Search results
1 – 10 of over 66000This paper intends to explore how corporate bodies could be held criminally responsible for abuse and neglect that takes place in hospitals and care homes if by their actions they…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper intends to explore how corporate bodies could be held criminally responsible for abuse and neglect that takes place in hospitals and care homes if by their actions they facilitate this abuse or neglect to take place. It explores current domestic and international law and seeks to find precedents and guidance that would allow the Government to create a new criminal sanction for “corporate neglect”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a review of existing legislation and regulation on corporate neglect in hospitals and care homes.
Findings
The paper proposes that the Health and Social Care Act 2008 be amended to include a new section which would make corporate neglect a criminal offence. Furthermore, to ensure that the punishments for these offences act both as appropriate sanction and a suitable deterrent for corporations, the author proposes that new offences should be implemented to include unlimited fines, remedial orders and publicity orders.
Originality/value
Following a number of recent scandals in care homes and hospitals, including Winterbourne View and Mid Staffordshire, it is clear that there is a legislative and regulatory gap in the ability to hold corporate bodies to account for neglect or abuse that occurs in their institutions. This must now be urgently addressed.
Details
Keywords
The planning and provision of care for older people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities is an increasing challenge to traditional welfare systems. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The planning and provision of care for older people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) communities is an increasing challenge to traditional welfare systems. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of the newly implemented Care Act 2014 in England for developing an anti-discriminatory approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The review draws on existing research and conceptual literature to identify how key provisions of the new act can be interpreted in light of current knowledge.
Findings
Overall the provisions of the Care Act lend themselves well to positive interpretation in relation to the needs of older LGBT people and their support networks. A potential tension, however, arises in the locality focus of the legislation that could constrain good practice with geographically dispersed communities. There is also a need to challenge both heteronormative and ageist assumptions that lead to older LGBT people remaining unrecognised.
Practical implications
Applied with imagination and commitment, the provisions of the new act could enable new forms of person-centred care to emerge to support older LGBT people.
Social implications
Social workers are in a key position to influence how the Care Act is interpreted and applied in practice and can act as change agents for a societal move towards older LGBT people having greater choice and control over their well-being.
Originality/value
This review presents examples of how the provisions of the legislation can be utilised to support positive change for older LGBT people.
Details
Keywords
The Children Act 1989 ended a period of four decades during which the education of children and young people in care was almost entirely neglected. However, it was another 20…
Abstract
The Children Act 1989 ended a period of four decades during which the education of children and young people in care was almost entirely neglected. However, it was another 20 years before education took its rightful place at the centre of provision for the care of children away from home. This article considers the contribution made to this process by the Act and its accompanying Guidance, what progress has been made and what were the obstacles, past and continuing, that have made it so difficult to narrow the gap in attainment between looked‐after children and others.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the signs of safety and wellbeing practice framework offers a practical and logical reinforcement for the Making Safeguarding Personal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the signs of safety and wellbeing practice framework offers a practical and logical reinforcement for the Making Safeguarding Personal programme within the practice context of the Care Act. The new practice framework orientates safeguarding practice to be person led and person centred while reinforcing an outcomes focus.
Design/methodology/approach
The principal social worker co-led the design and pilot programme where the new practice framework was developed and trialled.
Findings
A practice framework that houses the policy and practice updates needed to deliver the Care Act and Making Safeguarding Personal agenda is logical and necessary for the practitioners. An outcomes focus is encouraged because safeguarding practice is goal orientated and outcome focused.
Practical implications
A debate about how practice frameworks can help achieve the Making Safeguarding Personal approach and deliver on the Care Act principles is offered. This is a new and important debate for adult social care; a debate well-established across children’s services.
Originality/value
A debate about how practice frameworks can help achieve the Making Safeguarding Personal approach and deliver on the Care Act principles is offered. This is a new and important debate for adult social care; a debate well-established across children’s services.
Details
Keywords
The 2015 Modern Slavery Act focusses attention forms of modern slavery (human trafficking and forced labour), within the UK. The contemporaneous 2014 Care Act, identifies modern…
Abstract
Purpose
The 2015 Modern Slavery Act focusses attention forms of modern slavery (human trafficking and forced labour), within the UK. The contemporaneous 2014 Care Act, identifies modern slavery as a new form of risk within adult social care, listing forms of abuse and vulnerability. However, it does not consider whether those providing care may themselves be vulnerable to forms of modern slavery. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors describe the history of the development of modern slavery legislation in the UK, outline key provisions of the Care Act, illustrated with real-life cases. The analysis suggests that adult social care – characterised by informality, fragmentation and vulnerability – is one where instances of modern slavery may be more common than considered to date.
Findings
The data collected, though relatively modest, suggests that a thorough investigation should be undertaken into the possibility of modern slavery taking place within the realm of adult social care.
Research limitations/implications
Data have been collected through a snowball process, rolling out a survey to relevant groups of individual and organisations. A more rigorous investigation is required to examine the extent of modern slavery within adult social care.
Practical implications
The training of those responsible for the regulation/management of adult social care needs to ensure that they are fully equipped to understand the nature of modern slavery and how to identify its symptoms and victims.
Social implications
There is also a need for heightened awareness of those close to people being cared for that they may also identify the symptoms of modern slavery.
Originality/value
This area has not been explored to date.
Details
Keywords
Wenche Malmedal, Randi Hammervold and Britt-Inger Saveman
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence the probability that staff will commit acts of inadequate care, abuse, and neglect.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence the probability that staff will commit acts of inadequate care, abuse, and neglect.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey study was carried out in one county in the middle of Norway (Sør-Trøndelag). Random sampling, stratified by size of nursing homes, and location (rural or urban areas), was used to select a variety of nursing homes from a total population of 55 nursing homes. All staff working in 16 nursing homes working were asked to participate in the study. A response rate of 79 per cent was achieved (n=616).
Findings
Findings reveal that location and size of the nursing home, age of the staff, education level, job satisfaction, resident aggression, and conflicts between residents and staff predict inadequate care, abuse, and neglect. The most consistent findings are that resident aggression increases the risk for all three types of inadequate care, and that conflicts predict different types of inadequate care depending on whether the conflicts are related to direct care-giving activities or not.
Practical implications
Nursing home care is an important part of care for the elderly, and should be characterized by good-quality services. The relation between inadequate care and resident aggression, conflicts, and other factors shown in this study points to the relevance of further improvements in nursing home practices to minimize the occurrence of episodes of inadequate care, abuse, and neglect.
Originality/value
This study investigated the relationships between 11 specific factors and different types of inadequate care in a nursing home context.
Details
Keywords
Early years policy and services have been subjected to substantial and rapid reform over the past 20 years. This article provides a brief overview of legislative and policy…
Abstract
Early years policy and services have been subjected to substantial and rapid reform over the past 20 years. This article provides a brief overview of legislative and policy changes over this period, with a particular focus on regulation and workforce issues, and traces the enduring influence of the Children Act 1989 to the present. It identifies a paradigm shift in early years services from a world view based on public health and care and on devolution of responsibility, to one in which promoting children's learning and development is core and centralised regulation and national standards are seen as essential. This is reflected in changed responsibilities at government department and regulatory body level. Despite these major changes, the article concludes that the key principles of the Act ‐ in terms of children's rights, parents' responsibilities, listening to children and inter‐agency co‐operation ‐ are still apparent.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to examine the effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on for-profit hospitals in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on for-profit hospitals in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the event study methodology to examine the stock market’s reaction to the passage of the PPACA.
Findings
The results of the analysis do not show a negative effect; on the contrary, the stock prices of for-profit hospitals increased, on average, by 6%. The cumulative abnormal returns were 5.64% with a generalized z-value of 3.851 with a significance level of 0.001 (two-tailed test). This translates into an average gain of $230,537,096 for the four days (dates) that a positive step was taken in making the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a law of the country.
Practical implications
Because the study suggests that for-profit hospitals will be profitable under the PPACA, one could expect to see growth or, at the minimum, expansion in for-profit hospitals under the Act. Furthermore, and consistent with the principles of marketing, one would expect all the for-profit hospitals, at this nascent stage of the ACA, to pull resources together to promote the benefits of having the ACA.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of the PPACA on the operations of for-profit hospitals.
Details
Keywords
The Children Act 1989 sought to be evidence based in that its development reflected a growing body of research in the field of child care. This article explores the dynamic…
Abstract
The Children Act 1989 sought to be evidence based in that its development reflected a growing body of research in the field of child care. This article explores the dynamic relationship between research, policy and practice in child welfare in the UK over the subsequent 21 years. It looks at the implications for the workforce and professional expertise, with a particular focus on social work. Initially, the implementation of the Act was closely associated with social services but provision has become more integrated and multidisciplinary. This has led to a far‐reaching debate about the roles and tasks of social work and its efficacy in safeguarding and promoting children's welfare. Social work can make a broad contribution to child welfare but to realise this both the role of social work and the knowledge base on which it is based must not be defined in a narrow or prescriptive way.
Details