MATES IN LEYLAND!

THERE will be a “whole lot of checking” going on in Leyland during the August Bank Holiday weekend – check-mating, in fact! Chess players from around the country will converge on Wellfield Business and Enterprise College for the 3rd Leyland Chess Congress.

Congress Director, Dave Clayton, explains:- “The competition is arranged in three sections: the top section is for the experts and counts towards a player’s international rating but the two other sections give less-experienced players competitive games at their level. This is not a knockout competition so all players enjoy three great days.”

If you want to join the fun, obtain an entry form from Bob Tinton (01257 451046). Bob, the Chairman of Leyland Chess Club, says:- “Lots of people play chess against their computer or over the Internet but playing chess face-to-face is much more fun. Come and enjoy a full weekend of chess at Leyland Chess Congress. There are 6-rounds in the competition, with everyone playing 2 games each day of the August Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday to Monday).”

Leyland Chess Club has organised similar events in the past two years and attracted players from England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man. Local players are always very welcome!

Further details are available from the Leyland Chess Club website (www.leylandchess.org.uk) or by telephone from Bob Tinton.  Entry forms must be returned by Thursday 27 August.  Members of the English Chess Federation receive a discount from the entry fees.

UNISON ADDS ITS VOICE TO A ‘MESSAGE TO AMERICA’ ON THE NHS

UNISON, the UK’s leading public sector trade union, will send a ‘message to America’, supporting the NHS. The union will join a protest organised by Bruce Kent, following the national outcry over the anti-NHS reports circulating in America.

UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:- “The strength of feeling coming from the British public against the myths and lies peddled in America, proves just how much we value our National Health Service. 100% of UK citizens are covered by the NHS – regardless of their wealth and income. No-one here needs to check their bank account before they visit the doctor. And it is down to the hard work and dedication of hundreds and thousands of UNISON members that the NHS is treating patients every day.  UNISON has sent factsheets to our sister unions in the US, to arm them with the facts they need to challenge the lies being told about our NHS. We want to send a strong message to America, that the NHS is something we are all proud of.”

The protest will take place at 5.30pm, Wednesday 19 August, 2009 in Grosvenor Square, in front of the Roosevelt Statue, and will centre on a banner which will read ‘Go for it America, our National Health Service is a blessing for us all’.

More information from UNISON Press Office on 0207 551 1555.

Parking rules and charges ‘not fine’, says Which?

WHICH? is calling for an end to unfair charges and unclear signs in the private parking industry, which is unregulated.  When the consumer champion checked private parking conditions in a typical urban area it found signs that were obscured or had defunct phone numbers, and penalties ranged from £100 up to £360. The British Parking Association admitted to Which? that the highest charges were ‘unlikely to be fair’ and even a clamper towing a car said that signs weren’t clear.  When it came to public sector parking, 6 councils admitted that they set targets for the number of tickets issued. Although Department for Transport guidance says prompt payment discounts should be maintained if a driver makes an appeal which is rejected, only around a 3rd of councils said they do this in every case, which could stop people appealing.

Which? also found that some healthcare trusts in England are making more than 1 million pounds a year from hospital car park fees. Others are making losses, so their car parks have to be subsidised by money intended for healthcare.  Martyn Hocking, editor of Which? magazine, says:- “Of course it’s fair to stop people parking on your land or to charge them a fee for the privilege, but it should be absolutely clear where people can and can’t park, and what the charges and penalties are. It’s not right that huge sums can be extracted from unsuspecting drivers, or that incentive schemes can be used to discourage people from appealing fines.  There are good reasons why hospitals charge for their car parks, but if they’re making large profits, there’s clearly scope to reduce the amount they charge.”  Which? supports the Government’s aim of greater regulation in the parking sector, but is also calling for minimum standards on private parking signs and costs, rigorous monitoring of enforcement companies and an independent appeals process.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO PREVENT “GRANNY P” TRAGEDY

ALMOST 66% of social workers in adult services believe that they are worse resourced now than they were 5 years ago. This is just one of a number of disturbing findings from a survey released by UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union.

