The Self Care Forum believes awareness weeks are vital for encouraging people to make better choices about their health and wellbeing. Chair, Helen Donovan, explains how we can all help make the change...
COVID-19 has led to many changes in the way residential care is provided and the way care colleagues work together. One thing that hasn’t changed is the sense of family and community within Priscilla Wakefield House, a teaching care home in Haringey, north London.
Despite the outside world being turned up-side-down, care staff have succeeded in keeping a sense of normality, and making sure residents continue to enjoy laughter and fun.
Andrew Reece, head of the integrated learning disability service for Camden Council, has always struggled with how the social care sector measures ‘what good looks like’, particularly in the context of supporting people with learning disabilities to make and sustain friendships. In this blog for DHSC's Social Care site, he proposes an alternative approach to help everyone get it right.
Although anyone can experience mental health issues, those of us who identify as LGBTQ+ are more likely to develop problems including low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. As this month marks Pride Month, Andrew Seed, Integrative Psychotherapist at Cygnet Hospital Ealing, reflects on how creating a safe space for service users and staff is vital to celebrate their gender and sexual identity.
If you’ve not come across DHSC's Regional Assurance team, its members act as two-way information sharers between the Department and local areas.
They use their experience of the adult social care sector to provide informed assessments to the Department and the Minister for Social Care. They also provide opportunities for the sector to influence and inform DHSC about the way current policies are working in the regions.
For almost a decade, care home open days have seen care homes all over the country open their doors to families, friends and local communities. This year’s event, which takes place across a week (28 June - 4 July), has particular significance, providing an opportunity to reunite care homes with their local communities, while celebrating the incredible care colleagues who have remained on the frontline throughout the pandemic.
Developed by the NHS and then adapted for use in social care, a new infection prevention control toolkit has been launched to help all social care colleagues protect themselves and those they care for. It can be used to start a conversation and help you find the answer to the question: ‘What can I do better?’
In February 2021, the Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support published its first report – a policy discussion paper outlining the major issues facing accommodation provision for older people and setting out a vision for a better future, with some preliminary proposals the Commission had been exploring as part of the second phase. The Social Carer Institute for Excellence (SCIE)'s Rebekah Luff delves into the detail...
To mark Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month, the manager of a dedicated therapeutic facility for men living with neurological disease and brain injury reflects on the journey of one man and the effects life changing conditions like his can have on individuals and those around them.
Like many of us, care home manager, Lesley Griffiths, could not have envisaged the enormous impact coronavirus would have on the care sector and our wider communities. Managing a large residential nursing home suddenly became a daunting task. Lesley shares fears, learning curves and hopes for the future.
A new podcast series presented by mental health social workers explores real stories from people who have lived experience of serious mental health difficulties. Co-hosts, Beth Green and Tom Pollard have spent the last three years working in NHS community services, with individuals who have experiences often diagnosed as psychosis, bipolar and complex trauma.