Society daily 27.07.12

Please note: Society daily is taking a summer break and will return on Monday 3 September Sign up to Society daily email briefing Today's top SocietyGuardian stories • Atos assessors told to keep disability benefit approvals low, film suggests • Standardised bed chart 'could prevent hundreds of hospital deaths' • NHS spends £900,000 on private ambulances in London during Olympics • Two more legionnaires' disease cases in Stoke-on-Trent • Drug taking among 16- to 24-year-olds at lowest level since 1996 • Drug use in England and Wales: is it under control? • French research gives scientists hope of 'functional cure' for HIV • Polly Toynbee: Beneath the Olympic gloss we are a troubled nation • Could you eat like an Olympian? Sure, but you'd have to exercise like one too All today's SocietyGuardian stories On the Guardian Professional Networks • Live Q&A from noon: Social enterprise in sport • London 2012: affordable housing sidelined in Olympic regeneration • Thinktank Localis concludes that local leadership and community action are the best ways to spark regeneration • New Community Rights will give people greater control over local amenities , says communities minister Andrew Stunell On my radar ... • Two perspectives on social care cuts . On her Welfare Life Reformed blog, Clarebelz describes a review of her care plan : ... despite the social worker agreeing that I have substantial 'needs', to every question that I answered regarding what my carers do for me, the reply was: 'we don't fund that any more'. So from now on, no one is allowed to do: laundry, from putting into the washer, putting on a ceiling clothes rail, ironing and putting away; I have coal fired central heating (gas exacerbates my asthma), and carers aren't allowed to clean out, light them, top them up, or fetch coal in (I can't even pick up a coal bucket, let alone fill it); no shopping allowed or putting it away; paying bills or doing any post office visits; carers aren't allowed to accompany you out any more either socially, or to hospital/doctors/dentist/opticians or other practical appointments where you need someone to propel your wheelchair; they can't put the bins out; can't stack or empty the dishwasher or do any kind of clearing up whatsoever: the list goes on and on. All of the things that I cannot do for myself. Just about anything you can think of that a healthy person would do in the home or outside the home on a day-to-day/week-to-week basis is no longer allowed. In response, blogger Ermintrude writes : I recognise this. From the 'other side' so to speak. I have been, I am, that social worker (well, not in literal terms) but I have to explain that we no longer provide hot meals delivery, we can't count time for someone to be taken to medical appointments, we deprive people of assistance for some of the tasks we, ourselves, take for granted. And she adds: As a social worker this post spoke the realities I see every day and highlights the benefits of social media to improve my personal practice – it shows me how social workers are perceived with an honesty I rarely get in terms of feedback on a day to day basis due to the power differentials which exist. I hope I don't respond to people in the way that social worker did but I will be more aware of my responses and how they are interpreted when I am in people's homes. And I will continue to fight against the cuts agenda all the harder. We have a powerful collective voice as social workers and we have to use it to tell the stories that we say, to not passively accept some of the hardships and injustices we see on a daily basis. We can and must do so much better. • The Mental Health Cop blog on stress in the police . He says that potential stressors on officers - including a pay freeze and increased workload - are increasing, and adds: Forces but also individual line managers in policing, must ensure they are aware of their officers' mental health this summer. I know we've got an Olympics to police; and that we are where we are with pay and conditions and with police reform etc., but actually a conversation or phone call from a boss can go a long way to mitigating impacts upon some. My boss's first response was not about me having to work three very long days at short notice on a force job – it was one about my welfare and not the Monday morning meeting for my day job that my very capable sergeants can cover. Not feeling like a number matters to most cops, so actually we need to make sure we're all supporting each other in these extraordinary times. Along with thousands of others, I'll be deployed away from home this summer – the first time in my life I've spent this amount of time away from my son. Although he loves having a cop for a Dad, he's not too chuffed about it. So please spare a thought for the officers and armed forces doing this and more as they rise to the challenge of facilitating this major international event – and if you are a police officer, look out for your mates as some of them are working under pressures we can't see. • Blogger Kaliya Franklin on investigations into the work capability assessment , asks When is a target not a target? • Deaf composer Mark Pampel , who is to premiere pieces in London this weekend as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Two piano concertos - for the Olympics, the other for the Paralympics - will be performed at Cecil Sharp House, Camden on Saturday. Other news • BBC: Free school meals for all 'boost results' • CivilSociety.co.uk: National Lottery paid £100m more to tax man last year • Community Care: Scrapping child protection timescales 'may cause case delays' • Independent: New wonder drug to tackle obesity • Inside Housing: Fears council tax benefit cut will jeopardise income • Public Finance: Pupil premium cash 'could be wasted' • Telegraph: Shingles jab to be given to all OAPs in their 70s • Third Sector: Ten Surrey libraries to be run almost entirely by volunteers SocietyGuardian blogs Patrick Butler's cuts blog Sarah Boseley's global health blog SocietyGuardian on social media Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter Follow Clare Horton on Twitter Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter SocietyGuardian's Facebook page SocietyGuardian links SocietyGuardian.co.uk The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin Email the SocietyGuardian editor: [email protected]