Why we need to pay more attention to student funding in social work education

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Jo Moriarty is Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. The report on the social work bursary, published today, is available free to download. (604 words)

There has been a large rise in the volume of social work research undertaken in the UK over the past 20 years but one topic remains stubbornly under researched: student funding in social work education. This is all the more surprising when we remember the attention given to tuition fees in the last three general elections.

In June 2017, the Department of Health and Social Care Policy Research Programme commissioned the Social Care Workforce Research Unit to undertake a short review of the social work bursary.

We had already done a similar piece of work so we had not expected to uncover a large research evidence base. However, it still seems surprising that there is so little research on social work students finances given that many social work students are drawn to social work after being in care or experiencing discrimination or poverty. Continue reading →

Telecare webinar for Research in Practice for Adults at Dartington Hall

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John Woolham is Senior Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at King’s. John leads a seminar on Wednesday 21 February 2018: Telecare for older people: are we getting the best out of it? (1,347 words)

Read the report: The UTOPIA project. Using Telecare for Older People In Adult social care: The findings of a 2016-17 national survey of local authority telecare provision for older people in England.

RiPfA, and its sister organisation, Research in Practice (RiP) work primarily with local authorities to encourage the use of evidence based practice. As someone who has a local authority background and has always been keen on promoting the use of good quality evidence, the opportunity to take part in a RiPfA organised event wasn’t one to pass up on.  It was also the first time I’d led a webinar. It’s definitely odd being in what’s effectively a studio, with a computer screen containing a clock (so you don’t overrun) your power point presentation, and a video of you as a ‘talking head’ – pretty much the same thing as participants see. You can’t see them of course, but they can send you messages.  What could possibly go wrong? Well, quite a lot, actually. The fact that it didn’t owed much to the skills of Leo Heinl from RiPfA who managed the technology. Leo is a fellow ‘biker too, so we talked motorcycles a bit, but that’s another story. Continue reading →

Young people and gambling in changing times: implications, risks and harms?

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Caroline NorrieStephanie BramleyResearchers Caroline Norrie (right) and Stephanie Bramley from the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at the Policy Institute at King’s College London attended the 5th annual Harm-Minimisation Conference on Wednesday 6 December and Thursday 7 December 2017. (1,233 words)

GambleAware, the charity funded by gambling operators to fund treatment services, education and research to help minimise gambling-related harm in Great Britain, held its annual conference at The King’s Fund, London in December. This was a jam-packed two days of speakers and this year the focus was on two issues: 1) gambling and the implications for young people, and 2) gambling and sport. In this blog post we focus on the first subject, but a summary of content relating to gambling and sport is in GambleAware’s own conference report. Continue reading →

Advancing the case for independent advocacy

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Kath Parson is Chief Executive of the Older People’s Advocacy Alliance. (486 words)

Here at the Older People’s Advocacy Alliance (OPAAL) we’re focused on getting word out about the benefits of independent advocacy. Advocacy supports and enables people who have difficulty representing their interests, to exercise their rights, express their views, explore and make informed choices. We have lots of great data from our Cancer, Older People and Advocacy programme and other project work as well as from our members about the positive impact advocacy has on older people’s lives. Continue reading →

Wandsworth Adult Safeguarding Conference – Modern Slavery and Partnership Working

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Caroline NorrieCaroline Norrie is Wandsworth Enter and View Representative and Researcher, Social Care Workforce Research Unit, KCL. (612 words)

Public sector practitioners from across the Borough came together on 27 November, 2017 at the annual Wandsworth Safeguarding Conference – Working in Partnership, which took place in Wandsworth Civic Centre Town Hall.

The morning was dedicated to raising awareness of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. Attendees were informed about the high prevalence of modern slavery—the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons. Trafficking was defined as: the movement of people by means such as force, fraud or deception with the aim of exploiting them.

