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To all,
With hello to Rukhsana and considering all latest postings, I wonder if you are aware of a consultation meeting being held by the SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence) today. It is typical of the kind of work server users and carers do without you professionals but in support of your work. Below is a copy of the Flyer we received about a week ago. I replied with a Community Psychology perspective and received a very positive response from Yvonne mentioned below. With the new 10k 'psychologists' in mind, you professionals may wish to keep an eye on the motives and consequences.
Mike S
Options for excellence review consultation day
Are you a service user or carer who would like to have your say about what makes a good social care worker and whether new types of workers are needed ?
You are invited to the options for excellence review consultation day which will focus on the options for excellence review project run jointly by the Department of Health and Department for Education and Skills.
What will happen on the day?
The day will involve a lively mix of presentations and discussion groups. Service users and carers will be able to talk about what they think is important when thinking about how to improve assessments and service delivery through the training, skills, and experience of social care workers. Service users and carers will join separate groups to discuss:
How can the involvement of service users and carers in the education and training of social care workers be facilitated and promoted?
How can service users and carers be involved in assessing the performance (work) of social care workers? What might make this difficult?
How can we make sure leaders and managers have the right skills, qualifications and experience to work with social care workers so that they can support service users and carers to live their lives safely and are able to have choice and control?
What could be done to make sure that social care workers do not leave their jobs or the profession too soon?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of regulating (setting standards and requirements for working) the workers employed by service users?
What support can employers provide to help unpaid (informal) carers get and keep jobs? (this will be discussed by carers only)
What difference would it make if more service users or carers worked in social care? How could they be encouraged to get social care jobs?
What else needs to be thought about in order to improve the employment, retention and education of social workers?
Do you have any other ideas, thoughts or comments?
Detailed information on what will happen on the day can be seen on the consultation day agenda.
What are the aims of the options for excellence review work?
To improve the quality of social care practice.
To increase the number of qualified social workers and social care workers.
To review the role(s) of qualified social workers and how this fits with training and qualifications requirements.
Most people who work in social care are not social workers. Therefore there is a need to look at the wider social care jobs people do and explore further the new roles that may be needed, how to improve career opportunities, improve service standards, and ensure workers can provide personalised, user-led services and safeguard the well-being of those people who may find that they are in dangerous or difficult situations that they cannot sort out themselves.
How are the views of service users and carers included in the Options for Excellence work?
Information and ideas from the consultation events will be fed into the options for excellence review final report. This will be used to decide what is needed to improve adult social care workers and improve the quality of services provided.
Also, Peter Beresford Chair of Shaping Our Lives User Network and a service user himself is on the Board for options for excellence and represents the views of service users at board level.
The options for excellence project has also looked at and pulled together research and writing about service users which covers what service users regard as the important qualities for social care workers.
Will I be paid for coming to this event?
SCIE is grateful for the involvement of service users and carers in its work and a way of recognising this work is by paying a fee for involvement and related expenses. However some service users and carers who receive welfare benefits have let us know of their worries that paid or voluntary involvement could affect any benefits that they claim. SCIE therefore strongly advises that service users and carers get proper advice before deciding whether to come to this event and before claiming a payment from SCIE.
SCIE is setting up a free telephone benefits advice line for service users and carers who are in receipt of welfare benefits and who are involved or thinking of becoming involved in our work. The helpline advisers will be able to give confidential and personal advice about whether involvement could affect benefits. If you would like more information on the telephone benefits helpline / SCIE’s payments policy please contact Yvonne Benjamin on tel: 0207 089 6890/ [log in to unmask]
Some information about social care
What is social care?
Social care is about people. It helps people of all ages to live as independently, safely and fully as possible, including:
Children or families who need support
People with financial or housing problems
People with disabilities
People with mental health problems
People who are being rehabilitated in the community
People with problems related to drugs or alcohol
Older people who need help with daily living activities
Groups who are disadvantaged by poverty or other forms of social exclusion.
How many people use social care?
More than 1.6 million people use social care services. One in 10 people are informal carers. Twenty per cent of carers provide over 50 hours of care each week. Sixty per cent of them are over 45 years old and 20 per cent are over 65.
Who works in social care?
1.2 million people work in social care. This is more than the entire NHS workforce. 87% work in services for adults. There are around 75 thousand professionally qualified social workers. There are also 40 thousand nurses and 3 thousand occupational therapists.
In recent years there have been severe problems of recruitment, retention and service quality in social care: the vacancy rate in England is around 10%, but rising to much higher levels in some areas.
How do I sign up for the event?
To participate and have your views heard at this consultation day for service users and carers, Please contact Yvonne Benjamin on tel: 0207 089 6890, or email
[log in to unmask]. (places will be allocated on a first come first served basis):