Latest news with #socialcare
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Croydon man with mental health difficulties left homeless with no help
A vulnerable man was left sleeping in the rain after Croydon Council repeatedly failed to help him, despite his pleas for support. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found that the man, who has mental health difficulties, first asked the council for help in July 2023 after becoming homeless. The council misplaced his records, and in the following months his condition worsened and he lost contact with his family. He eventually reached out to relatives again, and with help from one of his sisters (Sister A), made a new homelessness application. In October, another sister (sister B) discovered him sleeping rough outside her home during heavy rain. She took him in, but her own serious health problems meant this could only be temporary as living with him was also difficult due to his mental health needs. READ MORE: The council closed his case in November without informing sister B who had been speaking to them on his behalf. Officials said they had tried to contact the man for an interview, but she told the Ombudsman she had waited by the phone and made three calls to the council that day. The relationship between the man and Sister B later broke down, meaning that the man had to look elsewhere for somewhere to live. After sister A asked the council for help again, it eventually placed him in interim accommodation in March 2024. It accepted a full housing duty six months later. Later that month, the council issued the man a Personalised Housing Plan that listed actions for him to complete, such as providing his partner's passport and proof of income. The plan also stated that the 'applicant [was] to view accommodation sent to her' and that he should 'inform the council after the child has been born.' However, the man was the sole applicant, not pregnant, and had already been placed in temporary accommodation at the time. The Ombudsman said this showed the council had failed to properly understand the case. The council apologised to the resident, acknowledging delays in handling his case and poor communication during a period of major reorganisation in 2023. It said the resident is now in accommodation and receiving ongoing support. A spokesperson added that the housing service had been affected by years of underinvestment and underperformance and is now responding to a 50 per cent rise in homelessness support requests, with over 4,800 applications and more than 3,600 households in temporary accommodation. The council has since paid the victim £2,000 for the injustice caused. It will also reimburse £6,400 for bed and breakfast costs he covered between May and October 2023. His sisters will receive £700 in total for the distress they experienced. Croydon Council has committed to reviewing the case, reminding staff of their legal duties, and improving how it communicates with homeless residents and their families. The Ombudsman has upheld nine homelessness complaints against the council in the past two years. The Ombudsman, Ms Amerdeep Somal, said: 'This is a clear case of the dire things that can happen when councils are not on top of their homelessness services and allow vulnerable people to fall through the cracks. 'The siblings have told me this has caused substantial damage to their relationships. 'The man had a mental health crisis during the time he was missing and has since been withdrawn and isolated, and the sisters are still working to rebuild his trust. 'Sadly this is not an isolated case in the borough. In the past two years we have investigated eight other homelessness cases and upheld every one. 'I am pleased the council has accepted our findings and recommendations, I urge the council to take a firm grasp of its homelessness service to ensure other vulnerable residents are not treated in the same way as this man. 'The council has been subject to statutory government intervention since 2023. 'This intervention is currently under review so I will be sharing a copy of this report with the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution.' A Croydon Council spokesperson said: "We sincerely apologise to our resident and regret that he did not receive the support needed when he approached our service. This happened during a period in 2023 when the organisation was undergoing a major reorganisation. 'We accept that there were delays in handling his case and communications with him and his family should have been better. The resident has since been placed in accommodation and continues to be supported." 'Croydon is responding to a London-wide increased demand for homelessness support and saw a 50% increase in requests for homelessness support in 2024/5 and dealt with over 4,800 applications. More than 3,600 households are living in temporary accommodation in the borough. 'In 2023, Croydon's housing service was going through significant reorganisation after years of under investment in training and staff development and under performance of the service – which contributed to delays in case handling. 'These changes were made as part of major transformation of our service, with a renewed focus on prevention of homelessness. 'We introduced a new operating model which delivers both a face-to-face and telephone service to those seeking advice; appointment service to improve assessment outcomes; and placed a greater emphasis on tailoring our support for vulnerable residents with complex needs. 'We have increased staffing to ensure that personalised Housing Plans (PHPs) are issued accurately and on time. Staff have also had training to improve communication with residents, especially when a decision is made or a case is closed. 'There is more work to be done as part of this continued improvement of our housing services, whilst we respond to this London-wide issue.'
