Editorial
Well Keith did chose the right time of the year to flee
the country for warmer climes. When he left
Heathrow was closed and since we’ve had S Wales
cut off from England twice, or the other way round
depending on how you view the border. Such cold
conditions inevitably mean hardship for the more
vulnerable in society – and of course difficulties for
those providing services to them. How many
contracts or service level agreements include a force
majeure provision for when weather conditions make
reaching the service users impossible – and more
importantly what are the contingency measures to
deliver services to the most needy when the snow
blankets the nation and we are unprepared to
cope? I’d be very interested to learn from you what’s
been happening out there.
Andrew Dawson
Parliament
HoL 12.02.09—Health and Social Care Act 2008
(Registration of Regulated Activities) Regulations
2009 The Lord President (Baroness Royall of
Blaisdon) to move that the draft Order be referred to a
Grand Committee.
Next
Abuse
1. More To Claim in Child Abuse Case
3 February 2009—BBC News
A further 150 people are set to claim compensation for
the abuse they suffered at children's homes in Manchester
in the 1970s and 1980s. The action comes two
years after 168 people were awarded a total of £2.26m
for the sexual and physical abuse they suffered at the
homes. The group was formed after a police investigation
into 66 children's homes. Lawyers have now applied
to the High Court to claim against Manchester City
Council on behalf of a second group.
For full report click here
Business News
Nothing to report
Care Homes
2. Health and Safety Executive (West Midlands)
(HSE) Death of elderly woman calls for better
risk assessment
6 February 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is calling on
health and social care employers to make sure that risk
assessments are carried out regularly to determine the
suitability of equipment used in everyday tasks.
The body made this demand following an incident on 8
March, 2007 in the Ivy House Care Home, West Heath,
Birmingham, owned by Four Seasons Homes No.4 Ltd.
A care assistant was working alone and transferred an
83 year old woman from a commode to a bed, using a
hoist.
The woman was left sitting unattended on the edge of
her bed and being partially-paralysed was unable to
stop herself from falling to the floor. As a result, she later
died in hospital and an inquest jury found that “gross
failures to provide basic medical attention, to a dependent
person, led to an accident that, in turn led to her
death”.
Four Seasons Homes No.4 Ltd was fined a total of
£66,000 and ordered to pay costs of £21,355 at Birmingham
Crown Court, on 5th February, 2009, after
pleading guilty to breaching sections 3(1) of the Health
and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3(1)
(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999.
The court heard that HSE's investigation found that the
wrong type of hoist was used, the employee was not
trained to use that particular hoist and correct procedures
were not followed. Two people should have undertaken
the move and the room lacked sufficient space
to satisfactorily operate that type of hoist. The hoist
used was also inappropriate for use with someone of
limited upper body strength
Case Reports
Law Reports
Nothing to report
Disciplinary cases
Nothing to report
Cases in the news
3. Sacked Baby P chief defends case
7 February 2009 – BBC News
Sharon Shoesmith, the ex-head of children's services at
Haringey Council has said the way ministers handled
the Baby P affair was "breathtakingly reckless".
She spoke to BBC Radio 4's Weekend Woman's Hour
and to the Guardian in her first interviews since being
dismissed in December, stating that she considered
suicide, was the victim of a press "witch-hunt", and was
"blatantly discredited" by Ofsted.
For full report click here
4. Balls 'not reckless' over Baby P
7 February 2009 – BBC News
Children's Secretary Ed Balls has rejected claims by
Sharon Shoesmith that he was 'reckless' over the Baby
P case.
Mr Balls denied Ms Shoesmith's claims, saying: "I didn't
jump in."
He had removed her from her post as head of Haringey's
children's services after Ofsted criticised the department's
leadership.
For full report click here
5. Sex assault carer's sentence cut
6 February 2009 – BBC News
A carer previously convicted of a "sadistic" sexual assault
on a 77-year-old dementia patient has had his
nine-year jail sentence cut by two years.
