National Self-Care Week (17-23 November 2025) is a campaign designed to inspire and empower people to take charge of their own physical and mental wellbeing. Led by the Self Care Forum, it’s an awareness week that everyone can get involved in.
After what can only be described as an uncertain and difficult 18 months, Care Home Open Week was a fantastic opportunity to focus on the positives and have some fun. Many of the people supported at Precious Homes have found the pandemic hard. Changes to routine can be a challenge for autistic people, and isolation …
Often, when people think about moving into a care home, they might picture bingo at 3pm, lounges filled with old people watching endless re-runs of Corrie and early bedtimes. At Maycroft Manor in Brighton, they pride themselves on doing things differently. Care Home Open Week was no exception.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.