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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue for a strengthening of the relational aspect of social work and for initiatives that involve local people and local communities.Design/methodology/approach A think piece based on observations of the current situation and supporting evidence.Findings Social work has become distanced from those whom it seeks to help. Case management and risk assessment need to be complemented by a more human approach based on positive relationships between professionals and service users.Originality/value An informed discussion on the future of social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Comment on the contribution that housing can make to delivering better health and wellbeing outcomes. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is threefold: summarise recent evidence that makes the case for housing in helping to address health and social care issues; comment on the challenges and opportunities of partnership working; and describe examples of interesting and innovative local joint provision.Design/methodology/approach Draws on the author's briefing papers on housing, health and social care for housing quality network, which is a national housing consultancy organisation as well as the author's role as Chairperson of East Midlands Housing Care and Support, which is a regional housing association.Findings Collaboration between housing, health and social care is making slow progress at the national level in England. This is despite an ever-increasing evidence base highlighting that good housing can help to address issues, such as delayed discharges. Nevertheless, there are an increasing number of interesting examples of successful local initiatives on housing, health and adult social care. The way forward is to facilitate joint working at a local level.Originality/value Focusses on the success of examples of local joint working between housing, health and social care to achieve better outcomes for vulnerable people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the hostility many young women who are also mothers experience within their everyday lives.Design/methodology/approach The paper will draw on qualitative research, incorporating a narrative approach, to illustrate the hostility many young mothers experience on a daily basis. The research design included a focus group, semi-structure interviews and participant observations.Findings The paper reports the findings of a study that explored the experiences of young women who are also mothers. The author presents the findings that indicate that many young women, who are also young mothers, experience hostile reactions and interactions as part of their everyday lives.Research limitations/implications The small sample size means that this study cannot be generalised, but it does contribute to the growing body of qualitative evidence in relation to young mothers.Practical implications The findings suggest that there needs to be more recognition and acknowledgement of the hostility young women experience. Such hostility could have deleterious consequences on the young women, their parenting ability and also on the children.Originality/value This paper documents the experiences of young women who are also mothers and how they experience hostility as a daily occurrence. The hostility ranged from verbal to non-verbal and how they felt they were being treated, inferences about their sexuality to stereotyping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the particular characteristics and strengths of mainstream undergraduate and postgraduate university education for social workers.Design/methodology/approach A brief summary of the establishment of the honours degree or M-level qualification as the requirement for registration as a social worker in England is followed by a summary of the main aspects of “mainstream” social work courses. The values underpinning a “student” rather than a “trainee” route into social work are explored and some limited comparisons made with recently introduced fast-track specialist programmes. Where relevant, the student experience is contrasted with that of fast-track specialist trainees.Findings The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential impact on the social work profession and on agencies providing social work services of the cuts over the past few years in the numbers of students on “generalist” mainstream social work programmes.Research limitations/implications This is a conceptual paper. It recognises that more information is available on long-established university programmes than on the more recently available fast-track routes into social work and cites relevant research.Practical implications The paper points to the changing balance between numbers entering social work in England via mainstream and fast-track specialist programmes and argues for a fuller debate amongst all stakeholders as to whether this change is in the interest of the profession and those who need social work services.Social implications The author argues that the unequal level of funding between the different entry routes into social work is distorting choice (for students and future employers) between fast-track specialist and mainstream social work education. It is hypothesised that differences between the curricula and learning experiences of the two routes may have an impact on the social work service available to vulnerable people across age and needs groups. It also points to a potentially negative impact on social work education and the knowledge base of the reduction in numbers of academics with both social work practice experiences and research qualifications.Originality/value This is an original paper that draws on the author’s experience and the published research and grey literature cited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to expose and dispel some outdated dilemmas and straw men that have drawn attention away from debates of substance in social work. The paper presents what Frontline believes to be the substantive dilemmas facing the social work profession, as it looks into the future.Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on the insights and experiences of the past four years during which Frontline has been innovating in the field of social work education and leadership development.Findings Building a better social work system requires addressing several important questions, namely, whether social work; first, is a practical or intellectual task; second, is a generic or specialist profession; third, focuses on social or therapeutic change; fourth, requires bureaucrats or change agents; and fifth, involves measuring inspections or measuring outcomes.Originality/value The paper sets out the key dilemmas facing the social work profession, which must be debated and addressed in order to build a better social work system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose How might the profession of child protection social work be “future proofed”, i.e. remain intact and of value beyond its present existence? The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approach This is a discussion/“think piece” paper, in which the author argues that foregrounding the art and science of helping relationships is a way forward. Recognising and promoting the centrality of helping relationships is the direction in which the author believes (or is it hopes?) social work should head, because “more of the same” is not, in the author’s view, possible to sustain for much longer. Treading the well-worn but pot-holed path of box-ticking, endless risk assessment and perfunctory statutory visiting is likely to lead to continuing problems retaining social workers and, for those who do stay, increased burnout, compassion fatigue and secondary trauma, each of which interrupts or delays the development of working alliances with family members.Findings Growing reliance on thresholds and checklists to assess risk has served to increase referrals. As a result, social workers spend much of their time on triaging and filtering rather than working with the children and families that most need help and protection. Further, it is not what is in the practitioner’s toolkit that matters: rather, it is a defined set of personal skills and qualities that tips the balance to achieve lasting change. Thus, in order to “future proof” social work, we would do well to deepen our understanding of how helping relationships can lead to lasting change. Supporting social workers in this work is not just the responsibility of individual practitioners and their professional bodies, action also needs to be taken at governmental and managerial levels.Originality/value This is a discussion/“think piece”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose In the past 40 years, both health policy and educational policy in England have adopted commitments to reducing socially created inequalities. However, an inequalities perspective has only begun to emerge in relation to child protection, and child welfare services more widely. The purpose of this paper is to chart evidence of these green shoots of a new policy direction which focusses on two aspects: equalising service provision and outcomes for looked after children.Design/methodology/approach The paper provides an analysis of trends in policies as expressed in official documents, research studies and policy statements.Findings The paper outlines the argument for a more comprehensive approach to addressing inequalities in child protection and child welfare services, and concludes by suggesting some implications for policy and practice.Originality/value The paper develops the concept of an inequalities perspective in child protection and outlines key implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the changes in child protection policy and practice in England over the last 30 years, in particular to critically analyse the nature and impact of the “refocusing” initiative of the mid-1990s.Design/methodology/approach Policy analysis.Findings While the period from the mid-1990s until 2008 can be seen to show how policy and practice attempted to build on a number of the central principles of the “refocusing” initiative, the period since 2008 has been very different. Following the huge social reaction to the death of Peter Connelly, policy and practice moved in directions quite contra to the “refocusing” initiative’s aims and aspirations such that we can identify a refocusing of “refocusing”. Such developments were given a major impetus with the election of the Coalition government in 2010 and have been reinforced further following the election of the Conservative government in May 2015.Originality/value The paper places the changes in child protection policy and practice in England in their political and economic contexts and makes explicit how the changes impact on the role and responsibilities of professionals, particularly social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Notwithstanding heightened awareness of the issues faced by homeless people, the notion that homelessness is the result of individual failings and weaknesses persists. The purpose of this paper is to challenge that perception by giving voice to this marginalised group and exploring the mechanisms through which they made and remade as homeless and may be protected.Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews (n=23) were carried out with a sample of homeless people who had accessed a range of homelessness services in the study area.Findings It is argued that largely deprived of the private sphere, which arguably renders them in most need of public space, homeless people find themselves most subject to scrutiny, surveillance, social disapprobation and exclusion.Research limitations/implications The authors reiterate that rather than simply being associated with rooflessness, homelessness is as a function of ongoing geographical marginalisation and social alienation.Practical implications The authors suggest that dedicated spaces for homeless people to occupy during the day continue to be in need of development because, whilst not unproblematic, they can disrupt processes associated with homelessness.Social implications Further resources should be directed towards homelessness and the issues that arise during daytime for homeless people.Originality/value The paper supports the literature which highlights the spatial practices by which stigmatised groups come to be separated from mainstream society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The perspectives of people with dementia and their care partners regarding “extra care” housing are currently unknown. The purpose of this paper is to report findings of a consultation study exploring the perceived barriers and facilitators of a relocation to extra care housing, from the perspective of people living with dementia, and their care partners.Design/methodology/approach Fieldwork consisted of paired or 1-1 interviews and small focus groups with potential users of an alternative model of extra care support for people living with dementia in the South of England. The consultation took place between June and August 2013. The interviews and focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analysed thematically.Findings Benefits of extra care were identified as the opportunity for couples to remain living together for longer, creating a supportive, dementia-friendly community, and a reduction in the strain experienced by the care partners. Barriers centred on a sense of loss, stress and uncertainty. Living and caring at home was perceived as preferable to shared care.Research limitations/implications