Tatiana Gren Jardan, Director of Strategy at the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, discussed the role of local authorities in fighting modern slavery—and how staff may be able to identify cases in their everyday work. Tamara Barnett, from the Human Trafficking Foundation, then outlined the duties professionals have in identifying and supporting victims. Since the passing of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 specified public authorities (including Local Authorities) have a duty to report details of suspected cases of modern slavery to the Home Office. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) framework can then be used (if an adult victim consents) with offering 45 days ‘reflection and recovery’ time for a victim to receive appropriate support. Continue reading →

At the 12th UK Dementia Congress

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Jo Moriarty Nov 2014bJo Moriarty is Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (736 words)

The 12th UK Dementia Congress ran from the 7-9 November at Doncaster Racecourse. I was one of over 700 delegates who included people living with dementia, family carers, health and social care professionals, and researchers. Organised by the Journal of Dementia Care, in partnership with the University of Bradford and with support from the Alzheimer’s Society, there were over 150 different presentations and workshops. I spoke about the Unit’s completed study about handovers in care homes funded by the Abbeyfield Foundation and explained that we have just started a new phase which will focus on the views of residents and relatives. Continue reading →

Outcomes of day centres for older people are highly relevant to policy themes

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Katharine OrellanaKatharine Orellana is a Research Assistant at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit in the Policy Institute at King’s. (532 words)

For some, day centres for older people may conjure up images of incessant bingo and unstimulated people sitting around the edges of a dull room in an isolated building away from the community. This was not my experience during the 56 days I spent at four day centres for older people in 2015-16. These visits were for a study which aimed to improve the understanding of the purpose and role of English generalist day centres for older people by painting a rich and contemporary picture of them. I was investigating what they offer, who uses them, why and how, what they contribute to the lives of those involved with them, how they are perceived and how they relate to health and social care services. Continue reading →

At the World Congress of Psychiatry, Berlin 2017

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Gaia CetranoGaia Cetrano is a Research Associate at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London. (800 words)

From 8 to 11 October I joined the World Psychiatric Association XVII Congress in Berlin. This was my second WPA Congress; I also attended the previous one in Madrid in 2014. Berlin is a great city, which has developed at a tremendous pace in the last few decades. It perfectly represents how things can change, and thus offered the best context for a congress entitled ‘Psychiatry of the 21st Century’.

Remembering the Madrid Congress, I was expecting this to be a big event, but this one exceeded all my expectations. When I arrived at the venue, Messe Berlin, to join the opening ceremony on the first day, I suddenly felt overwhelmed, if not intimidated, by everything around me. The venue was enormous, there were stands, films, exhibitions, music, and hundreds and hundreds of disoriented-looking people around me (around 10,000 in fact). The programme, with its 900 sessions, was impressive but daunting. Continue reading →

Being a Member of Healthwatch ‘Enter and View’ team – a positive learning and volunteering experience

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Caroline NorrieCaroline Norrie is a Research Fellow at Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London. She writes about her experiences of volunteering for Wandsworth Healthwatch. (908 words)

I first heard about Wandsworth Healthwatch when I randomly attended a meeting about changes in my local hospital. It was a heated meeting where the hospital CEO was grilled by attendees of all ages and backgrounds about controversial issues such as privatising certain areas of service provision, the cost of auditors and care quality on specific wards. I’ve been regularly involved with Wandsworth Healthwatch since then and have found it a rewarding and interesting experience. Continue reading →

Is Donald useful?

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NigelCharlesOct17Nigel Charles is a health services researcher at the University of Exeter Medical School. He also has Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and draws on his experience of this to suggest a patient informed research study about using statistics to help patients deal with the emotional impact of cancer. (1,418 words)

I’m in a club no one wants to be in. The Cancer Club. This post is about a hunch I have about how to handle being a member of this club and the need for this to be researched. I’m also waving the flag for patients shaping the research agenda.

I was diagnosed with an aggressive variety of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma—a type of blood cancer—in October 2016. (Indeed, I write this on the day of the anniversary of my first hospital admission which led to the diagnosis. Happy Birthday.) The haematologists who specialise in the treatment of NHL found a cricket ball sized tumour buried deep inside my abdomen. Surgery was needed to stop it blocking my bowel but subsequent chemotherapy hasn’t worked. We have yet to see if the next and last available option—radiotherapy—will. Continue reading →