(re)Structuring the agency: Agency working arrangements and social care in the era of austerity and beyond.

In Ireland, the austerity era of recent years brought (un)employment to the fore in a manner not seen since the 1980s. Within the arena of health and social care, this was epitomised by the ‘embargo’. Confined within an embargo process, recruitment agencies became a first choice response to maintaining service delivery in a deepening recessionary period. Located against this backdrop, this study explored agency-working arrangements in social care through the use of semi-structured interviews with service provider managers (n=3) and agency social care workers (n=6). Analysed using a variation of conventional content analysis; these interviews reveal a central tension between the flexibility afforded by agency working arrangements and the instability that such arrangements can foster. Although flexibility and variety in agency based employment arrangements can be beneficial for service providers, and in certain stages of career development for social care practitioners, underlying tensions arise within such working arrangements, which have a particular resonance for the social care profession. Most notably, the relationship based nature of social care practice can be disturbed by a restructuring of traditional employment pathways, especially in relation to continuity of care and practitioner support and development. Nonetheless, the findings also reveal that the extent of disruption is being dampened by adaptions to the agency process by service provider managers and social care workers through a ‘pooling’ approach to agency staffing. As such, the findings of this study both reflect common themes form literature surrounding agency working, while also observing subtle nuances. The implications of agency working for social care practice are considered, as are potential longer-term impacts given the context of impending registration of social care workers

Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study

BACKGROUND: Over the last two winters, there have been large-scale, unexplained losses of managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies in the United States. In the absence of a known cause, this syndrome was named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) because the main trait was a rapid loss of adult worker bees. We initiated a descriptive epizootiological study in order to better characterize CCD and compare risk factor exposure between populations afflicted by and not afflicted by CCD. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Of 61 quantified variables (including adult bee physiology, pathogen loads, and pesticide levels), no single measure emerged as a most-likely cause of CCD. Bees in CCD colonies had higher pathogen loads and were co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than control populations, suggesting either an increased exposure to pathogens or a reduced resistance of bees toward pathogens. Levels of the synthetic acaricide coumaphos (used by beekeepers to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor) were higher in control colonies than CCD-affected colonies. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first comprehensive survey of CCD-affected bee populations that suggests CCD involves an interaction between pathogens and other stress factors. We present evidence that this condition is contagious or the result of exposure to a common risk factor. Potentially important areas for future hypothesis-driven research, including the possible legacy effect of mite parasitism and the role of honey bee resistance to pesticides, are highlighted

(re) Structuring the agency: Agency working arrangements and social care in the era of austerity and beyond

In Ireland, the austerity era of recent years brought (un)employment to the fore in a manner not seen since the 1980s. Within the arena of health and social care, this was epitomised by the embargo . Confined within an embargo process, recruitment agencies became a first choice response to maintaining service delivery in a deepening recessionary period. Located against this backdrop, this study explored agency-working arrangements in social care through the use of semi-structured interviews with service provider managers (n=3) and agency social care workers (n=6). Analysed using a variation of conventional content analysis; these interviews reveal a central tension between the flexibility afforded by agency working arrangements and the instability that such arrangements can foster. Although flexibility and variety in agency based employment arrangements can be beneficial for service providers, and in certain stages of career development for social care practitioners, underlying tensions arise within such working arrangements, which have a particular resonance for the social care profession. Most notably, the relationship based nature of social care practice can be disturbed by a restructuring of traditional employment pathways, especially in relation to continuity of care and practitioner support and development. Nonetheless, the findings also reveal that the extent of disruption is being dampened by adaptions to the agency process by service provider managers and social care workers through a pooling approach to agency staffing. As such, the findings of this study both reflect common themes form literature surrounding agency working, while also observing subtle nuances. The implications of agency working for social care practice are considered, as are potential longer-term impacts given the context of impending registration of social care workers