Category Archives: Carers
Councils urged to replace social workers with non-qualified staff
Money can be saved without hurting quality if councils with high spending on assessments and reviews used more non-professionally qualified staff instead of social workers, says Audit Commission.
Savings of £300m could be made on assessments, the commission says
Councils have been urged to replace social workers with non-professionally qualified staff in assessments and reviews, on the grounds this can save money without hurting quality.
The recommendation comes in a report today from the Audit Commission, which found that £180m-£310m a year could be saved from annual adult social services spending in England – about 1% to 2% of the total – if councils with relatively high spends on assessments and reviews reduced their costs towards the level of lower spenders.
The biggest potential area of saving was from “changing the mix of staff grades and skills that councils employ” to carry out assessments, by replacing social workers and occupational therapists with social work or OT assistants or other staff without professional qualifications.
Choose Well this bank holiday
NHS Norfolk and Waveney is urging everyone to “Choose Well” and plan ahead whenever possible for their medical care over the forthcoming bank holiday weekend.
Anyone who has medication on prescription is advised to make sure they order it early so they have enough medicine. Anyone who knows they will need an appointment to see their GP should ensure they book it in good time.
Ian Small, of the prescribing and medicines management team at NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said: “We want everyone to have an enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend, and so we advise anyone needing medical care to follow the Choose Well message. Selecting the right service for your needs may reduce the time you wait for appropriate treatment.
Telehealth: the benefits of video conferencing
Medical staff, patients and parents are using a new system that has saved lives
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Frank Casey
- Guardian Professional,
Every year, more than 200 infants are born in Northern Ireland with heart disease. I work at the Royal Belfast hospital for sick children and as specialists in paediatric cardiology, we deal with a majority of these cases. For the past few years we’ve been supplementing our traditional care with a telemedicine scheme that offers patients, parents and our colleagues a new way to interact.
Like thousands of hospital departments across the UK, we deal with resourcing difficulties. Not only do we cope with our current patient load but our expertise is also in high demand with colleagues at other hospitals.
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