The General Social Care Council welcomes the Health Select Committee’s conclusions published today (24 June 2003) about improving standards in social care, following its inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié.
The report recognises that the establishment of new regulatory bodies for social care, including the General Social Care Council, create for the first time the infrastructure to ensure that staff are properly trained, supervised and managed.
The GSCC’s Chairman Rodney Brooke said:
“The Health Select Committee stresses the need to get the basics right in delivery of social care and for a clear chain of accountability for the standards of care delivered. The General Social Care Council, as the social care workforce regulator in England, has a clear remit to drive up standards, through our codes of practice, workforce registration and regulation of social work training. Implementation of the codes across the 1.2 million strong social care workforce will help minimise the risks of the terrible events surrounding the death of Victoria Climbié occurring again.”
The General Social Care Council’s codes of practice bind everyone working in social care, wherever they work, whether as social care workers or managers, to the same standards of best practice. The codes cover some of the basic areas of good practice, such as keeping good records and the responsibilities of individual workers are mirrored in obligations on their employers to support them in delivering high quality care.
The Health Select Committee highlighted the need to break down the boundaries between different services. Effective joint working between different professional groups was a key conclusion of Lord Laming’s report and as part of the Government’s response, the General Social Care Council has been asked to lead a steering group to take forward research into education and training in this area. This also involves the Police Skills and Standards Organisation, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the General Medical Council and the General Teaching Council, together with representatives of the Department of Health.
Registration of the social care workforce is beginning with qualified social workers. They will undergo rigorous checks and will need to hold a recognised qualification, be fit to practice and have high standards of conduct to join the register. They will also need to commit themselves to abide by the codes, and where there is serious evidence that registered workers have breached this commitment, they could be removed from the register.
The Health Select Committee also recognised that the introduction of the new three year social work degree from September 2003 is another important step towards raising standards. Over 60 institutions have already been accredited by the General Social Care Council to offer this, and students in England will also benefit from a non-means-tested bursary of around £3,000.
The Committee highlighted that “there is a huge amount of very good practice in social work, carried out by social workers who are highly professional and devoted to their roles, most of which goes unnoticed and unrewarded.” The General Social Care Council shares this analysis and will work to champion good practice in social work.