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Free Essays - Social Work Essays
Exploring Social Care Policy and Provision
According to the Department of Health, socialcare is one of the major public service areas and within Britain, social careservices are usually provided by local councils and cater to nearly 1.5 millionpeople who rely completely on social workers and health care professionals fortheir survival (DH report, 2005). The Department of Heath emphasize on the needto modernize NHS and social services provided to people in Britain. Providing appropriatesocial services is an important target of social care policy and social policyin general (Adams, 2003). Social policy refers to the study and application of socialwelfare and focuses on social services provided in a welfare state. In itswider aspects, social policy means the policies of the government for welfare,social security and individual protection and represents the way in whichwelfare practices are used, developed and implemented in society to promote healthand welfare among individuals. Social policy and implementation is largely dependenton the social, economic and political conditions of a state and theadministrative practices relating to social policy can involve a wide range ofissues. The principle areas of social , administration and social workstudies include health issues and administration, employment services,community care, housing needs, crime prevention, disability checks,unemployment concerns, mental health, old age as well as social issues of raceor gender and poverty (Drake, 2001).
Social Care and Mental Health
Social care policy and provisions arerelated to the concept of welfare state and the main focus of a welfare stateis on the well being of its citizens. Welfare is general well being of individualsand when provided by the State, refers to a form of social security or social protectionthat aims to protect people from conditions such as sickness, ill health,diseases and poverty (Malin et al 2002). The model of a Welfare state is a targetthat governments seek to achieve. The welfare state model represents the government'sproposed and intended focus on providing comprehensive health and social careservices to all citizens. Although the ideal has a political dimension,attaining welfare status is a major health, safety and social concern. Thethree principle elements of the British welfare state identified by Briggsinclude a guarantee of minimum income, social protection against insecurity,and provision of social and health care services.
Social policy and the idea of welfare provisionsto individuals have been guided by various religious, humanitarian, democraticand practical concerns. Humanitarian concerns relate to the realization of theneed to eradicate poverty and to raise standards of living in individualsliving in poor conditions. Religious concerns have to deal with issues of socialoneness or solidarity and the emphasis is on promotion of a sense of collectiveresponsibility. Democratic issues of welfare state suggest that welfare is a fundamentaldemocratic right of people and practical aspects of welfare suggest economicand social benefits of welfare. Social policy concerned mainly with providingwelfare services is a multidisciplinary approach involving principles of law, sociology,philosophy, political science, management, economics and psychology.
One of the important aspects of socialpolicy is providing services dealing with adequate mental health and mental healthdisabilities require a specific policy context that seems to bring in a dynamicinteraction between individuals of a state and the health care professionalsproviding necessary services. Moxon et al (2001) have assessed mental healthneeds in older people highlighting the role of social workers in residentialhomes. The authors suggest that care staff in residential homes is capable ofreducing the prevalence of depression for older people. Community Mental Healthteam for the Elderly provide training to care staff in residential care homesand Moxon et al's research programme used quantitative and qualitative methodsto evaluate the effects of these training methods on the performance of carestaff and also the system of mentoring care staff that could reinforce trainingand a care planning intervention program combining psychosocial and medicalapproaches was tested to see whether it is effective in the management ofdepression. This training program was evaluated by recipients, trainers and researchersand it was found that ability of care staff to detect depression improvedsignificantly over time and depression was significantly reduced in individualswho participated in the care planning intervention. According to Moxon and colleagues,their research suggests that psychosocial intervention programs involving collaborationbetween carers and residents and supported by community Mental Health Team canplay an important role in supplementing medical management of depression andcan improve mental health conditions of elderly people admitted to residentialcare homes.
In a study Bamford et al (1998), highlightthe financial aspects of social care policy when concerned with mental health issues.The costs and benefits of providing mental health support to older people havebeen described within an economic framework along with the other financial aspectsinvolved. In this study mentally or physically ill elderly and frail peoplehave been identified through screening interviews and random samples of people65 years or older were taken from 4 UK areas 884 frail older people living inprivate household and 650 of their supporters were interviewed in the study. Financialcosts and lost social opportunities were reported by half of these supporters.Some supporters claimed to have reduced their working hours or withdrawnbecause of care giving. At least one social cost and one positive aspect of caregiving were identified by nearly all supporters. Loss of health, well being andopportunity costs were reported by co-resident supporters. Daughters and friendsof frail parents reported types of costs involved. Supporters of mentally and physicallyfrail people reported greater social costs and there has been considerable researchon means to decrease social and other costs and increase the benefits of caregiving to elderly , especially to mentally ill individuals.
