Identity: Plain to see? A little thought experiment

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

HUMANISTIC ------------------------------------------------ MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

A little thought experiment:

Beneath the humanistic-mechanistic axis (within the sociological and political domains) superimpose an inverted global population pyramid - scaled to fit - of course. Make it dynamic if you wish.

Then imagine lifting just one individual out of the global population. As our subject, of whatever age, sex ... place them anywhere above the horizontal axis. Anywhere within the interpersonal or sciences domains. There they are: a single data unit. Selected at random, of course, their health status would vary accordingly.

Would we actually be able to see them here? One single vertical line, at this scale? 

A case of individual ineffability. Welcome to the ethical debate re. the individual and collective. And yet there they are? The focus of their own self-care and independence, famine, conflict ... or our care. Not just 'us', as a nurse, doctor, social worker, support worker ... but intermittently, the whole health and social care team.

From being lost in anonymity, literally a number in a chart, to having a name, several identities - with or without 'papers' - needs, background, character, personality, problems, relationships, strengths and humanity.

Hodges' model provides an incredible conceptual estate for us to utilise, if we choose to.

We can refer back instantly as context and population pyramids demand to parent, guardian, partner, family.

 Previously: 'population' : 'identity'

Social Inclusion: Transnational Organization of Labour, Mobility, and Senior Care in Central and Eastern Europe

Dear colleagues,

Social Inclusion has just released a new issue, fully open access, and all articles are free for you and others to read, download and share.

Transnational Organization of Labour, Mobility, and Senior Care in Central and Eastern Europe (2026, Volume 14)

Edited by Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck, Dóra Gábriel, Olena Fedyuk and Kristine Krause

Complete issue: https://doi.org/10.17645/si.i533

Table of Contents:

Transnational Organization of Labour, Mobility, and Senior Care in Central and Eastern Europe
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.13078
By Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck, Dóra Gábriel, Olena Fedyuk and Kristine Krause

Migrant Live‐In Care Workers in the Global Care Chain: Results From an Online Survey
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.11728
By Silvia Wojczewski, Simona Ďurišová, Sabine Pleschberger, Anna Ernst, Rojin Bagheri, Kathryn Hoffmann and Viktoria Adler

Selling Care Skills? The Multiple Meanings of Training for Polish Live‐In Care Workers in Germany
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.11909
By Roxana Fiebig-Spindler

The Invisible Hand of Care: A Typology of Brokerage Actors in Migrant Care Labour
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.11953
By Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck, Ivanna Kyliushyk and Roxana Fiebig-Spindler

Care Extractivism Beyond Households: Migration and Care for Older People in the Post‐Yugoslav Semi‐Periphery
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.11975
By Majda Hrženjak

Caring Communities in Urban Hungary: A Civil Society Perspective
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12023
By Dóra Gábriel, Bettina Török and Noémi Katona

Care Under Constraint: Unmet Care Needs Among Older Adults in Romania
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12028
By Mihaela Hărăguș and Ionuț Földes

Skill Construction and Challenges of Professionalization in the Hungarian Home Care Market
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12029
By Noemi Katona and Dóra Gábriel

The Right to Care and Support: From Care Theory to Human Rights Law
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12056
By Maroš Matiaško

Senior Care in Wartime Ukraine: A Fragmented Continuum of Arrangements Inside an “Unpromising Sector”
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12060
By Oksana Dutchak, Olena Fedyuk and Anna Oksiutovych

Bounded Transport, Mobility Justice, and Claims for Recognition Among Live‐in Care Workers
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12191
By Petra Ezzedine

In Times of the Market and Community Shift: On Live‐In Care and Caring Communities
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12295
By Brigitte Aulenbacher, Klaus Wegleitner, Jonas Hagedorn and Bernhard Emunds

Care Outsourcing From Germany to Central and Eastern Europe
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12319
By Kristine Krause, Veronika Prieler, Hanna Horváth, Matouš Jelínek, Mariusz Sapieha, Zuzana Sekeráková Búriková, Petra Ezzeddine and Luise Schurian‐Dąbrowska

Imagining Care: Transnational Inequality and Older Age Prospects for Ukrainian Caregivers in Italy
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12324
By Oksana Dutchak, Olena Fedyuk and Anna Oksiutovych

The Winding Road to Professionalisation: Care Work in Romanian Nursing Homes
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12326
By Neda Deneva, Ionuț Földes, Denisa Ursu and Mihaela Hărăguş

