BMA calls for more teamwork between staff in social care jobs and clinicians

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BMA calls for more teamwork between staff in social care jobs and clinicians

A leading medical body has called for greater collaboration between staff in social care jobs in England and healthcare professionals.

In its Adult Social Care in England report, the British Medical Association (BMA) stated that shifting NHS budgets to help fund free personal care at home is not the right thing to do.

Instead, the organisation expressed its support for increased teamwork between people in social care jobs and their counterparts involved in health services.

Rather than adopting the Labour government's proposals for free home-based care, as laid out in the Personal Care at Home Act 2010, the BMA is in favour of combining state and individuals' money.

"Should this policy be revisited in the future, it would be imperative to provide local authorities with adequate funding to prevent a greater number of people being put into care homes," it added.

Under Labour's proposals, around 350,000 people would have received free home care regardless of their personal wealth.

What’s your experience of working with doctors? Do they listen, or could the relationship be improved? Share your ideas and experience with us!

Post date: Friday, 16 July 2010

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Sedating dementia patients - A Last Resort Only?

Tag: social workers, social workers,

Sedating dementia patients - A Last Resort Only?

When treating dementia patients, staff in social care jobs must look at all alternatives before administering sedatives.

This is according to the Dementia Service Development Centre South East (DSDCSE), which said restraining mental health patients in this way is "really unhelpful".

Director of the organisation Penny Hibbert explained that people with dementia can deteriorate quickly if they are given the wrong drugs to treat their illness.

She said that sedatives should be the "last resort" for staff in social care jobs who deal with mental health cases.

"We need to stop people using [sedatives] and they should only be used in consultation with a psychiatrist, very carefully monitored and given in very tiny doses," Ms Hibbert remarked.

She was reacting to the publication of Scotland's National Dementia Strategy earlier this week (June 1st 2010), which outlined how staff in social care jobs are to be given better training and skills to deal with dementia.

DSDCSE is a part of the Faculty of Health and Social Care at Canterbury Christ Church University.

What's your experience of dementia patients and sedation? Share your ideas and best practice with us!

Post date: Tuesday, 8 June 2010

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