Cuts, spending and society

... is the name of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's microsite, dedicated to highlighting the prevalence of poverty in the UK and the vulnerability of the poorest in society to spending cuts. Ahead of today's Comprehensive Spending Review announcement, JRF looks at what lies ahead for local authorities in their adult social care provision, the area which is generally expected to suffer most.

Inequalities in numbers

ONS provides a series of articles on inequalities in England and Wales, using the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC) over the years 2001-2003, principally looking at mortality rates.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary Schemes are multi-agency initiatives which provide support to enable victims of domestic violence to stay in their own homes. Such schemes have been running in some areas for more than ten years. The Communities and Local Government Department has published an evaluation covering 2009/10, concluding that the schemes do achieve their aim of providing a safe alternative for households experiencing domestic violence and also prevent the disruption of homelessness. There's also a good practice guide for agencies considering setting up a Sanctuary Scheme

Learning Disabilities

DH has published an update on efforts to improve healthcare for people with learning disabilities. This is in response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's Six Lives report in 2009, which investigated the deaths of six people with learning disabilities, highlighted by Mencap in their report Death by indifference.

Disabilities

The Department for Education provides an interim report on the piloted introduction of individual budgets for families with disabled children which offers faint praise for progress so far. The pilots, which began in April 2009, will run until March 2011. Responding to the Kennedy report on children’s services, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s paper Achieving Equity and Excellence for Children includes a commitment to keeping the idea of individual budgets. However, this issue will also fall into the ambit of the SEN and disabilities Green Paper, due out later this autumn, which may clarify the government’s position.

Ethnicity

NHS Evidence Ethnicity runs its Annual Evidence Update from 18-22 October. This round-up of the year's research highlights the much discussed topic of rising breast cancer rates in South Asian women, along with carers from BME communities, end of life care and healthcare for torture survivors.