Social care online

Presents an easy read guide to obtaining direct payments and choosing a carer. A Direct Payment is a cash payment from a Local Authority, to enable people to purchase their own services. The power to make Direct Payments is given to Local Authorities under the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996, which came into force on the 1st April 1997. Guidance to accompany the Act specifically included people with a learning disability.

Objectives: The topic of how primary informal caregivers cope with their caregiving demands has generated significant research. However, little is known about secondary informal caregivers, who often share caregiving responsibilities. This cross-sectional study aims to analyse and compare the use and effectiveness of coping strategies of primary and secondary informal caregivers of dependent elderly people, living at home.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced significant amendments to the NHS Act 2006. This guidance supports two legal duties, requiring clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and commissioners in NHS England to enable patients and carers to participate in planning, managing and making decisions about their care and treatment through the services they commission; and to enable effective public participation in the commissioning process, so that services provided reflect the needs of local people.

The Executive commissioned this report in recognition of the contribution which unpaid carers make to the provision and quality of care in Scotland. Unpaid care is likely to grow in importance as people live longer and receive more care at home. The study was commissioned to help the Executive  consider the main factors which need to shape the development and funding of services so that they can best support the contribution of unpaid carers over the next 10 years.

This paper sets out the broad framework of a governance system to support stage 2 delivery of Northern Ireland strategy for social work. The governance system for stage 2 aims to support frontline workers and service users to be more connected to and part of the Strategy’s drive to strengthen the effectiveness and impact of their practice in improving people’s social wellbeing in partnership with service users and carers.

Medicare home health care policy does not incorporate research evidence of effective palliative home care interventions for Alzheimer's disease and dementia patients and caregivers. This article examines the dissonance between the needs and burdens of Alzheimer's disease patients and caregivers, research results on medical and palliative care interventions, and medicalized public policy in the Medicare home health benefit.

Improving mental health and treating mental illness are two of our major challenges. We are not unique in facing these challenges and in Scotland we have had much success in promoting rights and recovery, addressing stigma and improving service outcomes. More people are receiving effective treatment and they receive it more quickly than ever before. Increasingly, people have a good understanding of their own mental health and are prepared to talk about things when things are not good. People come from around the world to learn from us.

A carer is the person in regular contact with the person  cared for. Whether a care professional, a care worker or a carer (i.e. friend, relative or neighbour) carers are in a unique position to help prevent that person from becoming a victim of bogus callers.

Valuing people now sets out the Government's strategy for people with learning disabilities for the next three years following consultation. It also responds to the main recommendations in Healthcare for All, the independent inquiry into access to healthcare for people with learning disabilities.

There has been limited research on the attitudes of family carers and the part they play in helping people with a learning disability choose accommodation. A postal questionnaire was sent to family carers of people with Down's Syndrome, to identify their attitudes to supported living, their experience of the application process, and the support they provided to residents. It was found that main family carers of people with Down's Syndrome in supported living were generally satisfied with the housing and support provided, particularly with respect to activities of daily living.