Show me the Way to go Home, Oxford Brookes University.  April 2022  

Show me the Way to go Home (2022), Briefing Paper, with Provenzano, P and Bolton J, Institute of Public Care, Oxford Brookes University. This paper draws on a national evaluation of Hospital to Home and highlights the main lessons for Home First implementation. 

 Developing a Carers Pathway in Southwark, Oxford Brookes University.  November 2021  

Developing a Carers Pathway in Southwark (2021) Institute of Public Care, Oxford Brookes University. 

 Peer Education and Coaching, Health Education England.  Aug 2021  

Peer Education and Coaching: Supporting families as part of the health and care workforce (2021), Health Education England. 

 Simply the Best? Centre for Ageing Better.  8 July 2018  

Simply the Best? Making Leeds the best city to grow old in, and the Leeds Neighbourhood Networks (2019), Centre for Ageing Better. 

 Self Funders and Social Care from Bystanders to Core Participants  29 Jan 2019  

Analysis of trends with self funders purchasing social care. 

 Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Scoping review on carer-related knowledge  30 October 2017  

This scoping review is a major piece of research undertaken by Melanie Henwood, in conjunction with Dr Mary Larkin (The Open University) and Prof Alison Milne (University of Kent). This NIHR-SSCR funded scoping review provides a comprehensive and unique mapping of what is known about carers and caring, and aims to help inform policy, practice and research in relation to carers.  
The review was undertaken by searching 10 electronic bibliographic databases, supplemented by additional web searches to identify academic research, grey literature and wider knowledge. 
 
The full report is available on-line from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), and is listed in Social Care Online. 

 Dementia Friendly Communities & Skills for Care  21 May 2015  

Skills for Care funded a programme of 12 pilot projects supporting the development of Dementia Friendly Communities. An evaluation of the work was carried out by me and can be downloaded below 

 Dementia awareness and beyond  18 May 2015  

The dementia challenge is about much more than awareness raising - where do we go from here? 
 
David Cameron's continued support for tackling dementia is welcome, but there has to be recognition of the scale of transformation required both in services and across society. See my blog on the Guardian Social Care Network. 

 Care and Humanity  30 March 2015  

Remembering that patients are - above all - people, and this is fundamental to treating them with humanity and compassion. 
 
On 19 March 2015 a blurred grainy photo was posted on social network reddit and spread rapidly across the internet, attracting thousands of comments, shares and tweets. For once this was not about scandal or celebrity, but an image of an unnamed emergency doctor in California momentarily overcome by emotion having just lost a 19 year old patient. The doctor had stepped outside and was crouched down against a wall, seemingly pole axed by what had just happened. 
Many of the comments remarked in awe on the compassion and humanity of the doctor, but why does this come as such a surprise?  
 
Surely those are exactly the qualities that we would want and expect in clinicians and those providing care and support.  
 
The story told us that moments after the picture was taken the doctor regained his composure and returned to work with his head held high. Both parts of this story are important. 
 
Full blog was published in the Guardian healthcare network on 17 April 2015. 

 New Models of Care: The vanguard sites  10 March 2015  

Twenty nine 'vanguard sites' developing new models of integrated care and health have been announced. What are the prospects for these latest initiatives? 
 
Hard on the heels of the announcement of the devolution of NHS powers in Greater Manchester (the so-called ‘Devo Manc’ model) in order to better integrate health and social care comes news of the ‘first wave’ of 29 ‘vanguard’ sites for the New Care Models Programme heralded last October by Simon Stevens’ Five Year Forward View for the NHS.  
 
 
There are three types of model, and two new acronyms to add to the care and health lexicon: MCPs (Multispecialty Community Providers) concerned with moving specialist care out of hospitals and into the community; PACs (Primary and Acute Care system) with single organisations providing hospital, GP and community services; and Enhanced Health in Care Homes, with no apparent acronym as yet, but – for now – let’s call it HICH, offering better joined up care, health and rehabilitation services. 
 
An edited version of this blog was published in Guardian Professional Networks on 26 March 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2015/mar/26/vanguard-sites-integration-health-social-care 

 Capped costs for long term care?  01 March 2015  

The consultation on the 'capped costs' model for paying for care was published at the beginning of March 2015. Will the cap provide the promised 'protection and peace of mind', and how will it work in practice? 
 
Paying for long term care is one of the most enduring and controversial issues of our time, and with an ageing population it is certain to continue to be so. The Care Act of 2014 attempted to find a way forward that would – in the words of the Minister Norman Lamb – “put the risk and fear of catastrophic costs firmly where they belong: in the confines of history.”  
The Act establishes the principle – for the first time – of a cap on care costs, set at £72,000, and promising to “provide protection and peace of mind (…) to people who have worked hard all their lives so that they need no longer fear they will lose almost everything just because they are unlucky enough to have the highest care needs.” But will it really do so? 

 Rising to the challenge?  25 February 2015  

The Prime Minister continues to stress the priority of the dementia challenge and significant progress has been identified, but what difference is it making on the ground? 
 
The Prime Minister’s fight against dementia is, he says, ‘a personal priority’, and certainly something he has demonstrated commitment to. Since he launched the Dementia Challenge in March 2012, he has continued to raise the issue and urge attention on several fronts “to deliver sustained improvements in health and care, create dementia friendly communities, and boost dementia research.”  
 
