Social Services News, brought to you by IRISS

Thinking of working abroad?

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:13:25 PDT

In a Community Care article, Gordon Carson looks at possible destinations for social workers thinking of packing their bags and practising overseas, and presents tips on planning for a new life abroad.

Leadership initiatives

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:10:35 PDT

During September and October, the Workforce Unit will be working in partnership with the University of Stirling, Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability and the Service User and Carer Forum, to gather information about leadership within social services in Scotland and is calling for individuals and oragnisations to get involved.

Events are also being held in Aberdeen and Glasgow.

More information is available on the Workforce Unit website.

Blog on why the General Social Care Council must be saved

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:54:55 PDT

In this blog published by the Guardian, Nick Johnson offers his thoughts on why the General Social Care Council (GSCC) must be saved.

New drugs recovery research published

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:50:39 PDT

The Scottish Government has welcomed the publication of new research into how people recover from drug misuse.

Social Work Changes Lives PR Symposium - speaker presentations

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:45:50 PDT

If you missed the Social Work Changes Lives PR Symposium that was held last week, you can access the speakers presentations on the Association of Directors of Social Work (ADSW) website.

The Symposium offered interesting insights from some of Scotland's leading journalists on securing positive coverage for social work.

Care for the elderly to be hit hard by cuts

mdrumm — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:30:27 PDT

In a Guardian news feature, Anna Bawden looks at how harsh spending cuts will hit those who use frontline services.

Charity calls for 'Grand coalition' to raise Scottish care standards

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:13:19 PDT

The British Association for Social Workers (BASW) reports that a leading children’s charity, the Aberlour Child Care Trust, has called on all Scottish political parties to put aside their differences and form a ‘grand coalition’ to improve outcomes for looked-after children.

Substance abuse, not mental illness, linked to violent crime

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:07:19 PDT

The BBC reports that illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are not the reason why violent crimes are committed by mental health patients.

Recorded Crime in Scotland 2009-10 report published

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:54:05 PDT

The Scottish Government has published Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2009-10, which presents statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the eight Scottish police forces in 2009-10.

The figures show that the total number of crimes recorded by the police decreased by 10% between 2008-09 and 2009-10. In 2009-10, the Scottish police recorded 338,028 crimes.

Calls for better advice about care

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:46:26 PDT

Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care, is calling for more support to ensure that people make good decisions about their own care.

Most people don't understand the care system and how it is funded, don't know where to get information when they need care and don't know what they are entitled to.

Those are among the somewhat depressing findings of a survey commissioned by Counsel and Care published for ElderCare Week.

Survey on working with people with learning difficulties in health and social care

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:40:18 PDT

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Knowledge Services Group are developing an online resource to support social services and health workers in the learning disability sector.

To assist the development of this resource, they have created an online survey to uncover the information needs of the health and social services workforce in caring and supporting people with learning disabilities.

You can complete the online survey using the link below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FKXNGM9

Case study: young carers of parents with mental health issues

mdrumm — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:35:48 PDT

In 2009, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) introduced guidelines for practitioners to support families in which parents have mental health problems.

In this article, Scie presents a case study demonstrating how the guidance could be successfully applied.