to encounter in ascertaining information about or accessing them. We consider how these difficulties impact on development of a coherent preventative strategy and ways in which they could be addressed, including the implications of developing preventative approaches for current social work practice with older people.

Empowerment, Assessment, Care Management and the Skilled Worker

I was a social worker in practice at the inception of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. Overnight, I became a ‘care manager’. This wasn’t just a change of name; assessment forms arrived big time! While there was never a ‘Golden Age’ of social work, the focus had clearly shifted and, instead of the record of an assessment being secondary to the assessment process itself, we were faced with forms comprising a plethora of tick boxes, multiple choice questions and an array of services to choose – services which did not necessarily seem to be related to what people themselves – and I – thought they actually needed! This marked the beginning of the excessive bureaucratisation of social work, an obvious bedfellow of managerialism. Listening to students across the years, I have heard of worsening bureaucratisation, with assessments driven by ever tighter eligibility criteria and an emphasis on risk and safeguarding. If those early assessment forms from which I recoiled were lengthy, the current ones are gargantuan and can all too easily distract from the key assessment task. Importantly, as this book’s title suggests, they can also distract workers from empowering people with whom they work. I had been lucky enough to hear Gerry Smale present the assessment models outlined in this book at a public lecture (Social Work Studies, University of Southampton 2003); his description of the procedural model of assessment fitted exactly with what assessment processes seemed to be in danger of becoming! In essence, the three models he presented, which are the basis for this text, are summarised in Table 1. Two things about the exchange model alone, of the three models, become apparent:

Classic Text Revisited

The story behind how this report came to be published as a book is a vital lesson in social policy as the material it contained was a shocking portrayal of health inequalities. In 1977 the Secretary of State for Social Services in the Labour government in the United Kingdom (UK) appointed a Research Working Group to look at inequalities in health. The Working Group completed its task in 1980, demonstrating that, across the nation and through each stage of life, class-based inequalities in health existed. This, the Working Group concluded, was probably not because of failings in the National Health Service (NHS) but more likely due to factors such as poverty and poor housing. Between the Working Group’s establishment and submission of its report there was a change of government in the UK. Hence the Working Party submitted their report to a Conservative government. One might expect that it would still have been published, as such reports usually are by the relevant government department, and with the usual press releases. This was not the case, however, and just 260 copies of the report were made available. There were no press releases or press conferences and only a small selection of journalists received copies. That alone would ensure poor publicity but, additionally, the copies were distributed on the Friday before the UK August Bank Holiday. This guaranteed very low publicity. Thankfully the report was published but this story, given in the Report’s introduction, of how governments can try to bury news which does not suit their ideology or their budget plans and priorities, remains a timely lesson. The report details the inequalities which the Working Group found, showing time and time again the starkness of class divisions which existed. To take just a couple of examples; boys in social class V were found to be ten times more likely to die from fire, falls or drowning than those in social class 1. Similarly, women and men in social class V had a two and a half times greater chance of dying before they retired than those in class 1 (Registrar General’s categories, since PRACTICE: SOCIAL WORK IN ACTION VOLUME 21 NUMBER 2 (JUNE 2009)