Risk thinking is transforming the understanding, organization, and management of heatlth care systems, and its significance is likely to increase still further over the next two decades as technological advances, for example the new genetics and the discovery of new biomedical markers, open up novel possibilities for health risk management.
Heightened societal risk consciousness, such as food panics and the debate over the MMR vaccine, co-exists, apparently paradoxically, with increased life expectancy in advanced industrial societies and increasing concern about the longer term future. At the same time, social trends are pushing health care systems towards the surveillance of populations and the targeting of groups identified as being at higher risk. All too often, services users, health professionals, policy makers, and researchers draw upon a risk management without reflecting critically on its assumptions or limitations.
This introductory text focuses on the underlying generic issues of risk management in health care. Aimed at health professionals, managers, educators and policy makers who are concerned with risk management, it allows the readers to analyze risk management issues, and to critically evaluate the claims made about exisiting and new technologies, in an informed way. It covers all aspects of risk relevant to a clinical setting and is closely related to decision making in the clinic.

How can a social worker assess the risk that an older person with dementia faces? How would a nurse or housing support worker decide on the balance between danger and safety? In cases of potentially serious harm, as in the examples of abused children or sex offenders, can risk taking work? In this practical and accessible book, Mike Titterton offers an innovative model of risk work in health and social care. He argues that a thoughtful risk-taking approach can lead to empowerment and greater independence for vulnerable individuals. The author explores the dilemmas frequently faced when working with older people, homeless persons, and people with physical or learning disabilities or with mental illness, and proposes a systematic framework for assessing and managing the risks involved. He also discusses contemporary theories and definitions of risk, and identifies the essential skills needed by professionals, with an emphasis on developing creative approaches to practice. Offering a wealth of case studies, examples of good practice and a clear overview of the legislative framework, this book is an invaluable resource for social work, health and housing practitioners, trainers and policy makers.

Risk Assessment in Social Care and Social Work outlines the theoretical issues behind the decisions, processes and organisations involved in risk assessment. Written by leading academics and experienced practitioners, it considers implications for future policy, drawing on the full range of perspectives in the most recent research. It considers the following themes: * The concepts of risk and dangerousness, and the ethical questions, which arise when assessments of risk are made. * The wider context of social policy and legislation, and the interaction between rehabilitation and the distribution of risk. * Social services staff and the risks they pose to their clients - the issues of selection, supervision and accountability; and risks to practitioners themselves. Individual chapters describe and compare methods of risk assessment with different client groups, including older people, children, people with mental health problems, and sex offenders. This book will ensure that practitioners, managers and policy makers deepen and coordinate their understanding of the key issues involved in both the initial choices made about the extent of risk, and the stable and productive management of the outcomes of those decisions.

This book critically examines the new agenda of welfare and assesses the implications for change for policy makers, formal and informal carers and consumers including examinations of key topics such as care planning and case management.