News
Below are a selection of recent news stories from around the internet relating to Social Care.
If you have any news stories, articles or case studies you would like us to share with others, please contact us and we will be happy to include them.
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September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
Click here for care industry news
October 2009
Tweeeeeeeet - you2choose.com is now on twitter
you2choose.com, Friday 23th October 2009.
We are now twittering en masse. If you would like to follow us and keep up to date with care, personalisation and whats happening in the world of care searching follow us at:
www.twitter.com/you2choose
Tweet us on personalisation or self direct support
you2choose blog is now live!
you2choose.com, Friday 23th October 2009.
It's been busy in the you2choose towers this week, we now have our shiny new blog up on WordPress.
Go have a read and let us know what you think.
you2choose blog - self directed support
New quick county health care resource launched
you2choose.com, Thursday 22th October 2009.
To make healthcare search quicker and easier for users we have now introduced a new "County Quick" search. From here you can quickly pick your county from the list and go straight to all of the care suppliers in that area.
To see it in action click the below link
Quick search for healthcare in your county
September 2009
Over 24,000 Service Suppliers listed on you2choose.com
you2choose.com, Friday 25th September 2009.
you2choose.com the online Social Care and Support Services directory, has grown very quickly and it now has over 24,000 Service Suppliers (care homes, homecare agencies etc) listed. The directory allows Service Suppliers to market themselves cost effectively to IB Holders, self funders, brokers and advocates, so that they can search, reserve, book and pay for the goods and services they want 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in real time over the internet. To start searching for Service Suppliers or to see if your business is listed click
you2choose.com exhibiting at the National Children & Adult Services Conference & Exhibition 2009
you2choose.com, Friday 25th September 2009.
Come and visit us at this year’s NC&AS conference and exhibition, from the 21st to 23rd October 2009, at the Harrogate International Centre. We are in hall Q on stand 99. Contact us for further details, alternatively you can
you2choose.com exhibiting at the Care Show 2009
you2choose.com, Friday 25th September 2009.
Come and visit us at this year’s Care Show, from the 3rd to 4th November 2009, at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. We are in hall 7 on stand B44. Contact us for further details, alternatively you can visit the show website
Essex Cares is first local authority trading company for social care
CommunityCare.co.uk, Friday 25th September 2009.
As more people take up the option of shopping for their social care with individual budgets, local authorities face a dilemma about the fate of their own provider services: change or cut.
Funding a solution for care
The Guardian, Wednesday 23rd September 2009.
As a society, we urgently need to face up to a grave long-term crisis that will affect people in the UK and other countries perhaps as much as climate change. That crisis is the unresolved issue of just how millions of people can be looked after once they need long-term care.
Andy Burnham: Britain faces elderly care 'timebomb'
The Guardian, Friday 18th September 2009.
Britain is facing a healthcare "timebomb" as people live longer and the elderly population expands rapidly, the health secretary warned today. Those who may survive into extended old age are unaware of the extra resources needed to cope with their medical needs, Andy Burnham told an audience in Manchester. His comments were made as a coalition of charities claimed the government would miss its "care plan" targets.
We need to protect whistle blowing social workers
The Guardian, Monday 14th September 2009.
In social work at present it never rains but it pours. At a time of continuing public scrutiny, the last thing the sector needs is to be told that nearly half of those frontline social workers who plucked up courage to blow the whistle about poor practice or workplace problems subsequently reported that their employer failed to tackle the issues raised.
Care & Support Reform: Why less can be more
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009.
All too often, older people experiencing a sudden deterioration in their health or mobility feel they have no choice but to enter residential care. But growing numbers of people are living in dignity and safety in their own homes years after being debilitated by a health crisis, thanks to a little-known scheme.
Care & Support Reform: 'Impossible to manage'
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
Persuading older people of the merits of personal budgets is not going to be easy. As the official evaluation of the government's individual budget pilot schemes found, older people may need a great deal of support by way of advice and practical assistance to overcome their apprehension.
Care & Support Reform: Brent care scheme for older people is top of the Popps
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
A final evaluation report is due later this year on the Partnerships for Older People Projects (Popps), which set out to test the effectiveness of different ways of supporting older people to continue living independently in the community. But one scheme has already been found to have saved between three and seven times its cost of £1,500 a person.
Care & Support Reform: A sense of control
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
The benefits of prevention and early intervention as highlighted by the Popps projects have crystallised the thinking of many of us who strongly believe in the power of low-level support to make long-term savings and ultimately improve the lives of older people.
Care & Support Reform: Remote control
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
Gavin Croft is best known for spending part of his personal budget for care and support on Rochdale FC season tickets for himself and a friend to accompany him to the games. Sceptics feared that such maverick use of public funds would discredit the emerging personal budget system, but few realised that Croft was a former social worker who knew how to exercise his care choices wisely.
Care & Support Reform: Vox pop
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
The new service should provide care that enables people of all ages to live independent lives. But does the green paper make that clear enough?
Care & Support Reform: Liberation or burden?
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
Alison Thomas is an unlikely trailblazer. Aged 76, she has multiple sclerosis, which has progressed to such an extent that she has lost the use of her limbs and requires 24-hour care. She spent almost 30 years in a group residential home, where she had no say over day-to-day decisions such as who looked after her, or what she ate and when. But all that changed just over a year ago when she moved to her own flat and was given control of her £47,000-a-year social care budget.
Care & Support Reform: At the heart of the system
The Guardian, Wednesday 9th September 2009
The needs of carers would be "at the heart" of a reformed care and support system, the green paper promises. But what should that mean?
In Control and individual health budgets
CommunityCare.co.uk, Tuesday 8th September 2009
Social care professionals are no strangers to the concept of personalised budgets. Direct payments have been offered to service users since 2005 and, while uptake has been slow in many areas, millions of people have now received money to buy their own care.
August 09
Guide to personalisation terminology
Thursday 27th August 2009
Explanations of the key terms used in personalisation.
Charity bids to boost personalisation for those with dementia
Thursday 14th August 2009
The Mental Health Foundation has launched a Department of Health funded project, to uncover why people with dementia and their carers are not opting for direct payments and personal budgets.
July 09
Social care needs to be fairly and efficiently reformed
The Independent, Wednesday 15th July 2009
It is painfully apparent that the present system for allocating social care to the infirm elderly is confusing, overly complicated and riddled with unfairness. Under the present means-tested system in England and Wales even those with relatively modest savings find themselves forced to pay for the full cost of care.
