2 thoughts on “(Audio) podcasts for Michael Graham”

  1. HI Martin and Michael – I wonder if you might be interested or aware of the changes (attempted changes) in terms of reform that have taken place within the Scottish context through The Public bodies (joint working) (Scotland) Act 2014 which are an attempt to bring about significant structural reform within the context of health and social care and have led to the formation of heath and social care partnerships between local health boards and local authorities. They have not been the great panacea reform in many senses but working in this context ( I am a mental health social worker working across both hospital and community teams) does feel like a (slow) journey and I am interested to see where it takes us in terms of addressing the deep cultural divides between the health and social care models that you described. There has also been the introduction of self directed support within Scotland again an attempt to bring reform and provide better control and choice for individuals, by no means perfect but again a journey and an attempt at a government level to bring about intentional structural change and overcome historical problems of the health and social care systems. I have also been interested in the work of Prof. John Swinton who I have heard speak brilliantly on the subject of the care both in a professional context and within a church context. I also think there is alot to be learnt from looking at the global context and there are many countries who are much further ahead of us in their delivery of health and social care Norway is well known for this and Japan’s dementia villages are examples of responsive service design change to meet the changing health and social care needs of their population. A few rambling thoughts – thanks for the conversation I enjoyed hearing you discuss something close to my heart!

  2. Hi Rachael, I am constantly jealous of social workers working in the Scottish policy context. I’m not familiar with The Public bodies Act with its heath and social care partnerships does seem to go some way towards the structural reform needed. I continue to believe that for a partnership to be well balanced, both sides of the heath and social care spectrum need to be as powerful as eachother. Maybe a National Health and a National Care service with local partnership boards (possibly incorporating other services like housing) would create the most effective situation?

    I am somewhat skeptical of self directed support (including direct payments) because although it invests a lot more autonomy and choice in service users, it also loads them with a lot more risk.

    The Nordic countries and Japan (and Germany to some extent) have some excellent models for both health and social care provision. I just think that more social democratic nations support their population’s wellbeing much better.

    I haven’t come across John Swinton , will definitely look him up. Let me just express my admiration for another social worker, working in mental health, its definitely one of the most difficult areas at the moment.

Comments are closed.

Perspectives