The Limits of State Control in Regulating Live‐In Care Work in The Netherlands
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12375
By Siënna Hernandez, Kristína Bartošová and Franca van Hooren

Home Care for Sale: Marketisation and Social Change
https://doi.org/10.17645/si.12737
By Attila Melegh

Kind regards,

Mariana Pires
Cogitatio Press, Portugal
si AT cogitatiopress.com
Social Inclusion
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion

My source: COMPLEXITY-PRIMARY-CARE list

Evidence sent to Cumbria Police about 61 baby deaths at church-run home c/o ITV News

'Some babies born with disabilities were denied medical help because they were judged unadoptable, as ITV News Social Affairs Correspondent Sarah Corker reports

---

Evidence has been submitted to Cumbria Police in connection with allegations of historical abuse at a church-run mother and baby institution where more than 60 newborn babies died, following an ITV News investigation.

A new report by Dr Michael Lambert, an historian of the welfare state at Lancaster University, has outlined a high infant death rate at St Monica’s home in Kendal.

The report concluded that the deaths were due to a combination of failings, including inadequate facilities, malpractice and poor care from those delivering babies and a lack of oversight from the church and state.

Analysis of public health records, alongside birth and death certificates, indicated that children with disabilities born at the mother and baby home were deemed "un-adoptable" and denied modern medical care, according to the new research.'

◇

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

emotional neglect and abuse  grief, trauma and guilt  shame	physical neglect and abuse  high infant death rate inadequate facilities malpractice
mother and baby   social / societal punishment  public health	institutions  criminal investigation  records

Source: ITV: NW News and https://www.itv.com/news/2026-06-09/evidence-sent-to-cumbria-police-about-61-baby-deaths-at-church-run-home

Picking up sticks: when axes matter ii

This past week at WCCS26, I've put Hodges' model itself on the work-, or more properly the inspection bench. Now, referring back to the - 'Our broken sticks' c/o Roger Lewin "Complexity: life at the edge of chaos" post, perhaps a theatre table is required. That is, as I try to examine the model, take it apart, have a look at the bits - as far as they are. And, what about the question posed in the above post?

'If we take the axes of Hodges' model, and break them at twenty-five points, I wonder what we end-up (or start) with?'

If there are twenty-six sticks, well, amongst other things - we've made quite a mess. But, there's more going on.

There may be some kind of idealised symmetry, or is it equality between the necessary, or projected length of the I-G axis. That is, as it extends for the INTERPERSONAL and SOCIOLOGICAL domains. But is there equivalence, in a default sense, for the SCIENCE and POLITICAL domains? Or am I (once again) overthinking? If medicine, health and by implication social care are bio-psycho-social, then surely we have a structural problem? Not only that, but we see a boundary, partition ... axis - in action. In Hodges' model the axes have two parts, two sides, so they are in effect composite. If the bio-psycho-social model is true, in whatever senses we wish to declare, derive or pursue in research (the literature, logic, practice, political expediency, or realism ...), then the group axis is incomplete. 

Hodges' model: Structure and Content - Axes and Domains

Is this literally why health care systems are so difficult to design, develop, establish and sustain? Think about that too, please. Is this why we as individuals rely on a functioning (caring) society and political systems? Is this why health care systems can suddenly be faced with collapse, as geopolitics has revealed. Vulnerability, becomes more than an individual characteristic and experience; when nations are dependent upon others for their funding, organisation, logistics, personnel, continuity and more. As a result, many understandably want to break with this socio-political and coloanial legacy.

Is there something in the sentence above in italics, that we can actually utilise to help define the foundation of Hodges' model? Again, not wanting to sound grandiose, but is there an axiom hidden in there? Even as 'health' is the inevitable election issue. The irony of this! Even if the politics of health and health in politics is not so much hidden as often denied. History reveals the influence of triage on the battlefield on the emergence of medicine and surgery. The future is here now. There is a political fight to follow for health in all its manifest forms. So here is another post to return to.