The findings presented here have limited generalisability for two reasons. First, the shared care approach consulted on was very specific. Second, the participants form a purposive sample and as such are not representative of a wider population. Despite best intentions, the voice of people with dementia, are underreported in this consultation. Only one person with early on-set dementia was interviewed and the remaining two people with dementia were interviewed alongside their care partner.Practical implications The findings cast doubt on the viability of extra care facilities, designed for couples living with dementia, if extra care continues to be conceptualised and marketed as a preventative lifestyle choice. The findings indicate the value of consulting with people with dementia, and their care partners, when designing new forms of housing with care specifically for people living with dementia.Social implications The findings of this consultation exemplify the wish of couples living with dementia to remain together, in what they perceive to be “home”, for as long as possible. Couples living with dementia are therefore unlikely to wish to move into an extra care facility as a lifestyle choice option, early into their journey with dementia. This raises questions about the suitability of extra care, as a form of housing with care, for couples living with dementia.Originality/value This paper contributes to the body of literature, exploring the feasibility of new and innovative alternative care and housing options, for people with dementia. This paper is one of the first to explore extra care as a housing and social care option for couples with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The critical potential of hospital discharge policies and practices to ameliorate the health and social care needs of homeless people has become the focus of considerable interest in England. Central to this rise in policy formation and practice development is an acute understanding of the multiple exclusions homeless people face in navigating public health and social care systems. In ways small and large this nascent landscape is serving to redefine and reshape hospital arrangements for homeless people, and opening-up new ways to deliver care across clinical, social and therapeutic boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to seek to add empirical vigour and theoretical rigour to this unfolding policy and practice terrain. Design/methodology/approach – This paper draws on findings from a case study concerned with exploring and explaining how statutory and voluntary sector organisations use specialist hospital discharge policies and practices to coordinate pathways of care for homeless people. Findings – This paper illustrates how people affected by homelessness and ill-health are routinely denied access to statutory housing support, social work assessments and district nursing provision through acts of institutional gatekeeping and professional abrogation. Originality/value – This paper makes an important contribution to understandings of the connections between hospital discharge arrangements for homeless people and statutory housing, social work and district nursing provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Homelessness often results from the loss of social networks and individuals are tested in being able to sustain or develop new positive social networks necessary to rebuild lives. The purpose of this paper is to present findings from an exploratory study which investigated how different agencies and professionals support people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH) to develop and maintain their social networks amid other competing priorities, such as reducing substance misuse and re-offending. Design/methodology/approach – The study was undertaken in England 2010-2011 in three case study sites. Data were collected in 76 interviews with practitioners and managers, from disciplines including housing support, social work, criminal justice, mental health and substance misuse services. Totally, 56 interviews and five focus groups were also undertaken with people with experiences of MEH. Data were analysed thematically. Data from one site in particular permitted a focus on personal relationships and social networks which were seen as beneficial but also potentially problematic. These data are drawn upon to reflect on the implications for housing providers and practitioners. Findings – While multiple factors had often led to the loss of social networks among homeless people, findings revealed that practitioners working with homeless people may be able to promote existing social networks, such as partnerships, help develop new ones, and support people withdrawing from less positive relationships. The authors conclude that practitioners should be alert to structural changes that threaten social networks and may need to enhance skills in creating opportunities to foster existing positive relationships in direct work with their clients and in collaboration with other professionals. The need to be careful of blurring professional boundaries is also observed. Practical implications – This paper suggests approaches that may encourage practitioner reflection and commissioning practice in achieving good outcomes for people with experiences of MEH by highlighting the importance of social networks and the potential for practitioners to foster supportive relationships. Originality/value – This paper considers the often under-researched area of day-to-day engagement with social networks and the implications of working to support these as part of the role of homelessness services. While drawing primarily on recent research in England the themes raised will have wider relevance to housing and care services generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to provide an overview of recent reforms to the social care system in England.Design/methodology/approach - The reforms are described and contextualised within a broader account of the history of social care that includes an analysis of the factors that have encouraged reform.Findings - The current reforms of social care will bring about some benefits but their long-term impact is still very uncertain. The changing political and economic environment and the inherent difficulties that reform suggests indicate that these changes will be subject to significant differences in interpretation for some time.Research limitations/implications - This analysis is framed by a set of ethical assumptions about the rights of disabled people and the injustice of arrangements that limit those rights.Practical implications - The paper encourages practitioners to treat new ideas such as individual budgets and self-directed support as positive opportunities for improving practice, while being mindful of tensions and unresolved