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© British Association of Social Workers
Keyworkers Re-examined: Good practice, quality of care and empowerment in residential care of older people
Rosemary Bland is Lecturer in Social Work at the Univesity of Stirling, currently on secondment to the Social Work Inspectorate of the Scottish Office. She worked in both hospital and area team settings in Scotland and England before moving to old age research. She is the author of several studies of residential and community care for older people.
Correspondence to Rosemary Bland, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland
Summary
Social work definitions of ‘good practice’ in residential care which were originally developed in work with children and young people have also been applied to residential settings for other user groups, including older people. However, any link between such elements of practice and positive outcomes for users has not always been demonstrated. The introduction of market principles and orientations into social welfare in the 1980s re-defined the social work ‘client’ as a ‘consumer’ with the associated power to make choices in the area of social care. The success with which such an approach can be applied to services for people who are very often, not in a position to exercise much choice, is debatable. Alongside the notion of the ‘consumer’ or ‘user’ of services has grown the ideology of ‘empowerment’ of people who use social work services. Drawing on findings from a recent study, this article explores the contribution of the keyworker role to good practice and the empowerment of older people living in residential homes. It concludes that, because their understanding of the concept and practice is largely undeveloped, the role as currently interpreted is not consonant with good practice and tends rather to reinforce the power of staff.