Entries with tag health and social care .

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Blair McPherson
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27 May 2022 - 09:54

null What’s the difference? 

 The difference between an NHS manager and a LA/ SSD manager is significant when considering the integration of health and social care and I believe has been under explored when considering the reasons for frustratingly slow progress. So here goes a rather undiplomatic account of over 30 years trying to make it work. As a new manager in Social Services I was quickly exposed to my ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
04 Mar 2022 - 12:40

null  “ won’t make a difference”

My initial response to the white paper on integration was a flash back to being a young inexperienced trainee social worker. I was sitting in juvenile court as the magistrates told my young offender that basically they would give him another chance to show he could make something of his life. My initial relief that he wasn’t going to get a custodial sentence turned into panic as he... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
23 Mar 2020 - 15:23

null Will Convid finally break the health and social care barrier?

If it’s no longer about money, about budget cuts or being more efficient. If it’s about being practice led rather than finance driven, if it’s about effectiveness rather than cost then one outcome of the response to Convid might be to finally make a reality of the integration of health and social care.    If hospitals are not to be overwhelmed then patients need to be moved to nursing... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Sep 2019 - 11:46

null World Alzheimer’s Day September 21st

Anyone who lives alone – and over the next 20 years that could rise to nearly one in seven people in the UK – may be highly alarmed by the prospect of dealing with dementia. By 2039, the number of people with dementia in the UK living on their own is forecast to rise from 120,000 to about 240,000, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. That sounds like a terrifying prospect. But when I... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
25 Jun 2018 - 10:28

null In 2010 we stoped getting older

Some say it is the greatest achievement of modern society. Others say it is the greatest challenge. I am referring to increased life expectancy over the last 70 years. In resent years the focus has been on the cost of this success. The increasing burden on the NHS of an ageing population and the financial implications for pensions. But statistics from ONS appear to indicate  a,”... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Sep 2017 - 11:04

null Can the public ever learn to love social workers?

In books, films ,TV soaps and dramas there are inspirational teachers. Sure there are bad teachers and lazy teachers, well meaning but ineffective teachers but there are also passionate, dedicated and inspirational teachers. Social work also has passionate, dedicated and inspirational professionals, just not on tv. Nurses on tv are skilful, caring, professionals who get to know their patients... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
06 Jul 2017 - 18:48

null What's the difference

  The integration of health and social care teams has led some senior managers to question whether there is any real difference between social workers and OTs and whether their common skills and shared values make the roles interchangeable or at least mean a professional background in either discipline is appropriate to manage an integrated team. The example often given is working with... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
04 May 2017 - 18:03

null Metro Mayors

  So now Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool have elected Mayors with some real power and control over some big budgets, probably not as much power or as big a budget as they would want but it's a start.    It's the U.S. Model. Will Birmingham, Manchester or Liverpool be the next Chicago? What have we to look forward to? Chicago's Town Hall politics are notorious.  ... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
21 Apr 2017 - 11:16

null The Language of Mental Health

It was just a short " chatty" piece in the Guardian. A conversation in the play ground. It was not the mundaneness of  the topic that jarred it was the language. The word "depressed" was used when the meaning was feed up, sad or disappointed. There was reference to people "going insane" and " losing their mind" on social media when "worked up" or "over excited" would have been more... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
26 Mar 2017 - 21:07

null Local Authority awkward squad

  Health and social care is high on the government's agenda but is the resent advice note  from the DoH another example of trying to narrow the remit of local authorities and their awkward squad, social workers?    The Department of Health and Association of Directors of Adult Social services has issued an advice note which recognises the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
22 Mar 2017 - 02:51

null The difference between management and leadership

Management, as managers are fond of saying, isn't about being liked but I say leadership is. Human nature is such that if staff don't like you they won't like what you say. If staff don 't like you they will mostly deny you the opportunity to influence their thinking. Leadership is all about influencing thinking.  Management is about getting people to do what needs to be done. Managers... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
10 Mar 2017 - 10:53

null International Women's Day

  The Black Panthers, the Vietnam war, Bob Dylan and the woman's liberation movement, this is the New York scene in the Late 60's early 70's. The story is set in the open plan office of a weekly magazine, the editor, deputy editor and all the journalists are white males, all the researchers are female. It soon becomes clear that the women do all the leg work, come up with the most... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Feb 2017 - 13:37

null Where do they send bed blockers?

Delayed hospital discharges or " bed blocking " is hot news. As hospitals desperately try to unblock their beds where do they send patients and what happens to them? I am an ex social worker and former Director of community services so I thought I knew the answer but it's different when it's your own mum.   Every day dozens maybe hundreds of older people lose their balance fall... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
24 Jan 2017 - 12:47

null Let's do a deal

    Donald Trump the new US president with a business background has appointed people to his senior posts on the bases that they are good at "doing deals". Is this a new and worrying tend in the public sector  which we are likely to follow? A worrying tend because doing deals in the commercial world is a rather murky business where ethical and moral considerations are... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
13 Mar 2017 - 21:10

null No lying necessary

  When I first became a specialist social worker for people with dementia I took a very purest view to lying to clients. All to often staff who cared for some one with dementia would collude with the the individuals confusion and memory loss as away of placating them when they were anxious or agitated. The individual insists on leaving the care home  to pick up her children from... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
30 Nov 2016 - 21:08

null A failure of leadership

The Virgin take over of health and adult social services in Bath has received little media coverage. This is a hugely significant  development. As a former director I am very disappointed but not surprised by the absence of any comment or statement from the association  of directors of adult social services. I can not believe directors of adult social services don't have a... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
01 Oct 2016 - 16:48

null Living with Dementia

Living with dementia is not about some one with dementia, it's not about caring for someone with dementia it about living in a residential  care home where everyone else has dementia. It's about having the room across the corridor from posh Rachael, who walks up and down all day in her underwear complaining she is,"starrrrving", in a very upper crust voice. It's about waking up in the... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
18 Apr 2016 - 10:03

null Winter is coming

  There is a constant threat of decline and sense of wrongness in the world. There are kings and king makers, trial by combat, scheming and betrayal and a delicious habit of bumping of the biggest stars. This is not some medieval fantasy or an episode of Game of Thrones this is the modern day public sector in a time of prolonged austerity. Temporary alliances form and reform, local... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
19 Jan 2016 - 12:48

null How training as a social worker made me a better doctor

  My favourite opening sentence this week comes from the Guardian. " Sharon D Clarke studied to be a social worker before becoming a doctor..... on Holby City." At first I thought this was going to be an interesting angle on the integrating health and social care debate. How training as a social worker has made me a better doctor. But no. Sharon is an actor and Holby City is a tv hospital... See more
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Blair McPherson
wrote a new blog post
08 Apr 2015 - 16:37

null Not the Game of Thrones

There is a constant threat of decline, accompanied by a pervasive mourning and sense of wrongness in the world. There are kings and king makers, trial by combat, scheming and betrayal and a delicious habit of bumping of the biggest stars. This is not some medieval fantasy or an episode of Game of Thrones this is the modern day public sector in a time of prolonged austerity. Temporary... See more
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