This book examines aspects of care such as training, ethnicity, sexuality and competence in practice. Topics include the nature of touch, how physical contact is intended and experienced, carers' duty of care, and risk management. The book also explores management considerations of best value, care standards, performance monitoring and inspection.

Wide-ranging in scope, 'The Age of the Inquiry' focuses on service and policy development in the fields of health and welfare in the 1990s. It provides an invaluable text for students, teachers and professionals from a wide range of disciplines and professional groups.

Fully updated to meet current guidelines and standards of practice, this handbook provides concise and practical information for intellectual and learning disability nurses. Small enough to slip into a bag for daily reference but still highly detailed, this is an invaluable resource for everyone working in the field.

This excellent, informative and well presented, a book provides the reader with fourteen edited chapters covering an area of policy and practice that is quite specific but will inform anyone interested in the development of a service user participation ethos in adult social care. It is a book that is relevant to managers and practitioners, both as students and qualified professionals, as well as academics. Care management is now well established in the everyday practice of predominantly statutory organisations. This book revisits the principles of this method of assessing and planning the care needs of adult service users, and introduces Person Centred Planning (PCP) as a suitable method for ensuring that much of the empowerment rhetoric care management is actually realised.' - British Journal of Social Work 'Part of the attraction of this book is its strong practice component. This is applicable to the different professionals working with people with learning disabilities, in whatever their service configuration. For students, the book will also provide a good introduction to the impact of person centred planning and its connections to a long history of similar initiatives.' - Journal of Interprofessional Care 'This book is a stimulating and challenging read of those working in service development generally, as well as learning disability services. There is a potential broad care management readership that might also find this relevant and interesting.' - Journal of Interprofessional Care 'This is an important book. It brings together chapters by many of the foremost researchers and practitioners in person centred planning. The book contains many ideas for taking the PCP process to a higher level of sophistication to really underpin the future development of appropriate and effective services.' - Community Living 'This book will help social workers to reconnect with the core values of their profession and to challenge institutionalised policies and practices. It has proven to be a valuable teaching resource and whilst its focus is on people with learning disabilities, the principles of PCP that it raises are relevant to any service user group and social work arena. Highly recommended.' - Professional Social Work 'There are many important issues facing the care management system today in the light of person-centred planning and approaches, and you would be hard-pressed to find a better collection of insightful and radical thinkers in this area than those featured here. It asks hard questions, and challenges the professional to adopt more inclusive and accessible work practices. Wherever you work in the field of learning difficulties you should read this book carefully and aim to put "person-centeredness" at the core of your practice.' - Community Care This timely book provides a reflective analysis of person centred planning for people with learning disabilities, complementing policy initiatives that focus on individualised planning and service user involvement. Drawing on practical experience and research findings, the contributors explore policy and practice issues, including: * advocacy and empowerment * risk management and adult protection * inter-agency and inter-professional working * ethnicity and culture * de-institutionalisation. Vivid case studies illustrate best practice in person centred planning, and the authors offer a rich variety of ideas for increasing the participation, self-esteem and quality of life of people with learning disabilities. This practical and accessible text is an invaluable guide for policy makers, carers and social work managers, academics and students.

This accessible book takes a unique person-centred approach to working with older people and provides an introduction to the legislation, policy, theory and research needed by social workers. The authors explore the experience of being an older person and how practitioners can work to make positive differences to older people's lives. In addition, the book: Goes beyond the mechanistic care management approaches to social work and encourages the reader to see older people holistically Features case studies and exercises to assist readers in reflecting on their practice Examines a range of contexts and perspectives, including sexuality, spirituality, learning disabilities Encourages wider reflection on the constraints posed by organisations employing social workers and the impact on their practice Provides an up-to-date exploration of safeguarding issues The authors take into account financial constraints with regard to the care of older people and the impact of a changing demography, but remain upbeat and positive about the value of social work intervention. Social Work with Older People is relevant for students on placement in adult services or voluntary organizations and social work practitioners working with older people. Contributors: Gill Butler, Rick Fisher, Chris Gaine, David Gaylard, John Gisby, Vivienne Killner, Andrea Linell, Andy Mantell, Debbie Smallbones, Chris Smethurst, Sally Stapleton, Graham Tooth, Christine Wright

The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties is a timely and rich resource with contributions from writing teams of acknowledged experts providing a balance of both academic and practitioner perspectives. The book covers a myriad of topics and themes and has the core purpose of informing and supporting everyone who is interested in improving the quality of education and support for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and their families. Each chapter contains careful presentations and analyses of the findings from influential research and its practical applications and the book is a treasure chest of experiences, suggestions and ideas from practitioners that will be invaluable for many years to come. The chapters include many vignettes gathered from practitioners in the field and are written specifically to be rigorous yet accessible. The contributors cover topics related to the rights and needs of children and young adults from 0-25 years, crucial features of high quality education, characteristics of integrated provision and effective and sensitive working with families to ensure the best possible outcomes for their children. Crucially, the voice of the learners themselves shines through. Historical provision that has had an impact on developing services and modern legislation aimed at improving provision and services are also discussed. The contributed chapters are organised into six themed parts: Provision for learners with SLD/PMLD. Involving stakeholders. Priorities for meeting the personal and social needs of learners. Developing the curriculum. Strategies for supporting teaching and learning. Towards a new understanding of education for learners with SLD/PMLD. This text is an essential read for students on courses and staff working in and with the whole range of educational settings catering for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, not just for teachers but also for support staff, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other specialists.

Improving the quality of life for older adults living in long term care settings is recognised as an increasingly important issue. Understanding Care Homes draws together a range of research and development initiatives that emphasise the importance of partnership working, and of enabling older people and their families to maintain the highest quality of life. The book is divided into three sections, each investigating how research and development can be undertaken to provide better care for the individual resident and their family, to enhance care at the organisational level and to develop the care home's relationships within the wider community. By addressing the concerns of residents and their families as well as those of carers and home managers, this book identifies how the generation of new knowledge through research can bring about real changes in care provision. This collection of papers will be an invaluable resource for students, care staff, care home managers, inspectors, lecturers and policy makers.