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Saturday, June 23, 2012
Health and social care policy (Malcolm J. Fisk) at The Guardian Policy Hub.
The co-director of the new Age Research Centre at Coventry University on rethinking policy frameworks for older people.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Vision for volunteering in health [project] initiated by The King’s Fund [United Kingdom]
The Health &
Social Care Act seeks to create a more competitive health and social care
provider market, within which a wide range of organisations (public, private,
social enterprise and voluntary) will be encouraged to deliver services.
It is widely acknowledged that volunteers can add value in health and social care by providing timely and personalised support to [often] marginalised pupulation groups, but the true extent of their activities in health and social care remains poorly documented and the potential impact of the current reforms on volunteering is under-explored. The project purpose is:
[1] to gain a greater understanding of
the role, size, scope and value of volunteering in the health and social
care sector; and
[2] to understand how health reform
(particularly the potential changes in the types of organisations involved
in providing health and social care) will impact on volunteering.
The focus of the research is on how reform could affect the likely growth in NHS provision for volunteering from a range of organisations (such as social enterprises, foundation trusts and private sector providers). The project has three main stages:
[1] a summary review of the literature in order to understand the value of volunteering to (a) volunteers, (b) patients or clients, (c) providers and commissioners, and (d) the health care sector as a whole;
[2] a qualitative analysis (using focus groups with volunteers and patients/users and semi-structured interviews with providers and commissioners) to identify how perceptions of reform could change volunteering behaviours and use of volunteers – to be supported by quantitative analyses looking at relevant trends in volunteering; and
[3] a scenario analysis – a range of possible scenarios will be developed for how the future system (and volunteer's role in it) could develop – and workshop exploration will lead to recommendations on volunteering in the new health system.
The final report will be
published early in 2013. The project is being funded by the Department of Health and
is supported by an external advisory group.
Visit http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/current_projects/volunteering_in_health/index.html
to read this item again and find out more about the project (and the
organisation).
Visit http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/blog/vcs_health_outcomes.html
to see the related blog and read an article titled ‘Do local voluntary
organisations hold the key to improving health outcomes?’.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Publications relevant to volunteering, social care, civic participation and the impact of the economic downturn - in the EU and beyond.
[1] United
Nations (2011) State of the World’s
Volunteerism Report
Published
by United Nations Volunteers [UNV]: ‘the focus of this report is on the
universal values that motivate people the world over to volunteer for the
common good and on the impact of volunteer action on societies and
individuals’.
[2] Internationale Politikanalyse (2010) World Economic Crisis and the Welfare State
Published by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung [IPA]
International Policy Analysis: ‘possible solutions to reduce the economic and
social imbalances in the world economy, Europe and Germany’.
[3] World Health Organisation (2011) Impact of Economic Crises on Mental Health
Published by the World Health Organisation [WHO]
Regional Office for Europe: ‘this booklet aims
to present current knowledge on how economic downturns affect population mental
health and outlines some of the benefits of action that could be implemented to
reduce the harmful effects’.
[4] Eurofound (2009) Second European Quality of Life Survey
Published by the European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living & Working Conditions: ‘offers a wide-ranging view of
the diverse social realities in the 27 Member
States, as well as covering Norway and the candidate countries of Turkey, Macedonia
and Croatia’.
[5] Charities Aid Foundation (2011) World Giving Index
Published by the Charities Aid Foundation [CAF]: ‘the
World Giving Index aims to help
organisations and individuals who have an interest in civil society, by
providing evidence on the extent of giving globally’.
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