social care

An interactive toolkit, developed to support the implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act, which provides information and advice to support Local Authorities and Health Boards to undertake an assessment of care and support needs and carers' needs in their local area. The toolkit is in three main sections. Section one (the ‘What’ guide) looks at what is required under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act, the benefits of carrying out an assessment, analysing the data, and what should be included in the report.

Social and political constructions of carers have been criticized for undervaluing the complexities of the experiences of carers. However, relatively little research has attempted to generate more meaningful constructions of carers by drawing these considerations together. The purpose of this article is to begin addressing this need. To accomplish this, the article is presented in two sections. First, an overview is provided on the current constructions of carers and suggested considerations for research.

Carers play an ambiguous role within the personalisation paradigm currently shaping adult social care practice in England. Although carers have rights to assessments and support in their own right, these rights sit uneasily alongside the practices of assessment, support planning and personal budget (PB) allocation for older and disabled people. This paper reports how 14 dyads of older and learning disabled people with cognitive and/or communication impairments and their carers viewed the roles - desired and actual - played by carers in PBs.

There are an estimated 6.4 million people in the UK1 currently caring for a child, friend, neighbour, partner or parent or a combination of these. Carers look after family and friends who are disabled, frail or ill. They work alongside professionals, volunteers, care homes, special schools and community groups often caring for people in their own home. The hours of care that they provide for ill, frail or disabled people often comes at a cost to their own health and well-being. The impact on a carers’ health and well-being, finances and relationships cannot be underestimated.

After a damning report [The state of social care in England 2005-6] which revealed the increasing burden on friends and family members who support people with care needs, Amy Taylor, Mary Garboden and Simeon Brody look at the reasons behind the crisis and whether it is retrievable. 

A key feature of population ageing in Europe and other more economically developed countries is the projected unprecedented rise in need for long-term care in the next two decades. There is, however, considerable uncertainty over the future supply of unpaid care for older people by their adult children. The future of family care is particularly important in countries planning to reform their long-term care systems, as is the case in England.

Proposals for councils to register adult placement schemes will come as a relief to individual carers who will be spared the regulatory load. Anabel Unity Sale looks at why change is necessary and asks whether it will improve practice. [Introduction]

This paper reviews the challenges faced by unpaid family carers and the current support and services available to them. It argues that current carer support should be built on and presents the evidence for doing so, including evidence of the opportunities to make substantial savings in residential care costs. The paper suggests a new way in which proposed resource allocation and personal budget systems could be developed in order to sustain caring, avoiding the risk of a new perverse incentive to families to end caring roles.

A project worker who identified gaps in services for ethnic minority carers of people with mental health difficulties provided the catalyst for Birmingham's Pamela Project, which won a Community Care Award. Anabel Unity Sale reports. [Introduction]