Gareth Jones, 23, of Trecastle, Powys was jailed at
Newport Crown Court last July after he denied sexual
activity with a person with a mental disorder.
For full report click here
6. Home workers cleared of neglect
5 February 2009 – BBC News
Nurse Andrea Garrick, 38, and care assistants Jodie
Atkinson and Danielle Schofield, both 22, were on trial
at Leeds Crown Court for wilful neglect have been
cleared of all charges.
Violet Smith, 87, was taken to hospital after being
placed on a commode of hot water at Charlton Centre
in Batley.
The case against them was dismissed by Judge Geoffrey
Marson who ruled there was no case to answer
and discharged the three from the neglect charges.
For full report click here
Children
7. Children's tsar 'overstating job'
3 February 2009 – BBC News
Kathleen Marshall, Scotland's Children's Commissioner
has been accused of exaggerating her role to
prevent it being abolished through a merger.
Proposed plans to merge her post, creating a single
commissioner to deal with rights to halve the number
of Holyrood-funded Scottish "tsars", from six to three.
For full report click here
Conferences & Courses
To follow next week
Consultations
8. National Studies Consultation for Health
2009-10
Closing Date: 12 February 2009
Consultation covering the Commission’s proposed
studies programme for health for 2009-10.
It intends to seek views on its usefulness and appropriateness,
the scope and timing of individual studies
and the potential for overlap and collaboration with
others.
For full consultation click here
9. Call for views on streamlining Health and
Adult Social Care Assessments
18 December 2008 – DoH
Consultation begins on how best to improve information
sharing across health, social care and wider
community support services
The consultation aims to create a more efficient and
transparent system of information sharing, to avoid
patients having to answer the same questions several
times and ensure that people receive the best quality
care and support.
The Government is asking people to give their views
on what changes need to be made so that people get
the services best suited to their individual needs. It
includes how best to safely and securely share personal
information across health and social care services
as well as wider community services such as
housing.
The consultation, which is now open covers:
* how assessment and care planning should be undertaken
(the principles);
* what information should be commonly shared;
* who that information might be shared with;
* proposals on the IT approach and solutions that
would enable this to happen nationally; and
* the issues around confidentiality and security arrangements
that this entails.
The consultation will run alongside a number of demonstrator
sites, local authority led partnerships who
will work to test and evaluate the practical changes
that will need to be made and will take into account
people's feedback from the consultation. A first wave
of demonstrator sites is expected to start shortly, and
a call for interest in a second wave is expected in the
summer.
Emerging evidence and good practice will be provided
regularly from the three year work of the demonstrator
sites which will evaluate evidence on benefits
for patients, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness
across the system. This evidence will be used to inform
local developments and further national guidance.
The consultation period runs from 21 January 2009 to
17 April 2009.
Copies of the consultation documents can be accessed
through: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/
Liveconsultations/index.htm
Public consultation events will be held:
17 February 2009 Leeds
19 February 2009 Birmingham
Places at the events can be booked via: http://
networks.csip.org.uk/Personalisation/PersonalisationEvents/
The consultation and developments of a Common
assessment Framework for Adults supports the wider
agenda of Putting People First, the personalisation of
services and social care transformation
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Socialcarereform/
index.htm
For full report click here
10. The Future of the Healthcare Scientist
workforce - Modernising Scientific Careers:
The Next Steps
Closing Date: 27 February 2009
This consultation document setting out proposals to
transform the future training and career pathways of
the healthcare science workforce.
The proposals were developed as the result of detailed
discussions with nearly 3,000 stakeholders and
as a UK initiative will be taken forward by the four
countries in partnership with all major stakeholders,
including patient groups, to ensure that the healthcare
science workforce is fit for the future in a rapidly
changing and evolving healthcare environment.
DoH welcome responses to the electronic consultation
from all with an interest in delivering high quality
care to patients, which is inextricably linked to the
future of the healthcare science workforce, and its
central role in supporting and delivering that care.
