Mid Staffs scandal is a disgrace for social work, too

Social workers at Mid Staffs must ask why they didn’t blow the whistle, says the leader of their professional association, by Bridget Robb

Social workers will recognise the opprobrium being heaped on professionals working in Mid Staffordshire NHS trust, the focus of national attention today following the Francis inquiry into failings at hospitals in that area.

As a profession, we can feel unfairly maligned when others such as police, teachers and GPs escape censure for their role in headline events, such as the tragic case of Baby Peter Connelly, even when they may be equally culpable.

Yet in considering the lessons from Mid Staffordshire, social workers must not shirk our responsibilities; instead, we must be prepared to shoulder our share of the blame, despite the fact the media spotlight is not shining on us.

The reality is that social workers, as well as medical professionals, worked in those hospitals at a time of serious failings, which is why we must be prepared to ask what they were doing while the unacceptable levels of patient neglect took place. What were the social work students at the hospitals doing while patients festered in their beds, and what about the role of their practice assessors and university tutors?

I take no pleasure in suggesting that what happened at Mid Staffordshire is as much a disgrace for social work as for the medical profession. Yes, our numbers in such settings are small and, yes, our role alongside medical professionals is often perceived to be – to our frustration – secondary, but the values and ethics that define social work must never be allowed to float beneath the surface; they must define our actions whatever the circumstances.

In these testing times of austerity, critical practice in social work is as important, more so, than ever, and social workers employed at the hospitals had a duty to observe and blow the whistle on the unjust practices that they witnessed.

We are not naïve. We know all too well how difficult it can be to blow the whistle on malpractice or put your head above the parapet as a minority voice – it’s why trade unions and professional associations came into being and continue to be so important. One crucial lesson from the Mid Staffordshire inquiry must be to make whistleblowing an easier and safer process – with a shift of emphasis so that professionals exposing neglect or abuse aren’t the ones in the dock.

For social work, another lesson centres on professional confidence. Compared with nurses and doctors, our professional status has been more recently won, and much remains to be done to entrench this identity and empower social work practitioners to compare themselves in skills, knowledge and esteem to these medical counterparts. Most social workers deserve such parity, but all too many don’t feel it and are not encouraged, especially in the health sector, to display it.

Social workers used the British Association of Social Workers’ State of Social Work 2012 survey to detail their concerns about their working conditions, including lack of equality between the pay and conditions of medical and social work staff. One member said that there was an “ongoing lack of respect for the profession, especially in the health sector”.

Another said: “Social workers within the NHS are increasingly becoming isolated, with insufficient contact with their local authorities. As a result, the role of social work feels undervalued and not fully understood by the NHS, particularly when this comes to reorganisation of services within the NHS.”

Such issues were evident last week at the third evidence session of the all-party parliamentary group on social work into the state of the profession, an MP-led examination following on from the association’s survey last year.

One hospital social worker told MPs: “In terms of social work and social services departments, it is our impression they are struggling hugely. Getting a social worker allocated is a major event. We don’t do formal long-term follow-ups for our patients, and we dare not because we are worried about what we would find.”

The causes of such professional fear, and such low expectations, are all too apparent – the era of austerity is claiming too many victims – but social workers must never settle for failure.

Whatever it takes, social work professionals must find a way of giving people the very best service possible and, when the level of provision becomes untenable, must look to how they can share their concerns with others.

Hiding behind other professionals isn’t an option.

Bridget Robb is acting chief executive of the British Association of Social Workers