scholarly journals Age, Ethnicity and Equalities: Synthesising Policy and Practice Messages from Two Recent Studies of Elder Abuse in the UK

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Alison Bowes

Two recent studies of elder abuse in the UK are located in current policy contexts of adult safeguarding. After describing the studies, the discussion draws out their central messages and identifies the challenges that the studies present to recent policy debates and innovations. These relate to the need to properly integrate both wider older people's issues and issues of racism and ethnicity within developments in adult safeguarding policy as well as social care services as the personalisation agenda advances.

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 223-227
Author(s):  
Martin Stevens

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the themes identified by Wark et al.’s paper and to highlight commonalities and differences between the Australian and the UK social and health care regimes. It also points to evidence about other implications for policy and practice of the increasing numbers of people growing older who have learning disabilities. Design/methodology/approach – The commentary analyses some policy and practice documents and identifies a range of other research and commentary on this topic. Findings – Wark et al. have identified areas of importance for supporting older people with learning disabilities, particularly access to suitable and acceptable services and the importance of sufficient support worker time. They also identify gaps in the research on people’s needs and service responses. The commentary also highlights other factors for consideration in work with this group of people, particularly the implementation of personalisation policies in social care and integration between health and social care services. Research limitations/implications – There is a need for further research into developing policy and practice for health and social care for older people with learning disabilities. Some of the evidence supports the case for specialist involvement, particularly by nursing professionals. Originality/value – The paper and this commentary highlight the challenges associated with the increasing number of older people with learning disabilities in contemporary debates about the role of the state and professional specialists.


Author(s):  
Donald Hirsch

This chapter promotes the UK Minimum Income Standards (MIS) as a benchmark in social policy and practice. It explains how the MIS research continues to have a strong influence over social policy debates in Britain and exposes the inadequacy of the national minimum wage that helped fuel the campaign for a “living wage.” It also features MIS as a key element in the new Scottish measure of fuel poverty. The chapter observes how MIS has not been taken up by governments as a standard for setting or targeting minimum incomes in terms of social protection. It observes that it will require a major political commitment to redistribution if the British government were to adopt MIS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 2063-2082
Author(s):  
Lisa Richardson ◽  
Agnes Turnpenny ◽  
Beckie Whelton ◽  
Julie Beadle-Brown

Abstract Choice and control are pivotal in UK Government policy for achieving personalisation of social care for people with learning disabilities; however, little is known about the role care management plays in supporting people with learning disabilities finding social care services. This article explores that the support care managers provide people with learning disabilities, how care managers source and use information to offer choice in relation to accommodation and support, with a focus on people receiving managed budgets. Qualitative interviews with eight care managers from two local authorities in the South East of England were analysed using thematic network analysis, producing three global themes. The first ‘shaping choice’ describes the role of the care management process and assessments have in determining opportunities for choice. The gathering and interpretation of quality information is explored in the second global theme, highlighting the role of visiting settings to understand their quality. ‘Choice in principle’ is the third global theme, whereby the factors shaping choice come to be seen as choice akin to that anyone else has. These findings have implications for future policy and practice in relation to care management for people with learning disabilities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ailsa Cameron ◽  
Lisa Bostock ◽  
Rachel Lart

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an update to a review of the joint working literature in the field of health and social care for adults, with particular emphasis given to the experiences of users and carers. Design/methodology/approach – The aims of the literature review remained largely the same as those of the original, they were to identify: models of joint working, evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and the factors promoting or hindering the models. However, to reflect the growing interest in the experiences of users and carers a fourth aim was added to map these experiences. Given their prominence in terms of policy debates about integration, the review focused on jointly organised services for older people and people with mental health problems in the UK only. Findings – The review demonstrates tentative signs that some initiatives designed to join-up or integrate services can deliver outcomes desired by government. Importantly some studies that report the experiences of users of services and carers suggest that they perceive benefits from efforts to join-up or integrate services. However it is our contention that the evidence is less than compelling and does not justify the faith invested in the strategy by current or previous governments. Originality/value – The study updates our knowledge of the impact of joint working in the field of health and social care for adults. Importantly the paper highlights what is known about the experiences of users and carers of joint/integrated services.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruna Oliveira Plassa ◽  
Miriam Fernanda Sanches Alarcon ◽  
Daniela Garcia Damaceno ◽  
Viviane Boacnin Yoneda Sponchiado ◽  
Luzmarina Aparecida Doretto Braccialli ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: To identify the flows of service for older people, victims of violence in different care services and to analyze the main critical issues. Method: This is a descriptive and exploratory study based on interviews with professionals responsible for: health services; judicial and social care, and with elder abuse victims, in a medium-sized city in the countryside of the state of São Paulo. Data enabled the creation of a flowchart to describe and define the critical issues, according to the model created by Franco and Merhy. Results: The following critical issues were identified: lack of centrality when directing complaints; difficulty to contact 100 hotline; collection of insufficient data on the event; lack of communication among services; victim's withdrawal in the middle of the process; lack of knowledge by the services and the population on social care functions; conflict among services in cases of difficult situations to solve, and lack of intervention by primary health care teams in response to a violence complaint. Conclusions and implications for practice: Critical issues point to the need to enhance interventions from the intersectoral perspective, with the aim to improve older people's quality of health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-179
Author(s):  
Samantha Flynn ◽  
Chris Hatton

Purpose This paper aims to present data about access to health and social care services during the COVID-19 pandemic for adults with learning disabilities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected directly from 621 adults with learning disabilities and through separate proxy reports by family carers and paid support staff of another 378 adults with learning disabilities. The data were collected between December 2020 and February 2021 and concerned the use of health and social care services since the start of the first COVID-19 national lockdown in March 2020. Findings Access to and use of health and social care services significantly reduced for adults with learning disabilities across the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and February 2021, with many people not receiving any services at all during that period. Similar patterns were seen across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, data suggest some variations between countries for some services. Practical implications Future pandemic planning must ensure that access to these essential services is not completely lost for adults with learning disabilities and their family carers, as it was in some cases during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Originality/value This is the largest study about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and social care services for adults with learning disabilities in the UK. The authors primarily collected data directly from adults with learning disabilities, and worked with partner organisations of people with learning disabilities throughout the study.