For full consultation click here
11. Eye on Wales
January 2009 - Healthcare Business
Closing Date: March 2009
Mario Kreft, chairman of Care Forum Wales, writes
about the consultation underway in Wales about how
long term care will be funded (Ed. This mirrors the
exercise by Department of Health which began in
June 2008 ahead of the forthcoming Green Paper).
Care Forum Wales has been invited by the
Welsh Assembly to be involved in the process.
For full consultation go to www.payingforcareinwales.net
12. Creating a New Professional Regulator
for Pharmacy: Health care and associated
professions - The draft Pharmacy Order 2009
Closing Date: 9 March 2009
Consultation seeking views on proposals to create a
new regulator for pharmacy professionals and pharmacy
premises in England, Wales and Scotland.
For full consultation click here
13. CQC publishes consultation of reviews in
2009/10
Closing Date: 12 March 2009
On 18 December CQC launched a 12 week consultation
on its proposals for reviews in 2009/10.
The three types of review are:
• Periodic reviews assessing health and adult social
care commissioning by primary care trusts and
adult social care departments within councils
• Periodic reviews of health and adult social care
providers, such as hospitals and care homes
Special reviews and studies on particular aspects of
health and adult social care
The consultation document is available to download
from the CQC website. This consultation closes on
Thursday 12 March 2009.
More on the consultation of reviews in 2009/10
14. Government consults on use of 084 numbers
in the NHS
Closing Date: 31 March 2009
The NHS could be stopped from using telephone
numbers such as 084 in England, under proposals
set out in a public consultation.
Some people are currently having to pay more than
the equivalent cost of a local rate call when they telephone
their GP or other NHS services if they have
adopted a number from this range. A number of NHS
organisations, although still a small minority, have
started using 084 numbers in recent years.
Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said:
"We are concerned that some people are paying
above the odds to contact the NHS. For people on
low incomes who need to contact their local doctor or
hospital regularly, those costs can soon mount up.
"We know that some people value the additional service
that 084 numbers can offer, but others object to
being charged more than the cost of a local call to
access NHS services. We receive regular complaints
from members of the public and parliamentarians
about this."
A copy of the 084 consultation booklet is available in
GP surgeries and hospitals, and online at:
For full consultation click here
Ed - My GP surgery has an 0845 number and an
automated answering service which annoys me
not only because the phone is answered by a robot
- but also because I sense the call is being
prolonged to increase revenue. For example the
call welcomes me twice!
15. The Health Professions Council
(Constitution) Order 2009: A paper for consultation
Closing Date: 17 April 2009
Consultation seeking views on a proposed constitution
for the Health Professions Council, including details
of the composition of the council, the terms of
office of council members and criteria for the disqualification,
suspension or removal of members
from office.
For full report click here
16. Common Assessment Framework for
Adults: A consultation on proposals to improve
information sharing around multidisciplinary
assessment and care planning
Closing Date: 17 April 2009
The Department of Health has launched a consultation
on improving the quality and efficiency of care and support
through improvements in the sharing and use of
information.
The consultation focuses on care and support for adults
and on assisting the continued development of personalisation
by helping people to choose services better
suited to their needs.
For full consultation click here
17. Fairer Contributions Guidance: A consultation
on the extension and revision of the
statutory guidance for charging for nonresidential
social services in relation to personal
budgets
Closing Date: 19 April 2009
A consultation being carried out by the Department
of Health on the extension and revision of the statutory
guidance for charging for non-residential social
services, the ‘Fairer Charging guidance’.
The accompanying guidance refers to contributions
for personal budgets, which contain only of adult social
care funding. The aim of the new guidance is to
provide councils with a system for calculating how
much a person should contribute to their personal
budget. It has been produced as a companion to the
existing Fairer Charging guidance.
