Welcome to our Visitweb Features Section. Check out the Features listed in the Menu on the left. Quick Links to Key Issues and Features are also on the right. More Academic Articles & Papers are listed above, right (Yellow Highlight) Other important links are highlighted in blue under the Page Title, above.
Editors Comments: We hope you benefit from the features and articles we have included. Many are raising issues and concerns which are challenging, but there are always difficulties. It is the frustrations and problems that tend to get reported . The positive stories are of interest, but when things are going well there is often less pressure to raise these positive issue. Lets change that a little. We invite you to make your contribution, by email, or by calling us. We are here to raise your issues and bring people together in their common interests. Our primary concern is to keep up the pressure to improve services, make better use of what resources there are and ensure that the people using those services have a real say and opportunity to take part, in providing services. We are all in the same boat: I know from having been a user of Health & Social Care services and a professional within them, that most professionals and users of services have the same hopes and aspirations, for themselves and for users of services. The majority are often held back by a minority and the political constraints upon them. Thankfully many Institution are starting to see the value of 'openness' & 'transparency'. That said, I know from experience, that there are a few professionals who have very bad attitudes and others who have largely missed the point of the professional services that they provide. Some are very defensive about the limitations they feel are imposed. This has an impact upon us all. On top of this, managers are often under pressure to 'protect' their Institutions and are restricted in what they are allowed to say. There is a real fear of being sued and the irony is; the defensive way that these Institutions have been working is what puts them at greater risk of being sued. It is also a fact, whatever protections that are said to be in place, that anyone speaking up about human rights failings, or working to the benefit of the user's of service (sometimes in contradiction to their bosses instructions) are put at real risk in their jobs, or made to feel very uncomfortable. It is very debilitating trying to provide good, direct, person centred professional services, under the pressures to 'cover the backs' of the professions and institutions. What is more, the 'protection of users of services' is often used as the excuse for 'protecting the institution'. This has to end. Follow the links on the left. Editor - Terry Couchman (© Dec. 2008 - Feb. 2010) | 
