Sure Start Blacon parent satisfaction survey

This report evaluates parent satisfaction with Sure Start in the Chester suburb of Blacon in 2004.Sure Start Blaco

Disability activism in the new media ecology: campaigning strategies in the digital era

This article examines the changing nature of disability activism through the influence of social media. As disabled people in the UK have been subjected to acute austerity, this has coincided with a new era of disability activism channelled through increased social media participation. Drawing on the analysis of one group's online activities and a qualitative content analysis of disability protest coverage in traditional news media during the 2012 Paralympic Games, this article positions this shift in the broader framework of ‘new media ecology’ (Hoskins and O’Loughlin, 2010). We explore how emerging structures of disability activism have begun to offer a more visible profile to challenge government policy and negative stereotypes of disabled people. This highlights the usefulness of campaigning strategies for generating favourable news coverage for disability protest

Self-directed Support: Personalisation, Choice and Control

Since the late 1990s, there has been a concerted policy drive across social care towards cash based modes of support and strategies to personalise services. Support for this shift was initiated by the disabled peoples’ movement, both in the UK and globally. Policies introducing direct payments in lieu of provided services have been secured gradually as a central plank of the campaign for independent living. Successive governments have promoted a shift towards personalisation as part of a wider focus to develop local care markets and to facilitate enhanced choice and control in service provision. In Scotland, this has been pursued through new legislation for self-directed support. The authors examine some of the key themes and debates emerging from the implementation of this policy. These include a look at the evolution of this concept and its development within the wider personalisation agenda, as well as the changing roles for users, carers, local authorities and service providers. The authors focus on the impact of change for front-line workers and reassess the progress of personalisation across the UK and in Europe during a time of widespread austerity and financial cuts. Written for professional and academic audiences Self-directed Support: Personalisation, Choice & Control will stimulate those wrestling with these themes from policy and professional perspectives and provide essential analysis for those studying health and social policy

Debates in personalisation, edited by Catherine Needham and Jon Glasby

No abstract available

Sure Start Blacon reach report, April 2004 - March 2005

This project report discusses Sure Start computerised records (covering personal details of all registrations within the Sure Start programme and records of each serivce and which service users have accessed them) which allow the 'reach' of the local programme across Blacon to be established between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2005

The right policy at the wrong time? Austerity hampers the personalisation approach in social care

The personalisation agenda has permeated many different areas of social policy across Europe over the last decade and none more so than in social care. Charlotte Pearson and Julie Ridley argue that whilst in many ways the ideas behind personalisation are progressive, the implementation of these ideas in a time of budget cuts has limited their ability to have a positive impact on people’s lives. With large cuts to local authority funding continuing in the foreseeable future, this problem of resources will hamper any ability to promote transformational change

Service evaluation of parent education in the Blacon Sure Start area

This report evaluates part of the Sure Start in Blacon

Tackling Disability Discrimination in the United Kingdom: The British Disability Discrimination Act

The social position of disabled people in the United Kingdom, as elsewhere in the developed world, has changed dramatically in the past twenty years. Disabled people are no longer forced into confinement in long-term institutions, increasingly more disabled children are being educated in mainstream schools, and employment rates for disabled people are rising. Despite these improvements there is still considerable evidence to suggest that disabled people in the United Kingdom are subjected to discrimination. This Essay provides an overview of the development of disability discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom over the past two decades. While highlighting early attempts to challenge the practice in the employment context, this Essay also explores the more recent adoption of a framework for anti-discrimination legislation. Although the United Kingdom has made significant progress in integrating an anti-discrimination agenda into key areas of social life, attitudinal and structural change has been considerably slower. This Essay seeks first to unravel the key debates underpinning legislative change. Discussion then moves to an exploration of the critique of the United Kingdom legislation from the disability movement. This highlights a broader focus on the definitions applied, and contrasts the approach taken by successive British governments with other international frameworks. The Essay concludes by arguing that the focus of antidiscrimination legislation needs to move beyond issues of definition and instead integrate a stronger emphasis on promoting the civil rights of disabled people and recognizing the diversity of identities

An evaluation of 'Time for ME': a post-natal depression and anxiety support group

© University of ChesterHalton’s Healthy Living Project (HLP) is designed to provide positive experiences of healthy living to people who live and/or work in the Borough. There are five strands to the HLP: Arts for Health; Food for Health; Complementary Therapies; Physical Activities; and the Information Project. Time for Me is a project within the arts strand of Halton’s HLP, it is a creative group for mothers, with children under two years of age, who are experiencing mild to moderate depression or anxiety. The Time for Me programme consists of eight one and a half hour sessions in which women are given the opportunity to take part in various creative activities facilitated by artists. This study is part of the ‘exploring outcomes’ part of Halton’s HLP evaluation

Implementing health and social care integration in Scotland: Renegotiating new partnerships in changing cultures of care

Health and social care integration has been a long-term goal for successive governments in Scotland, culminating in the implementation of the recent Public Bodies (Joint Working) Scotland Act 2014. This laid down the foundations for the delegation of health and social care functions and resources to newly formed Integrated Joint Boards. It put in place demands for new ways of working and partnership planning. In this article, we explore the early implementation of this Act and how health and social care professionals and the third sector have begun to renegotiate their roles. The paper draws on new empirical data collated through focus groups and interviews with over 70 professionals from across Scotland. The data are explored through the following key themes: changing cultures, structural imbalance, governance and partnership and the role of individuals or “boundary spanners” in implementing change. We also draw on evidence from other international systems of care, which have implemented integration policies, documenting what works and what does not. We argue that under the current framework much of the potential for integration is not being fulfilled and that the evidence suggests that at this early stage of roll-out, the structural and cultural policy changes that are required to enable this policy shift have not yet emerged. Rather, integration has been left to individual innovators or “boundary spanners” and these are acting as key drivers of change. Where change is occurring, this is happening despite the system. As it is currently structured, we argue that too much power is in the hands of health and despite the rhetoric of partnership working, there are real structural imbalances that need to be reconciled