For full report click here
18. NICE: Current consultations
To browse through consultations go to http://
www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=consultations.current
CSCI/Care Quality Commission,
CSSIW, Healthcare
Commission &
Scottish Care Commission
19. New internal timescales for responses to
written representations
6 February 2009 – SCRC
Article detailing what the Care Commission does when
taking enforcement action.
For full report click here
20. Health watchdog handover is on 'red risk'
5 February 2009 – HSJ
There are still unresolved issues two months before the
handover from the Healthcare Commission to the Care
Quality Commission. Issues include crucial staffing and
financial decisions to be made.
The Healthcare Commission has identified work around
its closure as a "red risk" - the most severe alert - because
a number of projects are "not yet defined, resourced
or initiated", papers from a commissioners'
meeting last week reveal.
For full report go to http://www.hsj.co.uk/news/2009/02/
health_watchdog_handover_is_on_red_risk.html;jsessionid=D78
4D90F3BD70A03853AD91F8E2573E0?
tmcsTrackingInfo=$zD3QrL8b8tzs1JayqqH7GTh-
Pc5rMRxXyObI_dtvnJI2XfgNDIQZZ_GyMDw51Ejr8dIN1T4xUr6$
21. Key issues in Social Care Regulation and
Inspection
2 February 2009 – CSCI
This short booklet looks at what the commission has
achieved over the past five years. It explains how the
commission's vision and values have been used to
regulate and inspect social care.
For full report click here
Dementia
22. 'Memory clinics' plan on dementia
3 February 2009 – BBC News
The Government has announced plans for "memory
clinics" to spot and treat dementia, as part of its new
strategy, with specialised advisers to help people with
dementia and their families. The advisers will navigate
the care and support systems.
For full report click here
23. Dementia: Facts and figures
3 February 2009 – BBC News
A look at dementia, how it affects people and how the
Government intend to tackle the rising numbers.
For full report click here
24. Invaluable support of memory clinic
3 February 2009 – BBC News
How dementia is spotted and a case report on how
drugs can help slow down its progress.
For full report click here
25. Living Well With Dementia: A national
dementia strategy
3 February 2009 – DoH
Document setting out initiatives designed to make the
lives of people with dementia, their carers and families
better and more fulfilled.
For full report click here
26. National Dementia Strategy
3 February 2009 – DoH
Details of the first ever National Dementia Strategy.
This is a landmark document that will transform the
quality of dementia care and sets out initiatives designed
to make the lives of people with dementia, their
carers and families better and more fulfilled.
For full report click here
27. National Dementia Strategy
3 February 2009 – ECCA
Martin Green, Chief Executive of ECCA, has stated:
“Dementia care is one of our greatest challenges and
residential care provides a vital component in the effective
support to people with dementia and their carers.
The National Dementia Strategy recognises the
challenges of this complex and progressive condition
and I am pleased that the Government has placed emphasis
on diagnosis and early intervention as well as on
how to support people as their condition deteriorates”.
Martin Green continued:
“The National Dementia Strategy is an opportunity for
health and social care to work in an integrated and effective
way and if we get this right it will improve the
lives of the thousands of people with dementia and the
millions of their carers and loved ones that are touched
by the condition”.
Ireland, Scotland & Wales
Ireland
Nothing to report
Scotland
28. Plans to close free care loophole
8 February 2009 – BBC News
Public Health Minister, Shona Robison has announced
that councils could be stopped from charging
OAPs for food preparation under plans to tighten
Scotland's rules on free personal care.
She said she wanted to close the loophole to put the
issue "beyond doubt".
For full report click here
29. Carer's 31 years and no sick days
5 February 2009 – BBC News
Shirley Bowen, a night officer at a residential home has
never missed a shift - whether due to sickness, snow or
anything else - since starting 31 years ago.
She lives in Meidrim, 10 miles from the Argel Residential
Home in Johnstown in Carmarthenshire.
