Humans are a social species and the deficit in social relationships may increase the risks of morbidity and mortality – either objective or perceived. This clearly shows the importance of social connections to our health and well-being. It’s not surprising that isolation and loneliness have been linked to high blood pressure, or increased risks of […]
Sleep & Loneliness
The quango NHS England has just published guidance on “Expected ways of working between integrated care partnerships and adult social care providers“. This is the latest direction on how to implement the contentious 2022 Health and Care Act, that received Royal Assent in April 2022. The Health and Care Act 2022 is remarkably permissive; this […]
Government by diktat: adult social care companies must have decision making powers about NHS and social care commissioning
Framing research has found that it is common for campaigners, in their communications, the media in their reporting, and the public in their thinking and understanding to omit the human-designed systemic factors shaping people’s life experiences and opportunities. As a result, we can too often attribute people’s life situation, such as poverty, homelessness, or obesity, […]
With shared power comes shared responsibility
“… advice for setting up a safe living situation in your twilight years.”
By Estelle Erasmus, Washington Post, January 25, 2022
My parents lived together their whole lives, first in their suburban home, later in an apartment and even later in an independent-living apartment in a senior community. But last year, when my dad, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, had to be placed in memory care, my octogenarian mom had to live by herself for the first time in her life. She is not alone in facing a change in living situation in her older years.
For the millions of seniors in the United States (predicted to grow from around 58 million to around 88 million by 2050), life transitions such as experiencing widowhood, having a partner with dementia or downsizing after decades in the same home can be a huge challenge. One way to ease the adjustment is to ensure that any new home is comfortable, safe and adaptable to physical limitations.
View original post 1,082 more words
“Some patients stay weeks, even months in hospital beds because of complex issues relating to the interplay of their health and home situation.
I have a man who has been stuck in bed too long because he has eight cats…”
The government and, in particular the NHS are masters at inventing arbitrary names, often allayed with acronyms to describe obscure pathways and processes. It is what they do best. I imagine a conversation between the regional manager for NHS Y (can’t be NHS ‘X’ as that is, unsurprisingly already a thing) and their child:
Freddy: What do you do when you are on the computer in your office?
Mummy: I organise things.
Freddy: Are you a key worker?
Mummy: Yes, I suppose I am.
Freddy: What do you organise?
Mummy: I find ways to move patients and staff around a diminishing system to maximise output, retention and wellbeing of staff and patient care. I also invent acronyms.
Freddy: Can I watch Disney?
OK, what is this about?
Well, I want to focus on patient experience – in layman’s terms, and depending on your age and state of health, that…
View original post 1,712 more words
by Jim Thomas, Skills for Care
Whilst being invisible is a good thing from a support perspective, I have started to wonder if invisibility gets in the way of the improving the general public’s perspective of social care. If you don’t notice social care workers, why would you see the need to value what they do?
Read in full at the official blog of BMJ Leader: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmjleader/2021/09/19/sometimes-being-invisible-isnt-helpful-by-jim-thomas/
Cpeanose 