 
The latest refresh of the policy sets out the desire to make England ‘the best place in the world’ both for dementia care and support, and for research into dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. These are big ambitions and the vision for the next five years has multiple aspirations from improved public awareness; to meaningful care for people diagnosed with dementia, and major increased investment in dementia research. These are all laudable objectives, but if they are to be more than a wish list, there needs to be better recognition of the complexity of the transformation that is envisaged. 
 
 

 The Dementia Challenge  07 February 2015  

NHS South of England established a Dementia Challenge Fund in 2012/13 allocating £9 million across around 70 projects to drive local improvements and identify and implement practical solutions to the problems faced by people living with dementia. An independent evaluation of the programme was commissioned from Henwood Associates and the University of the West of England. 
 
The Prime Minister's Challenge on Dementia was launched in 2012, aiming to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research by 2015. A Dementia Challenge Fund was established by NHS South of England to support local developments, and an independent evaluation was commissioned from Henwood Associates, Terry Butler and colleagues at the University of the West of England. 
The projects addressed a number of themes including: 
 
Dementia friendly communities. 
Living well at home. 
Better care in hospitals. 
Improving diagnosis. 
End of life care. 
Reducing anti-psychotic prescribing. 
Better support for carers. 
Living well in care homes. 
The evaluation report (Slaying the Demon) concludes that much has been achieved, but that this is work in progress. It is vital for cultural change and new ways of working to be embedded in organisations. The dementia challenge is not a strategic task that can be achieved within a year or two, and this work will need continued attention and refreshing if it is to achieve maximum potential. 

 Adult Social Care Reform  20 March 2012  

Proposals for the reform of adult social care have major implications for practice. This paper explores some of the issues that need to be addressed particularly in changing assessment and eligibility. 
 
SCIE (the Social Care Institute for Excellence) commissioned this scoping report. It explores the implications of implementing key Dilnot and Law Commission proposals in respect of assessment and eligibility for publicly funded adult social care. It concludes that this will require a number of complex practical and implementation issues to be addressed. As with other recent programmes of transformation – such as personalisation – history and practice elsewhere suggest that these issues need considerable policy and practice attention if they are to be successful. 
 
This article for the Guardian highlights the key findings. 
 
 

 Paying for social care  01 January 2011  

People who 'self-fund' social care often find themselves poorly equipped to navigate their way to services. This report explores the experience of people undertaking these 'journeys without maps.' 
 
This work was commissioned by the Putting People First Consortium and SCIE. A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the experiences of people paying for their own social care - how do 'self-funders' find their way, and what information and advice do they have access to in making life-changing decisions and undertaking 'journeys without maps'?  
The study found that people rarely choose to approach social services, and those that do often do not have positive experiences. The findings of this study are of great importance for councils addressing their responsibilities for adult social care and ensuring that everyone has access to information and advice. 
 
A parallel quantitative study was commissioned from the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University, and the two reports are published in this joint volume. 

 Commission for Social Care Inspection  01 January 2009  

The Commission for Social Care Inspection commissioned a number of pieces of work from Melanie Henwood and Bob Hudson in 2008 and 2009. The special studies formed part of the annual report of CSCI on the state of social care in England. 
 
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) - the former regulator for social care - produced an annual report on the state of social care in England. Melanie Henwood and Bob Hudson were commissioned to undertake special studies for the report in 2008 and 2009. 
 
Lost to the System explored the impact of Fair Access to Care policies and what happens to adults with social care needs who fail to gain access to council social services. This report formed the basis for a chapter in Part 2 of the annual CSCI report on The State of Social Care in England 2006-07. 
 
Following the report's publication the then Care Services Minister (then Ivan Lewis MP) asked CSCI to undertake a review of eligibility criteria to look at definitions of need and their application at local level. The report, Cutting the Cake Fairly was published in October 2008. A number of supporting documents and evidence were also published and two of these were co-authored by Melanie and Bob. 
 
Keeping it Personal was again co-authored with Bob Hudson for the Commission for Social Care Inspection. The study examined the effectiveness of the response of councils and other agencies to people with 'complex needs'. This report formed the basis for a chapter in Part 2 of the annual CSCI report on The State of Social Care in England 2007-08. This was the final annual report to be published by CSCI, and since April 2009 the work of CSCI has been taken over by the Care Quality Commission

 The Independent Living Fund  01 March 2007  

The Independent Living Fund was established as a transitional measure in 1988 and expected to close within five years. It remained in existence and provided a parallel system of funding for adult social care. The review of the ILF considered whether the ILF should continue in this form and if not what should replace it. 
 
In 2006 Melanie Henwood and Bob Hudson were commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to carry out a strategic review of the Independent Living Funds. The report was submitted to Ministers in January 2007 and published in March 2007. 
 
The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Anne McGuire) issued a written statement in which she said: 
 
"I welcome the thorough review of the Independent Living Funds that has been conducted by Melanie Henwood and Bob Hudson. Their report comes at an important point in the evolution of social care and it is critical that the Funds' customers do not lose the valuable support that the Funds currently provide. 
 
 
The report's authors have recommended that through to 2009/10 the Funds should remain in their present form while making considerable improvements. In the longer term however, they recommend that there should be a smooth transition towards full integration within a system of personalised budgets because it is anomalous to retain a separate Public Body operating in parallel to the mainstream of independent living. 
 
The government will consider these recommendations and their implications for severely disabled people for the social care system across the UK." 
 

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