Knowing that social workers often feel stressed (although different people do stress in different ways) I pass on to you the Reduce Social Worker Stress Blog. Being stressed is confusing because we may be talking about different things: the fact that potentially stressful events are happening to us, our reaction to events, the physical response of stress, and our experience of the physical response. We need to ask which is it, because simply asking people about their stress often mixes up different types and levels of reaction.

reduce social worker stress blog: http://www.reducesocialworkerstress.com/blog

the blog and the links are interesting; whether you want their cd and book is up to you.

The House of Commons had a bizarre discussion on 1st April about voluntary organisations, stimulated by an MP who had obviously been lobbied by his local children’s hospice:

Ben Chapman (Wirral, South) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with third-sector organisations on the effects of the economic downturn on their funding streams; and if he will make a statement. [267960]

The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Liam Byrne): My Department is in constant contact with the sector to monitor the effects of the downturn. That is why we are determined to invest £500 million to support the sector over this comprehensive spending review period, and why we committed £42 million in extra targeted help in January.

Ben Chapman: Does the Minister accept that the double whammy of the economic recession will mean not just reduced charitable donations, but the possibility of reduced lottery moneys for charities as a result of reduced ticket sales? Does he accept that children’s hospices in particular and smaller charities in general will be particularly affected? Will he ensure that appropriate practical advice is given to both children’s hospices and smaller charities so that they can weather the period of the recession?

Mr. Byrne: I congratulate my hon. Friend on the work that he does representing and speaking up for hospices in his constituency. The third sector and charities such as those that he alludes to go into the downturn in stronger health than ever before, because we have doubled public income to the third sector from £5.5 billion to £11 billion. We are determined to do more. That is why we are spending £500 million over the comprehensive spending review period, and why we are determined to bring forward reviews and reform of Gift Aid. The tax system is now worth £4 billion to charities. Where there are opportunities for us to bring public services, charities and voluntary groups closer together, and to use that strategy to strengthen charities, we will do that. That is why the Department of Health has asked Futurebuilders to manage £100 million-worth of investment in social enterprises over the next couple of years.

They then went into a further discussion on whether ‘Third Sector’ was a useful term (Mr Byrne is the Minister for the Third Sector in the Office of the Third Sector). And of course he was determined to show how wonderfully they are doing for voluntary organisations.

However, these answers stretch credulity. Proportions of income from local pcts have not generally been getting better for hospices. What seems to be happening is that the government is pursuing what it wants to do for voluntary organisations, rather than supporting their judgement of what they need: grants as an instrument of government policy, not as a support for genuinely valuable work. And what use is Futurebuilders? It is a client organisation of the government which only pays grants to get voluntary organisations to do what the government wants the way it wants it, not what they are actually already doing, when the priority should be paying for what the government won’t pay properly for.

The Hansard record: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090401/debtext/90401-0001.htm#09040155000021

In a fascinating Parliamentary answer,the National Statistician gave a picture of the number of people dying of malnutrition in public (not many) and private care homes (more) and hospitals (quite a lot). Presumably the MP asked to give credence to some of the stories about older people not being fed in health and social care. Presumably again the numbers reflect the size of the populations in various establishments.

This blogging program does not do tables, so you have to download a document: Malnutrition table here

Or go to the Hansard answer: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090401/text/90401w0008.htm#09040173000020

The House of Lords had a discussion about the capital limit for pensioners (currently £6,000) after which they get their pension credit and other means-tested benefits docked. Their Lordships thought this was mean – just enough savings for two funerals as one said. The government view was that they had better things to spend their money on. It’s interesting that a crowd of government ministers who would think nothing of £6,000 as the cost of something in their lives, think it’s all right for pensioners to be kept poor.

The Hansard report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90401-0001.htm#09040160000480

There was also a Parliamentary debate on the national dementia strategy, which MPs had obviously worked hard to secure, in the face of government indifference, not with all that much success, because it was held in Westminster Hall, the location for debates that nobody is very much interested in. The review on anti-psychotics being overused for people with dementia has slipped, additional funding was discretionary, so pcts did not have to bother, and MPs quoted examples of those who were not bothering, and generally the picture was gloomy.

When are the government and the NHS panjandrums going to realise that dementia is an increasing and very distressing issue for so many families? Obviously, only when carers of older people are out on the street with knives, so that the Daily Mail can get rabid about it.

The debate at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090401/halltext/90401h0001.htm

The website address for the Care Quality Commission, which launches today, and gives access to reports and publications from predecssor commissions, and access to the websites for finding care homes etc.

http://www.cqc.org.uk/