05/11/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/11/2022 09:57
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Chief Social Worker (CSW) for Adults, Lyn Romeo, have published the annual CSW report. It highlights key achievements of the past year and sets out objectives for the sector as it looks ahead to 2022/23.
Key achievements in the last year include making the wellbeing of staff more central, with practitioners having better access to supervision and peer support as well as continuing professional development opportunities. Staff have also been better supported to prioritise care and meet individual needs through risk assessment tools and a decision-making framework put together by principal social workers, supported by directors of adult social services. In addition to this the 'Revisiting Safeguarding' guidance has also recently been published, encouraging practitioners and those responsible for adult safeguarding to reflect on and revisit their current practice.
This year's annual report broadly summaries the CSW-led focus for the year ahead, including:
Chief Social Worker for Adults Lyn Romeo said:
I am so grateful to everyone working in the social care sector, especially for their work over the past year during the pandemic
Looking to the year ahead, we'll look to support the social care reform, the vital recovery from the pandemic and strengthen post-qualifying standards to support the workforce. As we learn to live with Covid, social work must redesign and reimagine practice alongside people, their carers and the communities they live in to be ambitious in providing the best outcomes for all.
Minister for Care and Mental Health Gillian Keegan said:
The last two years have been a huge challenge with our brilliant social care workforce going above and beyond.
We've seen the workforce rise to the challenges of the pandemic with compassion and dedication to protect and promote people's opportunities to have the best possible lives.
Thank you to all social workers in the sector for your hard and dedicated work, we have never needed your expertise and insights more than we do now.
The report includes special thanks to stakeholders including the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), Music for Dementia, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, National Institute for Health Research, Research in Practice, Skills for Care, Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) and The Principal Social Workers' Network.
Particularly good work highlighted includes: