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Answering the charges
- Author:
- SCRASE Richard
- Journal article citation:
- Viewpoint, May 2009, pp.20-21.
- Publisher:
- Mencap/Gateway
A judge recently ruled that Cornwall County Council's decision to start charging a man with a learning disability for his care was unlawful. Cornwall County Council had begun charging when the responsibility for learning disability services was transferred from the NHS Trust to social services. The author, associate partner at Follet and Stock and the acting solicitor, explores the wider significance of the case.
Six lives: the provision of public services to people with learning disabilities: part one: overview and summary investigation reports: second report session 2008-2009
- Authors:
- LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN, PARLIAMENTARY AND HEALTH SERVICE OMBUDSMAN
- Publisher:
- Stationery Office
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 69p., CD ROM
- Place of publication:
- London
This independent report responds to complaints brought by the charity Mencap on behalf of the families of six people with learning disabilities who died whilst in NHS or local authority care between 2003 and 2005. The cases of Mark Cannon, Warren Cox, Edward Hughes, Emma Kemp, Martin Ryan and Tom Wakefield were originally brought to public attention in Mencap’s 2007 report Death by Indifference. This overview report draws out common themes and learning from these cases, and makes some general recommendations to address those issues. It also contains a summary of the individual investigation reports.
Social services statistics Wales: 2007-08
- Author:
- LOCAL GOVERNMENT DATA UNIT WALES
- Publisher:
- Local Government Data Unit Wales
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 106p., tables
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
This publication is based on information collected by local authority social services departments in Wales and provided to the Local Government Data Unit - Wales (Data Unit). All information is based on the financial year 2007-08 unless otherwise stated.
'It's the system working for the system': carers' experiences of learning disability services in Ireland
- Author:
- POWER Andrew
- Journal article citation:
- Health and Social Care in the Community, 17(1), February 2009, pp.92-98.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The aim of this article is to examine the experiences of families with young adults with learning disabilities trying to access services. The landscape of disability services for this group is made up of day care, special vocational training and respite places. It aims to identify the extent of an implementation gap between government rhetoric and the degree to which services are characterised as being non-supportive interactions on the ground. Using Ireland as a case study, during a time when the economy is booming and government rhetoric claims unparalleled developments in allocating resources and extra respite 'places', this article identifies the main challenges faced by family carers associated with accessing appropriate services for their disabled adult child, in their attempt to achieve greater independence. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study in which individual semi structured interviews were held with family carers (n = 25) and representatives from national carer organisations (n = 6) in Ireland. These were people caring for an adult (18–30 years) with a learning disability and their experiences were also useful in cross-checking the carer organisation interviews. The findings show that there is limited flexibility, choice and availability in meeting the preferences of the service-users, and throughout the study, services were characterised as being non-supportive interactions. This is not simply symptomatic of a lack of resources. Despite improved funding, supportive attitudes and flexibility are still crucial in meeting user requirements at the level of delivery; thus highlighting that often the system works for the system, not for the user.
Safeguarding adults: lessons from the murder of Steven Hoskin
- Author:
- SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
- Publisher:
- Social Care Institute for Excellence
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Place of publication:
- London
Steven Hoskin had learning disabilities and lived alone in St Austell. He was tortured and murdered by people who targeted him because of his learning disabilities. Investigations showed that Steven had made numerous calls to a number of agencies, including the police, health and social care services, so they should have been aware that he was in danger. Following the serious case review into Steven’s murder there have been significant improvements in communication, information sharing and partnership working between the agencies in the area. Staff training has also been improved. The police have introduced a ‘neighbourhood harm register’ which ensures that an alert is raised when there are repeat calls from the same people with the same problems. In such cases, data is shared with the appropriate agencies and they work together to provide a joint response. Similarly, a system for recognising and responding to ‘cluster calls’ has been developed within the ambulance service. The video demonstrates that partnership between agencies and sound information sharing procedures are vital to the safeguarding of adults.