Health and social care
Useful links
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Association for Informatics Professionals in Health and Social Care (ASSIST)
A professional association for those working in, and for informatics in, healthcare and social care.
Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS)
National leadership association in England for statutory directors of children's services and other children's services professionals in leadership roles.
Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP)
CSIP supports positive changes in services and in the wellbeing of vulnerable people with health and social care needs.
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI)
Registers, inspects and reports on social care services in EnglandRegisters, inspects and reports on social care services in England.
Dept of Health Social Care section
In England, the responsibility to provide social care services rests principally with local councils. At any one time, up to 1.5 million of the most vulnerable people in society are relying on social workers and support staff for help. Social care services also make a major contribution to tackling social exclusion.
Dept of Health Social Work and Social Care Careers Info Site
Social workers form partnerships with people: helping them to assess and interpret the problems they face, and supporting them in finding solutions. Social care workers may be home care assistants or work in residential care homes, and there's a wide range of jobs working with older people, children and families and people with disabilities.
Dept of Health Social Care Bulletin
The bulletin is for all staff working in social care, and covers the issues that really matter in the development and delivery of social care services.
Health and Social Care Awards
These Awards bring well deserved public recognition to many outstanding examples of dedication, innovation and success in both health and social care.
Health and Social Care Change Agent Team (CAT)
Set up in 2002 to help health and social care communities tackle the problem of patients staying in hospital longer than necessary. Now provides advice and support on a wide range of issues that affect the care of older people.
Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care
Established in 2001, the ISB initially provided an independent mechanism for the assurance and sign off of Information Standards for use in the NHS (England) and in its work with other agencies such as social care. As of January 2008, the scope of ISB now formally includes information standards within social care.
SCIE (Social Care Institute for Excellence)
SCIE aims to improve the experience of people who use social care by developing and promoting knowledge about good practice in the sector.
Useful documents
Department of Health Extra Care Housing Fund: bidding guidance 2008-2010 (PDF, 118Kb)
A capital grant of £80 million has been made available by the Department of Health to provide funding for the development of Extra Care Housing. The bidding guidance is intended to advise Local Authorities with Adult Social Care responsibilities and their partners on the preparation of bids for the Extra Care Housing Fund for 2008-2010. (March 2008)
More Choice Greater Voice - a toolkit for producing a strategy for accommodation with care for older people (PDF, 835KB)
This document from the Housing Learning and Improvement Network provides a toolkit for undertaking work that will support a whole system approach to planning and developing accommodation and care. It is good practice rather than mandatory and has been prepared specifically to accompany the government's new National Housing Strategy for an Ageing Society, to offer guidance for commissioners and providers to enable them to produce accommodation and care strategies for older people. (February 2008)
The Future of Care Funding: Time for a Change (PDF, 5.7MB)
Final report from the Caring Choices coalition of 15 organisation. More than 700 older people, carers and others were invited to share their experiences and views throughout 2007. This final report, which draws on the evidence heard from these discussions, as well as a survey of those who attended the events and input from web visitors, will conclude the collaboration’s programme of work.(January 2008)
Best Practice for Developing and Appraising Data Elements (PDF, 38KB)
Informs dataset developers of best practice for specifing individual data elements, the principle being that users need a common understanding of the meaning of data. Published by the Information Standards Board for Health and Social Care. (January 2008)
The role of public health in supporting the development of integrated services (PDF, 918KB)
The 48-page discussion paper from the Integrated Care Network provides an overview of the scope of public health practice, outlines some of the tools and techniques that might be used in designing and evaluating integrated services and explains how they might be used as a lever for change and service improvement.
Independence, choice and risk: a guide to best practice in supported decision making (PDF, 280K)
This best practice guide is for the use of everyone involved in supporting adults (18 and over) using health and social care within any setting, whether community or residential, in the public, independent or voluntary sectors. This includes all NHS staff working in multi-disciplinary or joint teams. (May 2007)
Valuing Carers in the Hospital Environment - Identifying and supporting Carers in University Hospital Lewisham NHS Trust and the Ladywell Unit: A Good Practice Guide (PDF, 2.0MB)
Document published by Carers Lewisham, with Lotery funding, including: Developing and implementing Carers Charters; The 3 Rs for Carer Support - Good Practice identified; Resources for Carer Identification. (March 2007)
Social Enterprise Coalition: Health and Social Care Policy Briefing (Word, 84KB)
Briefing paper from the Social Enterprise Coalition which is campaigning to secure a greater role for social enterprise in the delivery of health and social care services.
Cheshire Social Care Team Prospectus (Word, 1.7MB)
Cheshire Health and Social Care Network's prospectus for the local Care Service Improvement Partnership (social care team).
Cheshire Children and Young People Plan (Word, 76KB)
Executive summary of the proposed Cheshire plan for children, based on the national outcomes framework.