Local Authority

Social care plays a key role in leading the social inclusion of people with mental health problems. 

People who use mental health services will often face discrimination, stigma, by victims of abuse or harassment, or may be at risk of homeless or unemployment. Some vulnerable adults face complex and multiple difficulties and face particular barriers to being active participants in community life.

The vision is:

• Everyone is supported to access the opportunities available within the many communities to which they belong.
• Everyone understands and appreciates the mutual benefits of contributions made by people with mental health problems towards creating and sustaining a positive community.
• Mental health services will work with individuals and communities to promote active civic participation and effective social support.
• There will be equal opportunities for active citizenship, increased social capital and less unwanted service dependency.

CPFT plays a key role in enabling this vision for those who reside in Peterborough or Cambridgeshire. The decisions made about how to treat a person can have an extreme effect on their social inclusion. For example, an admission to hospital can lead to loss of accommodation, employment, a disruption to every day activities and the support of family and friends. Facilitating social inclusion is a key aspect of working in a recovery focussed way. Through care planning, treatment and care a person can be supported in the least restrictive setting, where possible at home, and through social support develop opportunities to sustain a healthy life.

Effective care planning for social inclusion would include goals and outcomes that sustains positive relationships outside of services, makes good use of support and services in the person’s local community such as leisure, support, education, and works to enable the person to live in independent accommodation.

Where a person has social care needs that are substantial or critical, it is possible that they may be eligible for social care funded personal budget to enable creative ways to develop their potential and wellbeing.

Safeguarding

Social care leads monitors the work that CPFT does to ensure that vulnerable adults are kept safe.

Personalisation and self-directed support

Personalisation means thinking about care and support services in an entirely different way. This means starting with the person as an individual with strengths, preferences and aspirations and putting them at the centre of the process of identifying their needs and making choices about how and when they are supported to live their lives. It requires a significant transformation of adult social care so that all systems, processes, staff and services are geared up to put people first. Put simply, personalisation is about:

• Tailoring services to individuals needs
• Enabling access to advocacy, information and advice to support the person to make choices
• Working in collaboration
• Developing partnerships with others in local communities
• Supporting friends, family and carers to support the person
• Through universal services and community support, enable the person to develop a network of support in their own community

Self-directed support is mechanism of paying for social care services. Both Cambridgeshire and Peterborough local authorities have implemented personal budgets for people. The person’s level of need indicates a social care budget, and this is used to purchase support or services to enable them to improve their quality of life. The aim is to out the person in control of the process of their care and support by empowering them to purchase what they need.

Social care funding continues to be available for only the most vulnerable people and in order to be eligible for a personal budget, the person must have critical or substantial social care needs (as defined by each Local Authority Fair Access to Care Criteria).

Personalisation is a key aspect of recovery approaches in mental health service provision, underpinning collaborative care-planning processes.

Approved Mental Health Professionals

The Approved Mental Health Professional is a statutory role set out in the Mental Health Act 2007. The local authority is responsible for the appointment of Approved Mental Health Professionals. In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the councils delegate the responsibility for training and managing AMHPs to CPFT.

The role of the AMHP is to provide an independent decision about whether or not there are alternatives to detention under the Act, bringing to bear a social perspective to bear on their decision.

Traditionally, social workers undertook this role and becoming an AMHP is still seen as the key career progression for mental health social workers. In the 2008 regulations supporting the 2007 Mental Health Act, qualifying health professionals can now train as AMHPs.

Professionals undertake a masters level course, a supervised placement and shadow experienced AMHPs before being approved in the role.

For more information about the AMHP role please contact a social care lead.

Training for local authority staff who work with children, young people and families will be advertised where commissioned. You can review the current availability or contact the team via CPFT Academy on this link. 

The General Social Care Council (GSCC) is the regulator of the social work profession and social work education in England. The GSCC aims to protect the public by requiring high standards of education, conduct and practice of all social workers. Social workers work with some of the most vulnerable people in society, so it is vital that only those who are properly trained and committed to high standards practise social work.

The GSSC maintains a compulsory register of social workers and issuing and enforcing the codes of practice for the profession. The codes of practice set out the standards of professional conduct and practice required by social workers as they go about their daily work. They are intended to ensure that employers, colleagues, service users, carers and members of the public know what standards they can expect from registered social workers. For more information on the GSSC or to check the register, please visit www.gscc.org.uk

Registration responsibility falls with the Health Professionals Council - www.hpc-uk.org/

Continuing Professional Development

Qualified social workers

In April 2005, protection of title was introduced in England for social workers, which will mean that it will be an offence for staff to describe themselves as social workers, with intent to deceive, if they are not registered with one of the four care councils in the UK. Post-registration training and learning (CPD) is a key condition for continued registration.

The GSCC registration rules specify the post-registration training and learning requirements that all registered social workers must meet. The rules state that:

• Every social worker registered with the GSCC shall, within the period of registration, complete either 90 hours or 15 days of study, training, courses, seminars, reading, teaching or other activities which could reasonably be expected to advance the social worker's professional development or contribute to the development of the profession as a whole
• Every social worker registered with the GSCC shall keep a record of post-registration training and learning undertaken
• Failure to meet these conditions may be considered misconduct

What sort of post-registration training and learning activities should staff undertake?

There are many ways to continue to learn and develop as a social worker so the GSCC have deliberately avoided being too specific about the type of activities which will meet post-registration requirements. The expectation is that staff will choose training and learning activities that:

• Will benefit current employment
• Will benefit career progression reflects preferred learning style
• Make the most of the learning opportunities available to form part of wider professional development

For example, staff may wish to:

• Arrange to shadow the work of a colleague in a related team or profession
• Negotiate protected time to research latest policy and good practice developments in their field of practice
• Undertake a piece of research related to their practice

Line manager's role

It is important that staff and their line managers discuss and plan, during the annual appraisal and supervisions, how they will meet their training and learning requirements to:

• Identify areas for personal development
• Identify training and learning needs
• Develop training and learning plan monitor training and learning plan and make changes

For more information or assistance with your CPD requirements, please contact Kath Gordon.

The registration of social workers is the responsibility of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). 

The Social Work Reform Board (SWRB) is working with social workers, employers, universities and the college to establish a new CPD framework which will support social workers:

• To maintain and develop minimum standards for re-registration set by the regulatory body, (the Health and Care Professions Council) and
• To take professional responsibility for further developing their professional skills by undertaking learning and development activities over and above the minimum required for re-registration.