For full report click here
30. Elderly wanted for Wii experiment
5 February 2009 – BBC News
Researchers in Aberdeen are looking for people over 70
to take part in a study to see if the Nintendo Wii Fit
could help their balance.
The University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian want to
find out if the games system's balance board can help
prevent older people falling and are looking for volunteers
who have fallen at least once in the past year and
can attend regular sessions.
For full report click here
Wales
Nothing to report
Learning Disabilities
31. Exhibition shows positive images of
learning disabilities
30 January 2009 – Community Care
MENCAP has launched its outdoor exhibition to display
some winning photographs from its annual photo competition.
The pictures are all either taken by or feature someone
with a learning disability and aim to show life from the
perspective of people with learning disabilities. As part
of the This is Me exhibition, they are displayed on twometre
cubes at outdoor locations.
For full report click here
32. Specialist autism care provider welcomes
includion of people with autism in “Valuing
People Now”
30 January 2009
Brookdale Care has warmly welcomed the inclusion of
people with ASD in the Government's 'Valuing People
Now' three year strategy for people with learning disabilities,
published on Monday 19 January 2009.
Lesa Walton, Care & Development Director of Brookdale
Care, said:
"As Valuing People Now acknowledges, people on the
autistic spectrum are one of those groups that are generally
most excluded. Their inclusion in the strategy is,
therefore, a welcome if overdue step.
"What is required now is a concerted effort by all care
providers, councils and commissioners to ensure that
the strategy is implemented for the benefit and empowerment
of all people with learning disabilities, including
the over half a million people in the UK whose lives are
affected by autism".
Legislation Update
33. No. 21 The Safeguarding Vulnerable
Groups (Prescribed Criteria) (Foreign Offences)
Order (Northern Ireland) 2009
6 February 2009 – OPSI
For full legislation click here
34. No. 139 (C.9) The Mental Health Act 2007
(Commencement No.10 and Transitional Provisions)
Order 2009
4 February 2009 – OPSI
For full legislation click here
35. Health and Social Care (Reform) Act
(Northern Ireland) 2009 c.1
2 February 2009 – OPSI
For full legislation click here
Mental Capacity
Nothing to report
Mental Health
Nothing to report
Miscellaneous
36. NHS boss Lynda Hamlyn angry at organs
for foreigners
8 February 2009—Times Online
A National Health Service hospital has had criticism
from the government’s transplant authority for giving
livers from dead Britons to overseas European Union
patients in private operations. Over 40 procedures using
organs from British donors were carried out on foreigners
at King’s College hospital, London, over two years.
For full report go to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/
life_and_style/health/article5683680.ece
37. Why NICE values some patients' lives
more
5 February 2009 – HSJ
Mike Richards has done a review of what to do about
top-ups and that it seems to reaffirm the line that the
NHS should not subsidise private consumption of
healthcare.
For full report go to http://www.hsj.co.uk/databriefings/2009/02/
why_nice_values_some_patients_lives_more.html?
tmcsTrackingInfo=$
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R7YKRcMdGyMDw51EjrW37zfpQMJIy$
38. Interim Chief Executive takes over at CRB
4 February 2009 – CRB
The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) has announced
that Steve Long has been appointed as its interim chief
executive.
Steve Long said:
“The CRB, together with our partners, have an excellent
track record in helping protect the vulnerable and I am
excited by the opportunity to work with the agency once
again.
“This will be an exciting year for the CRB and I look forward
to meeting with staff and stakeholders in the coming
weeks and months.”
Mr Long has been appointed for a six-month interim
period after previously working for the CRB as Director
of Service Delivery from 2004 to 2007 and replaces
Vince Gaskell, who has joined the Identity and Passport
Service (IPS) as the Executive Director for New Service
Implementation.
For full report click here
39. Applicant Satisfaction Survey
4 February 2009 – CRB
The Criminal Records Bureau has recently commissioned
Ipsos Mori to conduct a satisfaction survey with
members of the public who have applied for a CRB
check in the past. The purpose of the survey is to gather
information about their perceptions of, and level of satisfaction
with, services provided by the CRB.
