Margaret Flynn

National Independent Safeguarding Board, Wales

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an update for readers on recent issues relating to adult safeguarding, together with signposting of papers in this issue of the journal. Design/methodology/approach – A review of recent media, news and policy related items was undertaken and key findings are reported. Findings – A range of finding...

Purpose – This paper concerns the fall‐out from a TV programme which exposed the arbitrariness of cruelty at a private hospital that purported to provide assessment, treatment and rehabilitation to adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems. The paper seeks to address the issues involved. Design/methodology/approach – It...

Because we’d failed them by our disregard Panorama’s broadcast of Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed during May 2011 made “real” the abusive treatment of patients with intellectual disabilities and adults with autism at a private hospital owned by Castlebeck Care (Teesdale) Ltd, which had become their “home.” The BBC’s undercover reporting enabled...

The authors extend warm thanks to the NW Joint Improvement Partnership for funding this work and to Dwayne Johnson and Sue Ramprogus for their encouragement, guidance, and comments on an earlier draft of this briefing. They also give thanks to Mike Banks and Carole Shaw of Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, respectively, for sharing the role of...

Purpose Serious case reviews (SCRs) are one means of learning the lessons arising from adverse, salient incidents and tragedies. Adult Safeguarding Boards in England are expected to have an SCR policy and procedure, to commission SCRs, to abstract and act on the learning, and to monitor the resulting action plans. Design/methodology/approach Since...

This article explores the professional boundaries guidance for social workers. It presents research findings from the formal literature, from agency codes of practice, from telephone interviews with regulatory and professional bodies and from an exercise using ‘snowballing techniques’ in which informants responded to brief scenarios illustrating bo...

This paper reviews the progress that Cornwall County has made since the murder of Steven Hoskin and the resulting Serious Case Review (Flynn, 2007). Interviews were held with senior and frontline personnel, whose agencies were in contact with Steven and the people who moved into his bedsit. The agencies have progressed significantly, in terms of at...

Respite which has traditionally been perceived as a service for carers is increasingly being seen as one which also benefits service users. To gauge the extent to which this shift might be occurring, the definition of respite as applied by Social Services departments is explored. Despite a range of options across authorities, and an informal desire...

The ability of users and their parents or carers to choose services hinges on what they know about them. In a survey of Social Service Departments in England about respite services, the issue of access was considered. Service personnel and publicity were the most commonly mentioned sources of information about respite services. Few of the informati...

This paper presents some of the ethical challenges facing services supporting adults with learning disabilities/intellectual disability with life-limiting conditions and arises from a qualitative investigation of the preparation for, and responses to their deaths. The study highlights the problems and differential responses of health and social car...

IntroductionA Chronicle of Developing IdeasSome InconsistenciesFoundations and Ideas for ProgressReferences

The subject of sexual abuse is a major focus of professional and public concern. Sexual abuse of (and by) people with learning disabilities evokes even greater disquieting emotions, and makes severe demands on the social services, and the criminal justice system. The aims of the project were: 1) to determine whether group psychotherapy produced eff...

Aim This paper seeks to illumine how families with children and adult members with intellectual disabilities manage to manifest a buoyant and durable capacity over time. It is therefore concerned centrally with the idea of resilience. Method Drawing from diverse theoretical literatures from child development and protection and gerontology, the pape...

This contribution reviews recent developments in the law and policy of healthcare decision-making by, with and for adults with learning disabilities. In particular, it considers the potential impact of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the planned reforms outlined in the Department of Health’s White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Directi...

The impetus for this paper was the Channel 5 documentary Who Cares for Gary? and the combined efforts of the author, her family and friends to challenge practice within one of the units featured. The paper describes a fundamentally disruptive sequence of decisions and events in the life of the author's brother and affirms that the consequences of a...

This paper reports some preliminary lessons from a qualitative study of services that have cared for a person with learning disabilities during a terminal illness. It reflects current concern about access to health care as well as the national priority being placed on improvements in cancer services for all patients. The study documents how the ser...

The White Paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century, is shaped by the principles of Legal and Civil Rights, Independence, Choice and Inclusion. These principles are laudable, but this paper argues that in matters of health that are not within the experiences of adults with learning disabilities, a duty of car...

Although the community care reforms raised the profile of respite services for adults with learning disabilities, little is known about the character of respite provision in Britain. This lack of information is compounded by the way the literature about respite is dispersed across user groups and is often restricted to particular types of services...