The survey exposes a service under severe strain, with 86% reporting increased caseloads, 61% have vacancy levels over 10% - with 5% reporting them as high as 40% and 96% say they are over-burdened with paperwork.

UNISON has drawn up a 10 point “Charter for Change,” designed to keep vulnerable adults safe and well and living as independently as possible. The union is warning councils that in the real world, there are not neat and clear dividing lines between children and adults – teenage parents, adult drug/alcohol users or disabled people with young carers, are just some examples of where a cross-age approach is needed.

Helga Pile, UNISON Head of Social Services, said:- “It’s time to champion the importance of social work with adults in the face of changing social and economic conditions and the need for radical reform of social care funding. We have an ageing population, growing numbers of dementia sufferers, and impossible pressures on family carers.  The Government has promised that people who need care will have a right to more independence and control over how it is provided. But the reality on the ground, where Tories control the majority of councils, is very different.  Tory controlled councils are more interested in penny pinching even if this means that social workers don’t have the necessary resources to get on with the job. Cost cutting and prioritising paperwork over people means it is only a matter of time before we are confronted with a ‘Granny P’ tragedy, unless urgent action is taken. We know that councils have billions in reserves and this money should be used to deliver decent services to their communities.  Social workers must be able to respond quickly to deliver a safe and effective service, which means councils should boost recruitment and ensure realistic funding. In addition to the constraints of under-funding and increasing caseloads, the survey exposes fears that cash for care schemes, where people are given money to find their own care workers, could reverse recent strides made in creating better systems for safeguarding adults by casualising care arrangements.”

Helen Davies, a social worker for Barnet council, said:- “Generally social workers feel like we are the last people to be consulted about what is right or wrong about social services or come to for advice and ideas. Morale is very low although I, like most of my colleagues, feel we do a job that is worthwhile. We are resilient and committed enough to do the job, in spite of what the media says, definitely not because of it. The Baby Peter case has highlighted the enormous levels of bureaucracy and administration social workers undertake working in children’s services, in this respect there is no difference to working with adults. It is incomprehensible how government and their consultants, have managed to embroil social workers in a quagmire of data gathering and bureaucracy, resulting in social workers spending more time feeding performance indicators, than with our service users.”

The charter has been drawn-up following the survey which received comments such as:-

“Older people have always been the poor relation compared with children’s work, but lives depend on an assessment made for older people as well as children.  As the older population increases so will the amount of complex high risk work e.g. dementia, adult protection, carer stress. Reductions in the qualified workforce now will eventually lead to more care disasters in the future. I feel we are storing up potential horror stories for the front pages of the newspapers by ignoring this (individual budgets) now. Ensure that the service user has one social worker throughout their need – even if they go into hospital – not passing the cases from team to team because of procedures. Workers should have more involvement in how cases are allocated and work well with a small number of cases.  We do not work in a needs-led service- due to financial restraints etc we end up being told what the person has to have, rather than what they need.  As professionals we have legal powers of removal and yet need managerial input to arrange a meals on wheels service. What does that say about how we value the people we serve?”

Based on the responses to this survey and discussion and feedback with our social work activists, UNISON has developed a charter for change in adult social work services.

UNISON CHARTER FOR CHANGE

1. Planned programme of investment: covering safeguarding and preventative services, so that more staff can be employed, with the right tools to do job.

2. Urgent action plan to fill vacancies: revival of on-the-job training schemes, caseload guarantees and staffing pools providing reliable, cost effective relief.

3. The right staffing numbers and skill mix of social workers and support staff.

4. Cull of bureaucracy and performance targets: reverse the 80:20 paperwork: contact ratio, overhaul defective IT system.

5. National standards on acceptable caseloads: enforced through the inspection process and regularly audited.

6. Better support and more reflective practice: consistent, high quality supervision that is supportive and challenging.

7. Better pay and career structures: reward expertise and practice to retain quality workers and redress the balance with pay in comparable professions.

8. Clear political commitment to strengthen the role of social work in adult services to halt the move to ‘social work on the cheap’.

9. Review the position of social work in health settings: improve joint working between social work and health.

10. Change of management culture: root out bullying, create a can do supportive culture of respect and involvement in policy and decisions.