The survey is not compulsory and if anyone is contacted
by Ipsos MORI they can decline to take part.
For full report click here
40. GP 'no referral' bonuses blasted
4 February 2009 – BBC News
The British Medical Association (BMA) has announced
that schemes that currently pay GPs for not
sending people for hospital care are not in the best
interests of the patient.
Some doctors have struck deals with local health
bosses to cut the number of referrals they make, but
the BMA said that all decisions should be driven by
the needs of the patient.
For full report click here
41. Stamps to combat medics' scrawls
3 February 2009 – BBC News
Medical staff in north Wales are to use name stamps
on patient notes because many signatures are so
badly written they cannot be understood.
Staff working in the North Wales NHS Trust area will
be given the stamps to ensure those who fill in patient
records can be more easily identified.
For full report click here
42. Commitment to disabled people’s human
rights welcomed
3 February 2009 – NCF
The Commission has welcomed the Government's
plans to empower disabled UK citizens to exercise their
rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities, which the Government has
pledged to ratify by Spring 2009.
The Convention states that disabled people have - and
should be able to enjoy - their human rights on an equal
basis with non-disabled people and sets out the steps
governments are expected to take to make these rights
a reality.
For full report click here
To access the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities go to http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?
navid=12&pid=150%20?
43. GP and Practice Team Bulletin - Updated
February 2009 – DoH
A bulletin giving monthly updates on health policy and
practice for GPs and the primary care audience, including
practice managers and nurses.
For full report click here
NHS
44. NHS facing £700m negligence bill
6 February 2009 – BBC News
Trusts have set aside £713m to cover costs against
clinical negligence payouts by the NHS in England.
Figures show that such cases are expected to rise by
80% next year.
For full report click here
45. Guidance for Research and Development
Annual Reports 2009: Guidance for completion
of annual reports on the performance
management and future planning of research
and development activity within NHS organisations
4 February 2009 – DWP
Guidance to help organisations write their annual report
and improve data returns.
The submission of an annual report is a contractual
requirement for all recipients of transitional research
and development funding. As 2008-09 is the final
year of transitional research and development funding,
a minimum level of information is required.
For full report click here
46. Independent review of NHS dentistry
3 February 2009 – DoH
An independent team is in place to help improve access
for patients who want to see an NHS dentist.
The team is currently undertaking an extensive review
of NHS dentistry, and are asking for members of
the public to have their say.
For full report click here
47. Department of Health (National)
(DH) NHS ready for PROM date
3 February 2009
New guidance has been published to support collection
of patient reported outcome measures from April 2009 -
Lord Darzi first set out proposals for the routine collection
of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)
in his report High Quality Care for All in June last year. It
aims to collect information on the clinical quality of care
as reported by patients themselves.
Patients are requested to answer the same set of questions
on their quality of life before and after an operation.
48. How fake drugs got into the NHS
3 February 2009 – BBC News
Thousands 'have taken fake drugs'
3 February 2009 – BBC News
It was the highest state of alert the government's
medicines watchdog could possibly issue.
Eighteen months ago the Medicines Health products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued four of its Class
One emergency recall notices in a matter of days to
recoup thousands of packs of life saving drugs for
stroke patients, men with prostate cancer and schizophrenics.
Three life saving medicines needed to be recalled:
Casodex, for prostate cancer, Plavix which is used for
strokes and heart conditions and Zyprexa, which controls
the symptoms of schizophrenia.
For full report click here
For full report click here
49. Medics may get work hours choice
2 February 2009 – BBC News
The Government has announced that not all doctors
will have their working week cut to 48 hours in August
as originally planned.
Ministers have opted out from the European Working
Time Directive, which means that the limit will not go
down to 48 hours for another two years.
Doctors will remain able to work up to 52-hours a
week.