'Health - Illness': Status - presence - absence - Being

A pre-charity shop revisit: 

'So long as we are healthy, we do not notice that we are healthy. Health is one of those phenomena that we do not perceive as anything special because they are a part of everyday life. We discover them by their absence. Only illness enables us to see health as health. That I am healthy, and in what way I am healthy, is something I experience when, and to the extent that, I am or was not healthy, or when I perceive (but this it is difficult to do) that, and to what extent, someone else is or was not healthy. Being healthy is not the only 'being' that escapes our gaze precisely by being, and that appears to us by its absence. One could say the same of being as such.' p.257.

von Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich (1971 [1980 trans.]). Einheit der Natur [The Unity of Nature] New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

If we are to demonstrate ('prove') that Hodges' model can be applied, is relevant in:

• illness, disease, trauma (physical and mental);
• health and well-being; 
• human development, ageing, pregnancy;
• social care; 
• preventive medicine, health promotion, health education;
• life sciences, bioengineering; 
• public (community and mental) health;
• self care;
• spiritual health;
• and global - planetary (political) health ...

Then these observations by Friedrich, allied with definitions of health, as per the WHO's Constitution:

'Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.'
https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution

The oft cited (when I was a student nurse) definition of nursing by Virginia Henderson:

“Assisting the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that an individual would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge”.
https://libguides.twu.edu/c.php?g=270174&p=1803121

We need to 'see' beyond these sources, to take in the global situation. But, being situated this is something Hodges' model is ideally equipped to achieve.

Caring with Excellence, Care that Evolves: Filipinos in Care Anniversary Event 2026

Time & Location

17 Apr 2026, 14:00 – 23:00 BST

St Mary Abbots Centre, Vicarage Gate, London, W8 4HN

About the event

This engaging 2-panel session will delve into the inspiring journeys of Filipino nurses and nurse leaders who are making significant contributions in the social care sector. Participants will have the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of challenges, triumphs, and the unique experiences that shape their careers. The session aims to highlight the vital role that Filipino nurses play in providing compassionate care and leadership in diverse settings.

Panel 1: Personal Journeys and Experiences of Award-Winning Filipinos

The first panel will feature a diverse group of nurses who will share their personal stories. Topics will include:

• Overcoming cultural and professional challenges
• Adapting to different healthcare environments
• Building resilience and community support

Panel 2: Transitioning to Social Care

The second panel will focus on the experiences of Filipino nurses who moved from the NHS to social care. Key discussions will revolve around:

• Developing skills in a care home setting
• Key tips for the career move
• Key learnings from the shift from acute to chronic care

Takeaways: A Practical Toolkit

Attendees will leave the session equipped with a practical toolkit designed to inspire and guide them in their own nursing careers. This toolkit will include:

• Resources for professional development
• Strategies for effective leadership in nursing
• Networking opportunities with fellow nurses and leaders

Join us for this enlightening session to celebrate the contributions of Filipino nurses in social care and to gain valuable insights that can enhance your own journey in the field. Sessions moderated by Filipinos in Care Founder Kier Dungo and Co-Founder Jay Trondillo.

Tickets and website: https://www.filipinosincare.org.uk/event-details/fic-anniversary-event

My source: RCN North West Multicultural Group

The UK Dementia Awards 2026

Dear CHAIN member,

We would like to draw your attention to the following opportunity. Please pass on as appropriate. Thank you.

Dementia Community

The UK Dementia Awards 2026

The awards are judged by a panel of dementia experts, including people with lived experience, ensuring that every nomination is seen, valued, and understood.

Whether nominating a colleague, a team, a service, or someone whose quiet dedication deserves the spotlight, this is the chance to say: you matter, and your work matters too.

Friday 27 February 2026, 5pm: Nominations Close.

For more details please see: https://journalofdementiacare.co.uk/awards/listings

Regards,

Irina Johnston

CHAIN Administrative Assistant

 

If you wish to publicise information on the CHAIN Network please email your request to: enquiries AT chain-network.org.uk

 

CHAIN - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online international network for people working in health and social care. For more information on CHAIN and joining the network please visit website: www.chain-network.org.uk

 

Follow CHAIN on X: @CHAIN_Network ; Connect with CHAIN on LinkedIn

Previously: 'dementia' : 'carer'

NW England: NIHR Health & Care Professional (HCP) Internship Programme 2026

Dear CHAIN member,

We would like to draw your attention to the following opportunity. Please pass on as appropriate. Thank you.

NIHR Health & Care Professional (HCP) Internship Programme 2026

Are you a Nurse, Midwife, Allied Health Professional, Pharmacist, Healthcare Scientist or working in Social Care, Social Work, looking to embark on a practitioner research career and make a difference through undertaking high quality research?

Do you have the drive and ambition to be a future research leader?