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
The care sector needs migrant workers. Labour's visa crackdown is a cynical move
You are right to highlight, in your editorial, the folly of the government's decision to make it harder for migrant workers to find work as carers in the UK (The Guardian view on Labour's visa crackdown in social care: another problem for an overstretched system, 22 July). It's a cynical political move aimed at spiking Reform UK's guns on immigration, rather than alleviating pressure on the much-maligned care sector. Migrant workers are indispensable in filling roles that have been undervalued, underpaid and unwanted for too long. With thousands more care professionals needed to look after our ageing population, the government needs a joined-up approach if the crisis-ridden sector is to be transformed. While the government's fair pay agreement is the first step in turning care around, ministers must think again on their approach to foreign help – and, closer to home, announce the funding to make the fair pay agreement a reality. Decent wages and sufficient staff are essential elements of the promised national care service the country needs so McAneaGeneral secretary, Unison Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Council in Peterborough turns experienced worker into AI chatbot
The knowledge of an experienced council worker has been turned into an AI chatbot to help fellow Jinks has worked for Peterborough City Council for 35 years as a therapy practitioner supporting adult social care, and her colleagues often ask her for council said she was often inundated with questions and, although she was happy to help, it did put pressure on her time. Her manager recognised this, and the authority started working on a technological solution, developing a tool called Hey Geraldine. Ms Jinks worked with the team to feed information to the AI tool so it could answer questions asked on a daily basis in her usual chatty and direct manner."It was so exciting to develop this chatbot," she said. "Staff can now ask me questions whenever they want and receive a reply straightaway."It's lovely that they've kept my name and some staff have told me that they actually thought they were chatting with me – I guess that's because I've written all the answers!"The council said Hey Geraldine could respond to "contextual and practice-based questions" such as, "I am working with a person who is forgetting to turn the oven off. What is available to help them?" It would then provide a range of answers and possible solutions and links to is hoped the technology will make it easier and quicker to discharge people from hospital. Shabina Qayyum is the council's cabinet member for adults and health and also works as a GP. "I know how incredibly frustrating it can be for patients who are delayed in returning to their home after a stay in hospital," she also have an impact on the finances of both the NHS and local authorities."The use of technology-assisted care like smart devices and home activity sensors can really help people to regain their independence quickly. "The Hey Geraldine chatbot helps staff to put these technologies in place with all the knowledge and care that Geraldine herself would use." Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Irish Times
Three care workers injured in latest incident at Oberstown
Three residential social care workers have been injured in the latest incidence of violence towards staff at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus . The injuries, which were all sustained in the one wider incident, resulted in two female staff having to be taken to hospital by ambulance while a male staff member also sought medical attention, said staff. The assaults involved a single teenage boy and the female staff involved were said by their colleague to have been kicked in the torso and seriously hurt. The latest incident brings to 13 the number of staff reported to have been injured at the facility since the start of June. READ MORE Fórsa, the union which represents many of the staff at Oberstown, has said there is a big problem with staffing levels at the facility and in an interview with RTÉ radio recently, Koulla Yiasouma, suggested that an additional 20 to 30 care staff are required. At present, about 250 people are employed at Oberstown of whom about 150 are considered frontline, mainly residential social care workers. In the facility's recently published annual report, Ms Yiasouma alluded to ongoing issues at the campus, describing 2024 as having been 'particularly challenging as our occupancy levels have remained high and staffing levels are still a challenge'. 'The needs of some of the young people are increasingly complex and the willingness of the whole staff team to adapt to those needs is remarkable. Privately, however, staff say theyoften feel unsafe due to the numbers on the duty and what they believe are flawed procedures for dealing with the small number of particularly violent teenagers in the units. A survey of staff members conducted earlier this year found a majority believed individual and collective morale was low with many saying they felt unsupported by management and that conditions had become worse over the previous 12 months. Oberstown has a capacity of 40 boys and six girls. Ms Yiasouma said it rarely has a free bed. The annual report details the positive work carried out with the roughly 120 young people who were there at some point last year, citing the numbers who were trained as baristas, fitness instructors and, in one instance, a forklift driver. But there is little acknowledgment, the staff say, of the daily challenges they face. In a statement made in relation to Thursday's incident, Oberstown said it 'offers its full support to any member of staff who has been injured in the course of their duties. As a matter of policy, every incident at Oberstown is subject to a thorough internal reporting and review process, which operates on the principles of supporting all individuals involved and maintaining the integrity of the review. 'Oberstown does not comment on operational details relating to specific incidents. Where injuries occur, individuals are assessed by the on-site medical team and, in accordance with standard procedure, may be referred to hospital for further checks. 'Oberstown has robust safety procedures in place, and all relevant protocols were followed in this instance. The campus was appropriately staffed, and the situation was managed in line with established practice.'
Bloomberg
23-07-2025
- Bloomberg
Meet the UK's Visa Scam Vigilante
When a staffing crisis during the pandemic forced the UK to open its immigration system to foreign social care workers, thousands of trained staff in developing countries saw an opportunity to relocate and perhaps make a better life. Five years later, many instead have found themselves still in their home country with their savings gone. On this episode of Bloomberg Investigates, we meet a few of the victims of an insidious scam that's relieved care workers of untold thousands of dollars. We meet Tadiwa, a young man from Zimbabwe whose family scraped together everything they had to secure him a job in the UK. But the documents a business agent promised him, which would have allowed him to apply for a visa, never arrived. Sheila, who wanted to move from Harare to the UK with her daughters, gave most of her savings to the same agent, and received nothing in return. To get by, she's had to sell bricks she bought to build her house and even her refrigerator.