Author(s):  
Nick Andrews ◽  
John Gabbay ◽  
Andreé Le-May ◽  
Emma Miller ◽  
Alison Petch ◽  
...  

Background: Evidence-based practice in social care and health is widely promoted. Making it a reality remains challenging, partly because practitioners generally see practice-based knowledge as more relevant than empirical research. A further challenge regarding the creative, contextual use of research and other evidence including lived experience and practice-based knowledge is that practitioners, especially in frontline care services, are often seen not as innovators, but recipients of rules and guidelines or followers of pre-determined plans. Likewise, older people are not generally recognised as co-creators of knowledge, learning and development but as passive recipients of care, or objects of research.Aims: This study aimed to address the above issues, through a collaborative and appreciative endeavour involving researchers; social care and health practitioners; managers; older people and carers in 6 sites across Wales and Scotland.Methods: We used participatory action research methodology, applying a dialogic storytelling approach, which enabled participants to explore and address 7 already published research-based ‘Challenges’ regarding what matters most to older people with high-support needs.Findings: Participants discovered and addressed five elements required in developing evidence-enriched practice; the creation of supportive and relationship-centred research and practice environments; the valuing of diverse types of evidence; the use of engaging narratives to capture and share evidence; the use of dialogue-based approaches to learning and development; and the recognition and resolution of systemic barriers to development.Discussion and conclusion: Although existing literature covers each element, this project was novel in collectively exploring and addressing all five elements together, and in its use of multiple forms of story, which engaged hearts and minds, positive outcomes were achieved.


2020 ◽  
pp. 026101832091181
Author(s):  
Sarah Pollock

In the UK, individuals with limited English-language proficiency (LEP) self-report poorer health and face challenges accessing health and social care support. Health and social care policies in English speaking countries provide practitioners with guidance that ensures access to public service interpreters for individuals who require them. The guidance simultaneously discourages the use of informal language brokers, including family and friends, suggesting that they are not educated or objective enough to conduct this role, and that they present unmanageable risks. This poses a challenge, as research exploring patient and service user choices, finds that individuals consistently prefer an informal language broker. The paper explores the contradiction between a legislative shift towards empowerment and choice within social work and the policies that restrict these rights in relation to interpretation. Exploring these challenges with a focus on policy and practice, leads to the suggestion that individuals should be empowered to choose who provides their language support. In contrast, existing policies increase the power imbalance between professionals and users of services, significantly affecting the life chances of those with LEP.


2009 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 773-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruby C.M. Chau ◽  
Sam W.K. Yu

English With the focus on how Chinese older people in the UK use health and social care services, this article demonstrates how these services’ sensitivity is undermined by mistaken assumptions about whether ethnic-minority groups organize health and care according to their cultural principles, and the unity of these principles. French Centré sur la façon dont les Chinois âgés utilisent les services de santé et d’accompagnement social en Grande Bretagne, cet article démontre comment la perception de ces services est biaisée par des représentations erronées selon lesquelles les groupes des minorités ethniques organisent la santé et l’accompagnement social selon leurs principes culturels et en vertu de l’unité de ces principes. Spanish Este artículo se centra en cómo las personas chinas de tercera edad usan los servicios sociales y de salud en Gran Bretaña. Hay suposiciones erróneas acerca de la unidad de principios culturales, y acerca de cómo los grupos étnicos organ izan el cuidado social y el cuidado de la salud. Estas suposiciones debilitan la sensibilidad cultural hacia estos grupos.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. e053185
Author(s):  
Megan Armstrong ◽  
Caroline Shulman ◽  
Briony Hudson ◽  
Patrick Stone ◽  
Nigel Hewett

IntroductionThe number of people living in homeless hostels in the UK has steadily increased over the past decade. Despite people experiencing homelessness often having considerable health problems and a range of complex needs frequently in association with addictions, the experiences of hostel staff and residents especially in relation to accessing health and social care support have seldom been explored. The aim of this paper is to identify the barriers and facilitators to accessing health and social care services for people living in homeless hostels.DesignExploratory qualitative baseline data were collected as part of an intervention to facilitate palliative care in-reach into hostels.Setting/participantsInterviews were conducted with 33 participants; 18 homeless hostel managers/support staff and 15 people experiencing homelessness, from six homeless hostels in London and Kent.ResultsThree themes were identified (1) internal and external service barriers to health and social care access due to stigma, lack of communication and information sharing from services and assumptions around capacity and the role of the hostel, (2) the impact of lack of health and social care support on hostel staff leading to burnout, staff going beyond their job role and continuous support given to residents, (3) potential facilitators to health and social care access such in-reach and support from those who understand this population and hostel staff training.DiscussionResidents have multiple complex needs yet both hostel staff and residents face stigma and barriers accessing support from external services. Positive relationships were described between hostel residents and staff, which can be an essential step in engaging with other services. People experiencing homelessness urgently need better access to person-centred, trauma-informed support ideally via in-reach from people who understand the needs of the population.


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