The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has launched a new framework to help reduce health inequalities. The health and care watchdog worked in partnership with National Voices and the Point of Care Foundation to develop a self-assessment and improvement framework to help Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) address health inequalities. Integrated care systems (ICSs) are local...
Neurodiversity Celebration Week celebrates different minds
It’s Neurodiversity Celebration Week (17th – 23rd March 2025), which encourages everyone to celebrate neurological differences and recognise the talents and strengths of neurodivergent individuals. Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a global initiative founded in the UK in 2018 by Siena Castellon MBE, who has campaigned to support young people with special educational needs (SEN)...
New Skills for Care campaign supports managers in care
Skills for Care have launched their new campaign to support managers in care. The national care workforce development charity will be running the ‘Managing your service’ campaign throughout March to support registered managers, nominated individuals and care organisation directors to manage their services effectively. The campaign has been devised to empower leaders and managers...
Mental health training for managers has ‘significant benefits’, says IOSH
Greater mental health training for managers could bring “significant benefits”, helping to enhance employee wellbeing and business performance, according to IOSH. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) recently published a blog post by its Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Ceri Finnegan, in which she identified a lack of manager training as...
HSE: 50 years of strengthening workplace health and safety
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently celebrated 50 years of workplace health and safety regulation. On 1st January 2025, Britain’s health and safety watchdog marked the 50th anniversary of its official launch. Created by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and launched on 1st January 1975, the regulator has spent...
Calls for child safety checks on generative AI products
Almost 4 in 5 adults want child safety checks on new generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) products, according to a recent poll. The NSPCC says that polling reveals that 78% of the UK public would opt for child safety checks on the new technology, which uses AI to generate new content, including images and...
Anxiety is the top mental health concern for children
Childline has revealed that almost 1 in 4 children who undergo counselling sessions for mental health are struggling with anxiety. The charity helpline delivered over 6,600 counselling sessions related to anxiety in the 6 months between April and October 2024 (the first half of 2024-25). This represented 24% of all counselling sessions the helpline...
Children’s Mental Health Week 2025: self-awareness builds resilience
It’s Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week 2025 in the UK (3rd-9th February), and this year’s theme is Know Yourself, Grow Yourself. The leading children’s mental health charity has partnered with Here4You, supported by the Walt Disney Company and the characters of Inside Out 2, for this year’s awareness campaign. Here4You supports young people’s mental...
Time to Talk Day 2025: the nation’s biggest mental health conversation
Taking place on 6th February 2025, Time to Talk Day is a day for friends, families, communities and workplaces to come together and talk about mental health. Spearheaded by leading mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, in partnership with Co-op, Time to Talk Day encourages people to make time for a real...
Every action counts this Race Equality Week
Next week, 3rd – 9th February 2025, is Race Equality Week 2025, and this year the theme is #EveryActionCounts. The annual UK-wide initiative was established by community interest company, Race Equality Matters (REM), following the seismic and devastating events of 2020. It aims to address the barriers to race equality in the workplace and...
Achieving better care for people with learning disabilities and autistic people
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been leading on a project to review the care and treatment that people with learning disabilities and autistic people receive. Britain’s care watchdog was asked by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to lead Independent Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (ICTR) over the next two years...
New year brings new reforms to transform social care
The government started off the New Year by announcing immediate investment and new reforms to help transform adult social care in England. Alongside additional funds and reforms to improve outcomes, support the workforce and relieve pressures on the NHS, the government also announced the creation of a new independent commission into adult social care,...
Learning and development matters in social care
Skills for Care has launched its ‘Learning and development matters’ campaign to promote the benefits of training for those working in social care. Every January and February, the national workforce development charity repeats its campaign to urge adult social care managers and their teams to #KeepLearning. The annual campaign receives positive feedback from across...
Earlier preventative support in social care could save billions
A new report from leading voices in social care suggests that earlier preventative support could save billions of pounds. The report, entitled Earlier action and support: The case for prevention in adult social care and beyond, has been jointly published by the Local Government Association (LGA), ADASS, Social Care Institute for Excellence, Mencap, Skills...
Social care providers warn of risk of ‘widespread failure’ in sector
Major figures from within adult social care have penned a letter to government warning that, without “urgent action”, there will be “widespread failure” within the sector. Ministers have been warned that high employment costs, low fee rates and struggling councils all pose serious risks to the sustainability of the adult social care sector. These...