Regarding the expectations of people ofthe level of public metal health services Lelliott (2000) mentions that thelevel of satisfaction with mental health services provided in the UK is definitelylow. This is evident through adverse media coverage and Government acknowledgementsthat community mental health care has failed to reach its targets. Some of the componentsof mental health care services cannot be changed or overturned in any way and Lelliottsuggests that there are basic and permanent flaws in the mental health caresystem provided. Some essential health care services are missing altogether.The paper discusses surveys given to individuals who have used government healthservices and have reported dissatisfaction with the care that they received. Itwas suggested that the mental health services provided must be improved interms of effectiveness, acceptability, and also public image and it is absolutelyessential to understand the expectations of people and what they want fromthese services that they use. Surveys taken from mental health services userssuggest that all these factors should be considered and could be used to measurethe standards of mental health practices in routine clinical or care settings.Lelliott's study highlights what people want from these healthcare services,the desirable attributes or methods that could be used to measure thesecontributory factors and gives descriptions on how satisfactory mental healthcare services could be provided considering survey results of service users.
In the UK, NHS mental health trustsprovide social care and health services to people with mental health problems. Mentalhealth services can be provided through the general physician, through primarycare settings, or through specialist care and hospital or clinical settings(Adams, 2003). All the mental health services can include counseling, psychologicaltherapies, community and family support and general health screening. Peoplesuffering from bereavement, depression, stress or anxiety can get help fromprimary care or informal community support or from professionals in a hospital.Mental Health trusts and local council social and care services provide supportthrough specialist medical training, counseling, informal advice, psychotherapeuticintervention programs and also gives medication advice to people with severemental health problems (Malin et al , 2002). According to NHS report about 2 inevery 1000 people in the UK need specialist advice, care and guidance for psychoticillness or mental health related problems such as anxiety or depression (NHS,2005).
Considering the services provided topeople with mental health problems, an individual expecting social care andsupport should expect social workers to provide him with emotional support,empathy and understanding. An individual, in this case, myself within a social caresetting expects:
1. emotional support
2. health advice
3. therapeutic procedures and interventionprograms
4. mental health training
5. safety and security needs fulfillment
6. medication advice if any
7. guidance on personal crisis
8. advice on issues related to life suchas employment and career, love and family issues, educational matters etc.
9. suggestions for mental health crisisrelated to discrimination or prejudice that may have precipitated problems suchas bullying for race, gender and so on
10. consideration of personal family and socialissues
Keeping these points in mind, the expectationsof social care policy related to mental health include effectiveness of the mentalhealth services with better quality services that can improve acceptability andimage of NHS and Mental Health trusts as also the Department of Health and the Government'soverall approach to social care and policy. Since mental health concerns andprovision of mental health services is an important aspect of government socialcare policy, meeting the expectations of individuals should be the primary aimof the government if it wants to achieve it target of an ideal welfare state.
Conclusion:
In this essay we highlighted theimportance of social health care policy in mental health problems. Targets andobjectives of the NHS and government health agencies along with the Departmentof Health have been put forward suggesting that in order for the government toreach appropriate targets, the model of welfare state has to be followed notjust in terms of services provided but by considering all aspects of socialhealth care including mental health concerns. Wee emphasized related issues ofunemployment, housing needs, prolonged physical illness, crime and poverty asimportant concomitants of depression, anxiety and severe psychotic illness. Inthis context we have discussed what an individual can expect as solutions tohis or her mental health problem. Within this aspect the relevant social policyhas been discussed suggesting that mental health needs are supervised by theMental Health trusts of the NHS that gives an annual report on cases andtreatment of mental health problems. This is usually accompanied by an analysisof the social policy in question such as providing counseling services atprimary and specialist's settings as well as psychotherapeutic interventionsand their relevance and effectiveness. Placing me as an individual in a mentalhealth set up the needs and expectations from the NHS and department of healthwith regard to the social policy has been discussed in stages highlightingemotional support and unbiased advice as very important from a social policyviewpoint.
Bibliography
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Embodying the social, London, Routledge
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THE USE OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIESAFTER STROKE A Cost Analysis Silvia M. A. A. Evers, Ger A. M. Driessen,André J. H. A. Ament
International Journal of TechnologyAssessment in Health Care, Volume 18, Issue 01. January 2002. pp33-45
Mental and physical frailty in olderpeople: the costs and benefits of informal care
CLAIRE BAMFORD, BARBARA GREGSON, GRAHAMFARROW, DEBBIE BUCK, THERESE DOWSWELL, PAUL MCNAMEE, JOHN BOND, KEN WRIGHTAgeing & Society, Volume 18, Issue 03. May 1998. pp317-354
WHAT DO PEOPLE WANT FROM SPECIALIST MENTALHEALTH SERVICES AND CAN THIS BE MEASURED IN ROUTINE SERVICE SETTINGS?
Paul Lelliott
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy,Volume 28, Issue 04. October 2000. pp361-368
Mental health in residential homes: a rolefor care staff
SALLIE MOXON, KENNETH LYNE, IAN SINCLAIR,PHILIP YOUNG, CHRISTINE KIRK Ageing & Society, Volume 21, Issue 01. January2001. pp71-93
Meeting the mental health needs of olderwomen: taking social inequality into account ALISOUN MILNE, JENNIE WILLIAMS
Ageing & Society, Volume 20, Issue 06.November 2000. pp699-723
Bereavement and mental health in theelderly
Colin Murray Parkes
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, Volume 7,Issue 01. January 1997. pp47-53
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