Introduction

I guess I should say “welcome to my blog” but I feel rather a fraud because until recently I had no idea what a blog was!

Anyway this is the NCA blog and NCA intends to use it to keep you up to date with everything that NCA is doing on behalf of its members.

Last week for instance on Monday Nadra Ahmed, NCA’s Chairman and I were in Brussels at a European meeting about the prevention of abuse of older people.

We were invited to attend by the European Union and as happens on these occasions the EU were extremely generous in paying all the costs of our visit to Brussels.

There were about 100 representatives at the Conference from all parts of Europe and it was extremely interesting to hear the approaches taken by the various countries. We were the only care provider representatives from the United Kingdom that attended the conference as far as I could tell.

One of the suggestions that we made was that there should be a uniform approach to CRB checks throughout the European Community. The conference was extremely useful as well because we had the chance to talk to a number of people from the UK that we might not otherwise have met.

The following day we were at a Mental Capacity Act awareness raising seminar that we held for the Department of Health at Bath Racecourse. This event was very well attended.

NCA is a member of International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA). One of the real benefits that we have found since becoming a member two years ago is the understanding of what is happening in social care in other countries.

For instance when I was on holiday in Australia last year I was able to meet people that I had first made contact with at a conference in Malta.

The thing that always strikes me is that there is much to learn from each other but so many of the challenges that we face are same wherever we are in the world especially issues around funding.

IAHSA’s next international conference will be held in London on 20-22 July 2009. I am part of the organizing committee and last Thursday there was a meeting at the QE II conference centre in Westminster.

A minimum of 700 delegates are expected to attend in 2009 so this will be quite an organizational feat.

In the meantime the IAHSA European Conference will be held in Vienna on 22-23 May 2008. For more information about the Conference go to www.iahsa.net/ and follow the links on the right hand side.

You may remember that in a recent newsletter we mentioned the opportunity of care staff or manager exchanges with other members of IAHSA. That offer remains on the table and if anyone is interested please contact me direct at the moment.

Within a few days I hope to be able to post photos on this site as well as text.

I will be very happy to receive your responses to any report on this site.

NCA Annual Conference to be held at the Thistle Hotel Brighton

Watch this space for uptodate information on NCA's Annual Conference. Can you afford not to be there?.................... Go to www.nca.gb.com for information on last years annual conference and to register your interest please send an email to: info@nca.gb.com.

NCA's regional seminars

Watch this space for information on National Care Association's regional seminars...........................

Coming soon Sheila Scott OBE's Blog

Watch this space for up to date information from National Care Association's Chief Executive Sheila Scott OBE about what the NCA is doing within the sector.