For full report click here
Nursing
Nothing to report
Older People
50. Elderly could be left to care for disabled
adult children under Government plans
1 February 2009—Telegraph
Elderly couples could be forced to care for their disabled
adult children as a result of Government plans
to close hundreds of NHS residential homes.
The "care in the community proposals would involve
moving around 10,000 people with serious learning
difficulties and limited mobility so they can live a
more independent life. Plans for the scheme were
proposed by ministers in 2001 and have been followed
up in a series of White and Green Papers that
aim to prevent disabled people from becoming
"institutionalised".
David Congdon, head of campaigns and policy at
Mencap, the disability charity, said: "There's a danger
in the rush to move people out of NHS provision
that you simply make them go anywhere that suits
your plan. "Seriously disabled adults need to have
enough support where they're living. You cannot do
this on the cheap."
The proposals have not been put into law by Parliament,
but health authorities across the country are
preparing to have them in place by March 31 2010.
For full report go to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
uknews/4422814/Elderly-could-be-left-to-care-for-disabledadult-
children-under-Government-plans.html
51. Independent Review of Older People's
Engagement with Government
3 February 2009 – DWP
This is linking to the Government's response to John
Elbourne's independent review of older people's engagement
with government.
For full report go to http://www.dwp.gov.uk/resourcecentre/
ind_review_older_peoples_eng_with_govt.asp
52. A direct line for older people to shape
Government policy
3 February 2009 – NCF
Rt Hon Rosie Winterton, Minister for Pensions and the
Ageing Society has announced that older people are to
have a bigger say in developing central, regional and
local Government policies.
For full report click here
Parliament
53. Parliamentary Questions and Debate from
the Past Week
The following section is produced in conjunction
with health and social care specialists PLMR –
Political Lobbying & Media Relations –
www.plmr.co.uk
5th February 2009 – House of Commons – Adjournment
debate, which discussed the issues of prejudice
and mental health. The debate, which took place on
Thursday 5th February, was tabled by the Conservative
MP for Broxbourne, Charles Walker. The Minister
of State for Care Services, Phil Hope, spoke on
behalf of the Government. To read this transcript
online click on the following link: http://
www.publications.parliament.uk/
5th February 2009 – House of Commons – Written
Parliamentary Questions and Answers that asked the
Government about infection control standards and the
number of care homes who comply with these standards.
The Written Question was tabled by the
Shadow Health Minister and Conservative MP for
Eddisbury, Stephen O’Brien, and was answered by
the Minister for Care Services, Phil Hope MP. To read
the question and answer online click on the following
link: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/
Social Care
54. Social care provision is reviewed
8 February 2009 – BBC News
Merseyside has started a consultation on providing a
£6m scheme to improve social care provision.
Liverpool City Council said the "Personalisation"
scheme is looking at ways that people could choose
their own home and day care services.
For full report click here
John Baker calls on councils to shore up
providers
Leonard Cheshire's Guy Parckar warns of
effect on disabled people
5 February 2009 – Community Care
John Baker, head of consultancy Deloitte’s social care
team, has warned that the recession could lead to significant
increases in social care charges and drive providers
out of the market.
He also said that some providers were coming under
pressure because they had “borrowed quite heavily
over the past few years” and were now struggling to
refinance loans because of credit's lack of availability.
For full report click here
Thurrock modernises adult social care department
5 February 2009 – NCF
Thurrock Council has been reported to have overhauled
its adult social care department as part of its
implementation of personalisation.
Social workers will be stopped assessing and handling
care management apart from in complex or safeguarding
cases, each of which will be handled by separate
new teams.
For full report click here
Demos launches a Constitution for Social
Care
4 February 2009 – NCF
Demos has partnered with Leonard Cheshire Disability
and the Multiple Sclerosis Society to investigate what
disabled people of working age need from the social
care system and how the future funding of social care
can be designed to meet that need.
