Regular News - 4 March 2024
Written by Lucy Nichol - Edited by CACHE Alumni
Sector news update
Hello and welcome to our latest fortnightly news update. This week we’ve got thoughts and priorities for the next government in relation to social care needs, as well as a few pieces on the impact of tech in social care – not only in terms of advancing care, but also in terms of the risks associated with AI and data protection issues.
General social care news
The Government has published a funding overview outlining what local authorities receive to provide adult social care services in England. The web page featuring the link to the report also outlines what the funding pressures have been during 2022/23.
⇨ Read more here
UNISON general Secretary Christina McAnea talks about the national care campaign pledge and why a national care service is required.
⇨ Read more here
Meanwhile, over on the Nuffield Trust website, Natasha Curry writes about how England is lagging behind other countries in terms of social care development and the risks of political parties shying away from addressing social care due to it being a ‘political hot potato’.
⇨ Read the full story here
There’s more on social care in the run up to a general election over on the NHS Confed site, where they outline five priority areas health and care leaders want to see the next government focusing on.
⇨ Read the full article here
This piece on STV talks about cuts that are being made to social care in Scotland, and speaks to one family to demonstrate how these cuts are impacting people on a day to day basis and what they mean in real terms.
⇨ Read the full article here
Tech and Data
Major concerns are outlined in Disabilitynewsservice.com relating to measures currently being considered by the House of Lords that would give the DWP powers to force banks to report anyone claiming benefits who is flagged as being a ‘potential indicator for fraud’.
⇨ Read more here
Tech company Lilli has launched an adult social care fund to support digital transformation. Its digital solutions already help adult social care teams to gain valuable insights into an individual’s wellbeing, even when no carer is present, and it can spot the signs of declining health before conditions become acute.
⇨ Read more here
Representatives from 30 organisations, as well as individuals working in adult social care, came together to discuss the benefits and risks of using generative AI in social care.
⇨ Read the full story and access the signed statement here
Children’s care
A piece in Community Care talks about how pre-court meetings between children’s social workers and guardians have the potential to improve care proceedings.
⇨ Read the full article here
And finally….
Care worker Catharine Bell writes for Yahoo on some of the misconceptions people have about working in social care, including some of the specific skills required and the age of people who access care. This forms part of Mencap’s Why We Care campaign – shining a spotlight on the important role of care workers.
⇨ Read more here
We’ll be back in touch in a fortnight with more updates, news and views.
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