Social work news

• ‘Worst financial outlook for years’ for adult social care revealed by directors’ survey

  16-07-2024 17:29
  
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  Adult social care faces its “worst financial outlook” for at least seven years on the back of rising levels and complexity of need and costs being shifted from the NHS, a survey of directors has revealed.
  Despite receiving what the previous government described as the “biggest funding increase in history” for 2023-25, councils overspent their adult care budgets by &p
  
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• Aged care homes accused of ‘short-changing’ Australians as nearly two-thirds fail to meet care-minute targets

  16-07-2024 17:00
  Study finds providers making profits off government funding despite falling short on mandatory care targetsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastAged care homes should not be “short-changing” older people by making profits off government funding while falling short of mandatory care targets, advocates say, as pressure grows on the federal government to introduce the new Aged Care Act to parliament after repeated delays.Recent analysis from the Agein
  
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• Mental health social workers return to work after nine-week strike

  16-07-2024 11:40
  
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  Mental health social workers returned to work yesterday after a nine-week strike.
  The Barnet Council practitioners, represented by UNISON, have taken 81 days’ strike action in total since September 2023 in a dispute over staffing levels in their teams that the union describes as “unsafe”.
  Barnet UNISON has now suspended strike action and is in the process of agreeing dates
  
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• Family help: one local authority’s experience of the model

  16-07-2024 09:00
  
  In July 2023, Norfolk County Council’s children’s services began a trial of the family help model.
  The model involves setting up multi-disciplinary teams, through the merger of targeted family support and social work services, with a range of other disciplines, to provide more effective support to families across a span of help and protection. It also involves making greater use of family networks to step in when there are concerns about a child.
  It is based on a recommendation from
  
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• Hospital discharges limiting home care in England, councils say

  16-07-2024 07:00
  
  Authorities say attempts to clear NHS backlogs sucking up scant funds at expense of preventive careVulnerable people face being denied basic preventive social care at home due to a wave of rapid discharges from hospitals that is sucking up resources, council bosses have warned.Despite cross-party support for more early care at home, town hall officials are having to allocate resources to people with more complex needs, many discharged from hospital early as part of attempts to clear NHS backlogs
  
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• Fifth of UK hospices cutting services amid funding crisis, finds report

  16-07-2024 06:00
  
  Sector says ‘too many people dying in avoidable pain’, with soaring numbers being pushed back into the NHSOne in five hospices in the UK are cutting services amid the worst funding crisis in two decades, a report has warned, with soaring numbers of patients being pushed back into the NHS.Research by Hospice UK found “small and wildly varying” state funding had failed to keep pace with growing demand and rising running costs. Continue reading...
  
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