Tag Archives: Older care

What service users want from social workers

May 3, 2012   Carers, Depression, disability, mental health, social workers
Good social workers are essential
Peter Beresford
Friday 27 April 2012 15:43

What do service users want from social workers? Social work academic and mental health service user Peter Beresford says that research points to four crucial qualities. He will be speaking about the future of adult social work at Community Care Live on 16 May.

 

The crucial importance of the social work relationship

Above all else the evidence highlights that service users value the relationship that they have with social workers. It is seen as the crucial starting point for getting help and support on equal terms; for working with rather than on people. Service users talk of relationships based on warmth, empathy reliability and respect. It is the antithesis of form-filling approaches to assessment, which reduce the contact between service users and practitioners to a formulaic and bureaucratic contact.

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State must pay family carers to look after elderly, say MPs

May 2, 2012   Carers, Older care

Families should be given state funding to care for their elderly relatives at home, a group of Conservative MPs has said.

Under the Government’s existing policies, councils are responsible for ensuring that local residents who need care are allocated “personal budgets”

By , Political Correspondent

7:00AM BST 02 May 2012

The current system means it is cheaper for families to put relations in the hands of local council-run care services, according to a report from the Free Enterprise Group.

The organisation said the Government could save an estimated £1.14 billion a year by funding families directly. Chris Skidmore, the MP for Kingswood, who wrote the report, said: “Where a local authority might otherwise be paying several hundred pounds a week for residential care, they could instead be offering a fraction of that to a relative to provide care themselves.”

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Musician Rick Wakeman opens Age UK fayre in Diss for the elderly and their carers

April 30, 2012   Carers, dementia, Older care

“It’s crucial local parishes and local communities and local towns support events like this.”

By REBECCA GOUGH Saturday, April 28, 2012
11:28 AM

 

  Amanda Palmer, Jen Cranshaw and Judith Head from the Denny Centre, with Rick Wakeman

No amount of wet weather could dampen the spirits of visitors to an annual spring fayre in aid of the elderly this morning (Saturday), opened by former rock-star Rick Wakeman.

 

With traditional events such as guess the weight of the cake, bric-a-brac stalls and a raffle, organisers hoped to raise as much money as possible for Age UK.

And they were not disappointed with visitors flocking to the event in Diss, as Mr Wakeman cut the ribbon.

The musician, 63, perhaps best known as keyboard player with the band Yes, who now lives with his wife in Scole, near Diss, said it was important to support local fundraisers.

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