The growing older people population and their increasing needs for care is now presenting significant difficulties to both national government and local authorities because of constriction of formal caregivers and family units. Inevitably a change of this magnitude within the complex system in which older people services operate everywhere attracts a range of responses from the very enthusiastic to the very dismissive and hostile response. Thus, family directed support care system would provide the possibilities to bridge the gaps within health and social care and the delivery of personalisation for later care for older people in their own home. Older people is no longer interested to be cared in an institutional settings but, wish their care to be provided by those they know well and who are familiar with their needs and standards they are used to.

The book offers unique access to theoretical approaches and practical examples of international social work in the context of war and conflicts. The reader gains knowledge about the competences and role of social work, which contributes to mitigating the effects of war and conflict. The book raises the question of how to connect international social work with local approaches and offers suggestions for a development of social work with respect to exchanging knowledge and experiences between the West and the East, the Global North and the Global South. It furthermore discusses the role of social work in reducing the problem of gender-based violence and in the methods of peacebuilding processes in post-war and post-conflict societies.

Critical Hospital Social Work Practice sheds light on the fast-paced, high pressure role of the hospital social worker. At a time of public concern over the state of the NHS and the needs of a growing older population, the hospital social worker’s job is more important than ever. Yet, it is poorly understood and often overlooked by policy makers, managers and other professionals. Employing social theory to make sense of the contemporary context of health and social care, this book highlights the vital role played by social workers in planning complex hospital discharges. It provides an in-depth account of the activities of a typical hospital social work team in the UK, drawn from rigorous ethnographic fieldwork, and contrasts this with research evidence on hospital social work practices around the world. The author points towards exciting new directions for health-related social work and social work’s potential to develop critical gerontological practice. This book will be useful to social work students and practitioners working in hospital settings and with older people in general. It will also be of significant value to policy makers and academics who are interested in developing innovative approaches to meeting the needs of the ageing population.

‘Hatton’s book is a welcome antidote to stagnation and moribund thinking in contemporary professional practice and readers will gain much from engaging with the concepts he sets out and the challenges he raises.’ Jonathan Parker, Series Editor Since the first edition of Kieron Hatton’s important book outlining many of the New Directions facing social work a significant number of changes and challenges have continued to have a huge impact on contemporary social work practice in the UK. From the second Laming report and the subsequent work of the Social Work Task Force, Social Work Reform Board and The College of Social Work, to the Reclaiming Social Work agenda and Munro Review, the context within which social work is practice has continued to change and this new edition unpicks the challenges, opportunities and threats facing the social workers of today. This book re-establishes an important contribution to learning from which students, their service users and ultimately society should benefit.

Part of Palgrave's Interagency Working in Health and Social Care series, this book explores the policy and practice which frames work with disabled people. Providing a critical review of the mainstream services available to disabled people, it assesses the successes and failures of interagency working, and offers a model for future practice.

Social workers, whatever their specialism, practise with people at the margins of society. It is therefore essential that all social work students not only understand the powers and processes that lead to disadvantage and marginalisation but develop the knowledge and skills needed to bring about change and uphold social justice in all aspects of their professional practice. Split into three parts, this book considers what is meant by disadvantage and marginalisation, how this can come about and the impact this may have on lives, before unpicking the key knowledge and skills needed to practice effectively with individuals and groups. It then goes on to show what good ethical and reflective practice looks like, going step-by-step through the ins and outs of using the law and policy to bring about change before considering key ethical dilemmas in practice.

Changes in ideas about social welfare have required caring professions to adapt their practices in ways which have challenged their underlying values and their relationships with service users. Focusing on nursing, remedial therapy and social work, this book examines core social values expressed through policy. The implications of these ideas for the caring professions in social welfare are explored, as are important questions about the use of industrial and commercial metaphors in health and human services.