For full report click here
Workforce
Nothing to report
Now is the winter of our
discontent?
It’s that time of year again when Councils up and
down the country will be setting their budgets and the
Council Tax. Few would envy them the task given
that we are living in recessionary times with spiralling
government debt and plunging economic confidence.
Local authorities in common with everyone else are
being plagued and assaulted by the economic downturn.
Their returns on investments are low and increasingly
risky just like what is happening to the rest
of us. However in addition to these usual vicissitudes
of economic life Councils have additional concerns
to trouble them.
The government set out a 3 year settlement for local
government – and we are about to enter year 2. Just
imagine all those assumptions made about economic
performance and revenue streams in the heady days
of 2007 when planning the 2008-9, 2009-10 and
2010-11 settlements! Councils are seeing their fee
incomes from things like planning applications fall by,
in some cases 50% or more. We all know Councils
are not that light on their feet when it comes to letting
staff go. In any event would they let go of experienced
planning officers now and lose years of experience
in an important rarefied field when we all
reasonably expect there to be an upturn in economic
activity sometime soonish, we all hope? So these
losses of fees really hurt.
We need to add to this heady mix additional cost and
uncertainties associated with underfunded superannuation
liabilities and in some cases toxic debt or
credit crunch problems such as money stuck in an
Icelandic Bank. And then there is the fact that we
are dealing with the public sector and the need to
demonstrate financial prudence to a level which the
private sector doesn’t have to. Did you know, for example,
that a local authority has to be able to satisfy
its auditors that it has sufficient reserves? Inevitably
that prudent provisioning necessarily increases the
conservatism in budget requiring more money in and
paying less money out. Is now the time for such conservatism
– probably yes – but then we will all be
paying for it.
Then there are the political dimensions. Her Majesty’s
Government has, over recent years, been very
fond of passing responsibilities on to local government
expecting them to meet the latest headline
grabbing obligation out of their efficiency savings.
One of the more recent examples of this is the suggestion
that local authorities provide free swimming
opportunities to everyone – including the under 60s.
There is government money available to assist local
authorities do this – however not enough to meet the
costs and liabilities of running the service. So any
local authority that provides this service for its populace
will be out of pocket. Another costly example
from recent years was the introduction of countrywide
free travel for pensioners. It is local authorities
that have to meet this bill fulfilling a government diktat
– but, in some cases, without being fully funded for
doing so.
Then we have the political parties fighting over Council
Tax rises – or preferably as many politicians would
prefer no rise at all. But we all remember inflation
peaked at around 5% not so long ago even if we are
looking at inflation being close to zero for a while to
come.
So, you are probably thinking why is Dawson delivering
an essay on the difficulties of local government
budget setting? Well it is to point out that Adult Social
Care and Children’s Care budgets are not immune
from these economic pressures and, of course the
government’s understandable desire to drive down
the cost of providing such care. In most County and
Unitary authorities Adult Social Care is the biggest
“single ticket item” with Children’s Services often being
the next. These two major services can command
around 50% of a Council’s revenue budget – so
inevitably when it comes to cost cutting and efficiency
savings these items have to be scrutinised.
As a firm we receive many requests for assistance
from clients undergoing service user reviews which
appear to be conducted in bad faith and contrary to
everything that the personalisation agenda was
meant to achieve. In some cases service users
whose condition is deteriorating and thus in need of
greater care are being assessed as needing less assistance.
Local authorities do seem to expect cross
subsidies from service user to service user. In some
cases the officers appear not to have read the terms
of the contracts they imposed when it comes to reviewing
rates!
Andrew Dawson
I have to say I expect this sort of complaint to become
more frequent as local authorities look to save
cash. Now is the winter of our discontent – but I
don’t see a glorious summer ahead of us – just continuing
belt tightening and angst.
To discuss anything arising from this article or
any of the matters touched upon contact Andrew
Dawson at andrew.dawson@brunswicks.eu or
telephone him on 0870 766 9281