I see from Help the Hospices’s ‘Executive News Online’ http://www.helpthehospices.org.uk/enewsletter/executive_news_online_11_september_2009.htm that there is going to be a tranche of money for improving the care environment for patients, families and carers in hospices.

ENO says: Hospices will be invited to submit proposals for projects that will improve the care environment for patients, their families and carers. The funding will be available for projects starting in April 2010 with a completion deadline of 31 March 2011.

While you’re all gearing up for that (there were previous tranches, but little chance of more in view of the pressures of banking incompetence on the economy) perhaps a bit of thinking about the provision for decent social work facilities might do more than flit across the mind of hospice managers. Social work readers might perhaps remind their health service obsessed bosses that since they employ social workers they should be complying with the Code of Practice for Social Care Employers, which includes:

Effectively managing and supervising staff to support effective practice and good conduct and supporting staff to address deficiencies in their performance

Having systems in place to enable social care workers to report inadequate resources or operational difficulties which might impede the delivery of safe care and working with them and relevant authorities to address those issues.

This might look as though it majors on weeding out bad social workers, but look again at’ ‘…effectively managing…to support effective practice…’.

I recently visited a hospital that had no private place near wards where families or carers of patients could be interviewed and discuss their private affairs with their social workers. I’m sure I would be told that they had a broom cupboard somethere on the fifth floor, but I am constantly amazed at the lack of privacy that people in hospitals put up with.

Is it the same in hospices? How carefully have hospices looked to see if their facilities for social work and the bereavement service are adequate?

More pics of th new St C’s, which indeed did benefit from one of the past tranches of DH money for end of life care. Here is another part of the Anniversary project facilities for patients families and carers: this part of the information resources allows patients, carers and family members to go on the internet, helped by volunteers and staff, to find out and use information that will be useful to them. The new version of leaflet racks (although we’ve got those too):

John Humphries giving the minister grief this morning in ‘Today’ over the new vetting and barring scheme – having to get people vetted who just agree to take local kids in the car on behalf of a football club twice a month.

Of course, if John and his friends in the press are going to say ’something must be done’ every time there’s some child care scandal (although not bothering so much when some older person gets abused), this is the result, because as Bob Reitemeyer (I hope that’s right) from the Children’s Society said, the only way we know to do this is to improve overall communication, which means drawing more people into the net.

And it doesn’t answer the point that most children are abused by friend and family, not someone driving their minibus in a fairly public situation.

It’s exactly the same with older people: in the St Christopher’s audits of adult safeguarding referrals, much of it was neglect and pressure as a carer by family members. The answer to that is good support for family carers.

From my series of pics of the new St C’s: another thing you can make an appointment for from the new anniversary centre is the gym, set up to look like a high street gym; it also provides for physio. And it’s because the fitter you are, the better your quality of life, even if you are suffering from an advanced disease.

The website of the new campaign to recruit social workers in the UK:

http://www.helpgivethemavoice.com/

The government is having another go at this: I rather enjoyed the picture strip style of the last campaign. I wish they would think about saying more about social work than the basic jobs that the government is interested in. When you’ve done those for a while, it’s a good career incentive to know you can earn reasonable pay doing interesting and well-evaluated work in palliative care scoial work.

Still, it’s all positive stuff about social work.

A futher pic of the new St Christopher’s. Aside from appointments with your doctor, nurse, social worker etc, you can also book to have a bath. We found people really wanted this, not because they couldn’t bath at home sometimes, but because they felt safer when a St C’s nurse was around to respond in an emergency: