NIASW Report - January 2014

Code of conduct

It has been clear from all of our contact with you over the past year that the pressures have been plentiful and varied. It is tempting when life is so busy to only focus on the here and now and the need to get each task done. While this is undoubtedly necessary it can mean that we miss opportunities to influence our shared future. So it is for this reason that I urge you all to take 10 minutes and complete the NISCC on-line survey for the review of the Codes of Conduct for social care workers and their employers. NIASW have been involved in consultations and will make a formal submission, but this is your opportunity to ensure that the codes reflect the needs of the profession. The deadline is the 3 January 2014 and the link to the survey is:

http://www.niscc.info/News-347.aspx#1511http://www.niscc.info/News-347

Key events

NIASW were proud to co-host a conference with the Northern Ireland Adult Safeguarding Partnership (NIASP) on learning the lessons from complex cases from across Northern Ireland, there will be a review of the day in the next issue of PSW.

NIASW Manager Carolyn Ewart was delighted to attend a round table discussion with Pamela Miller one of the authors of the recent NSPCC report No-one listened no-one heard. The event hosted by the NSPCC and British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASCPAN) was a thought-provoking afternoon where all involved reflected on their own practice in light of the detail in the report where 60 young men and women shared their disclosure experiences of childhood abuse, http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/findings/no-one-noticed-no-one-heard_wda98738.html. It made for sobering reading that on average it took a child 7.8 years to tell they were being abused and offers suggestions for how we can develop practice to help children when they do break the silence.

Carolyn was also lucky enough to be invited to the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust’s annual event celebrating social work in the Trust. This year there were eight speakers all of them social workers who had led a project or team to improve services. The examples shared were inspiring and covered a wide range of services, including hospital social work, direct payments, missing children partnership working, a carers perspective of mental health social work, person-centred planning in a day care setting, supported living for older people with dementia, family support hubs and service users experience of the case conference process. The presentations from the carer and service user were incredibly powerful and should be shared with a much larger audience.

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas and a happy new year!