The benefits and cost savings of early intervention in social care services for older people will be explored at a Counsel and Care conference on 16 November in central London. Delegates at this national conference will discuss the current policy landscape which places emphasis on the development of community, early intervention and low level preventative services. The conference comes at an important time for older people’s services, with the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review just around the corner and a recent Health and Social Care White Paper which set the direction of travel for community health and social care services.

Faith, racism and community interaction are some of the biggest issues facing Muslims with mental health issues according to a report. Research was conducted by Sharing Voices (Bradford ) (SVB) – a charity devoted to mental health in the inner-city. SVB released its findings at a meeting after its AGM. SVB patron Lord Kamlesh Patel, who is also head of the Centre for Ethnicity and Health at the University of Bradford, spoke of the need for statutory bodies to do more to engage with ethnic minority people suffering mental health issues.

The benefits and cost savings of early intervention in social care services for older people will be explored at a Counsel and Care conference on 16 November in central London. Delegates at this national conference will discuss the current policy landscape which places emphasis on the development of community, early intervention and low level preventative services. The conference comes at an important time for older people’s services, with the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review just around the corner and a recent Health and Social Care White Paper which set the direction of travel for community health and social care services.

A new report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection says that if personalised care is to become a reality, current ways of commissioning services will have to change. ‘Relentless optimism – creative commissioning for personalised care’ is based on a policy seminar hosted by CSCI in May 2006 to challenge current thinking on commissioning, identify barriers to personalised services and propose creative solutions.

Two Merseyside hospital wards are closing to save £21.5m. A general ward in Arrowe Park will go, and an elderly care ward at Clatterbridge, both in Wirral. Two other elderly care wards at Clatterbridge will move to Arrowe Park in a shake-up starting in February. Wirral Hospital NHS trust said there would be no redundancies, but staff may have to move or take new jobs. The changes, described by officials as a “reconfiguration”, are part of round two of a five-year cost-cutting drive to save £4m by 2008. Patients’ stays in hospital will be shortened along with more belt-tightening.

The boss of the company behind a controversial care home in Coventry has defended plans to house people with learning disabilities at the site. Inshore Support Limited’s Managing Director Adam Webb said people objecting to the plans have “got the wrong end of the stick” and added there was “nothing sinister about the proposals.” His comments come after planning chiefs at the city council gave Inshore Support the go-ahead to transform a former elderly people’s home in Barnfield Avenue in Allesley into a residential care home for people with learning disabilities.

A rescue plan has been drawn up to help Bradford District Care Trust cut its budget deficit. The trust, which provides health and social care service to adults with mental health and learning disabilities, is funded by Bradford Council, primary care trust and a grant from the Government. But increased demand for its services, a £750,000 reduction in its Government grant and an increase in specialist residential placements among other problems have led to a £5m shortfall.

The last council-run care home in Bolton could close early next year – and be replaced by flats for the elderly. Adult Services chiefs are putting the finishing touches to a bid for a slice of £40 million allocated by the Government to finance extra care housing schemes. If the Bolton bid is successful, it would see Manor Court residential care home, in Harwood, Bolton, demolished to make way for 37 sheltered flats. Each would provide residents with two-bedroomed accommodation, with the benefit of having their care needs met in their homes.

The axe has fallen on mental health services in Cambridgeshire after Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt chose to back £3 million cuts. Her decision has been blasted by councillors and campaigners who have opposed the savage cutbacks proposed by Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trusts – but to no avail. After months of deliberation, Mrs Hewitt finally handed down her decision and announced the Government will let the reductions to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership Trust’s services go ahead.

{mosimage}Children’s charity the NSPCC has launched a television advertising campaign to encourage people to act against child cruelty by donating time or money. The commercials, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi, includes two TV commercials called “Caravan” and “Marathon”. The first ad, which features a violent mother and complacent father, aims to raise awareness of the fact that every month the NSPCC needs 2,000 volunteers for its ChildLine service.

The second spot, which features a young girl who is terrified when her father enters her room at night, pushes the message that the charity needs to raise £7m a month through fundraising and donations.