issues that may harm good practice.Social implications - This research should help policy-makers and the general public to avoid misunderstanding the role of these innovations and to better understand when and how these reforms can be used positively.Originality/value - This paper offers a new and historical perspective on the social care reforms from someone who is closely associated with inventing and implementing those ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore supposed inevitable personal decline for long-term prisoners, particularly those serving a sentence of life without parole. Design/methodology/approach - Using the prison records of a life without parole sentenced prisoner. Findings - Findings suggest that prisoner deterioration is not inevitable in a whole life prison sentence. Research limitations/implications - Findings are based on one account, of a female prisoner. Practical implications - Distinct services and support are required for those with a natural life prison sentence. Originality/value - To date, there is limited research of prisoners serving life without parole, particularly the mental health implications of denying a prisoner future parole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consolidate policy, research, evidence and good practice around strategies tackling fuel poverty and affordable warmth for older people aged over 60 to support the development of more effective services for this life course stage and to tackle physical and mental health inequalities. Design/methodology/approach – The authors consolidate current policy, research, evidence and examples of good practice in exploring effective interprofessional approaches that contribute to affordable warmth for older people through “desktop analysis”. The authors support this with qualitative data from Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs), health inequalities and environmental health from research comprising four longitudinal case studies in the Midlands and North of England over 18 months and semi-structured interviews with members and support officers. A total of 50 interviews were undertaken and 55 hours of HWB meetings observed. Findings – There are numerous older people living in fuel poverty. The depth of fuel poverty increases with age particularly the over 75s and physical and mental ill health are affected. There are an increasing number of tools to help estimate health care costs around the cost effectiveness of interventions and there is a real need for more local evidence about what is working well, how and why. However, there is no mandatory requirement for fuel poverty strategies and more creative local strategies are required taking organisational and interprofessional relationships into account. The emphasis in integrated care provides new impetus and scope to encourage preventative services but these new partnerships need to be effective in what is a complex policy environment. There is still a long way to go in places. The challenges of ageing are numerous, complex and not fully understood and sit across multiple policy areas. Originality/value – Fuel poverty strategies tend to be delivered on a geographical or income bases rather than by life course approach and a focus on older people. We need to focus more specifically on older people, a rapidly growing population and to better understand thermal properties of our ageing housing stock and how best to intervene to protect and improve health and safety. Emerging approaches need to overcome artificial statutory and non statutory divides and move towards sustainable, evidence based affordable warmth strategies for older people to protect and improve health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Homeless populations are a politically contentious problem and researchers struggle to achieve a balanced approach. They place emphasis on sharply contrasting factors, such as; institutional structures, ideologies or individual dispositions and differences. Central questions remain unanswered, i.e., is homelessness an outcome of society’s failings related to housing shortages, or a personal choice, as in the status of “intentional homelessness?” The purpose of this paper is to set aside assumptions, to explore experiences of homelessness and psychosis. Design/methodology/approach – An existentially informed hermeneutic phenomenological analysis; exploring transcribed narratives from semi-structured interviews with three men. Findings – These participants started to wander as a spontaneous response to distressing life experiences. Without any plan they travelled to new locations living on the street. Being contained and treated against their will in the psychiatric system was another source of distress. They did not choose homelessness through a rational calculation of their best interests. They felt at odds with society, which did not protect them and failed to meet their needs. Research limitations/implications – In qualitative research, findings are not generalisable to other settings. Practical implications – Homeless services should be enhanced by psychological expertise along with more person-centred emphatic approaches; the authors of social policies should consider their philosophical assumptions. Social implications – Systemised mental healthcare does not solve complex problems; fails to meet needs. Originality/value – The analysis informs the design of further research, prompts practitioners to review their understandings and provides grounds for the rewriting of policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a small telehealth pilot in local authority sheltered housing in NE England. This explored the training and capacity building needed to develop a workforce/older person, telehealth partnership and service that is integrated within existing health, social care and housing services. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study approach on the implementation and deployment of a pilot telehealth service, supporting sheltered housing tenants with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n=4). Findings – Telehealth training and capacity building, needs to develop from within the workforce/older person partnership, if a usable and acceptable telehealth service is to be developed and integrated within existing health, care and housing services. To be adaptable to changing circumstances and individual need, flexible monitoring is also required. Practical implications – Service users and workforces, need to work together to provide flexible telehealth monitoring, that in the longer term, may improve service user, quality of life. Originality/value – The pilot explored a workforce/older person partnership to consider how to add and implement telehealth services, into existing health and housing services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]