NHS R&D North West is pleased to announce that alongside its regional partners from NHS Trusts, Professional Networks and HEIs it will be delivering the NIHR Health and Care Professional Internship Programme across the North West Region of England in 2026.

There are 23 places available on this highly prestigious 12-month programme providing predoctoral tailored and bespoke learning and development to the full range of health and care professions (not including doctors and dentists) across the full range of research related career aspirations i.e. from a desire to increase research awareness within clinical practice up to and including providing individuals with a strong foundation on which to build a research related career.

The internship provides a funded opportunity for early career health and care researchers with dedicated time away from their substantive role to engage in research-based activities.

Closing date for online applications, 5pm 19th December 2025.

For more details please see:
https://research.northwest.nhs.uk/our-work/nihr-health-care-professional-hcp-internship-programme/

Regards,

Irina Johnston

CHAIN Administrative Assistant

If you wish to publicise information on the CHAIN Network please email your request to: 

enquiries AT chain-network.org.uk

CHAIN - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online international network for people working in health and social care. For more information on CHAIN and joining the network please visit website: www.chain-network.org.uk

Follow CHAIN on X: @CHAIN_Network ; Connect with CHAIN on LinkedIn

The INDIVIDUAL ↔ GROUP axis

Looking at the axes of Hodges' model, specifically the INDIVIDUAL ↔ GROUP axis, I realise (as ever) there's more than meets the eye. 

The labels for the axes are placeholders. To a certain degree they are open, flexible. In the template (link and figure in the sidebar), the what should now be familiar labels are provided for guidance, and convenience.

The care, knowledge domains can be viewed as giant - compound placeholders, even as an opportunity to abstract away a lot of detail. In care delivery, as we concentrate on patient care, , clinical interactions, procedures ... we tend to do this in political terms. Until that is, we are jolted to the wider situation and the true realities of policy, law, and practice.

While the HUMANISTIC ↔ MECHANISTIC labels are fixed, I've often shown how the I ↔ G is itself situated, so you could variously have (titles & names to follow...):

person, self, I, individual, client, patient,
carer, student, nurse x, dr y, allied health z ..

|

nurse .., husband, wife, partner, kin, couple, guardian, friend, family, team, group, community, region, nation, populations, Planet

Usually, what we have is a ONE-TO-MANY relationship, that is 1:N.

In Hodges' model can we also say that the team is the 'individual' and the organisation the group?

Another thought regarding self-care. ... Some times this state might be concurrent with being a patient.

Part of the journey in a patient's recovery. But at some point the person does not need a professional and is indepedently self-caring. Care episodes are not what they used to be. Although when 'true' self-care is achieved, it might appear One-to-None, but this is not correct. Not correct, that is, if we can credit society acting as a safety net. Usually, it would be One-to-Family; if there is no family, then the One-to-Community should (must) be the placeholder of choice.

On self-care, and the vertical axis of Hodges' model, is this also a way to define sustainable health and social care?

See also: https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2025/10/l-shaped-model.html

Careif report: The Health Needs of the Indo-Caribbean Community in the United Kingdom

'The Indo-Caribbean community has played a key part in the life of the United Kingdom, but this has not often been recognised. Little is known about this populations’ physical and mental health needs and its experience of health and social services in the UK.

This report, The Health Needs of the Indo-Caribbean Community in the United Kingdom, examines the history of the Indo-Caribbean community in the UK, the prevalence of mental health conditions among the community, barriers to accessing mental health services, and the existing services available.'



Includes:

"The absence of a unique category designating ‘Indo-Caribbean’ as a unique category in the UK Census was identified as a major barrier to obtaining vital epidemiological data on the UK’s Indo-Caribbean population."

Above text:
https://www.careif.org/news-and-events/2025-10-9-careif-report-the-health-needs-of-the-indo-caribbean-community-in-the-united-kingdom

n.b. 
In my community mental health nursing career in Chorley, Preston, and West Lancashire as services were established, the diversity of the local populations was evident, but there was an assumption that many communities were essentially 'closed': one explanation for lack of referrals from specific racialised communities - was that some communities 'looked-after their own'.

Of course this can be racism (acute or subtle), an excuse for inaction, delayed response, lack of action - outreach and translation services. There were marked examples of intervention. I have seen first-hnad interpreting and translation services in action since full-time retirement and the services offered are amazing for the insights and care delivery they can facilitate. Is this why we also need mental health nurses and the team? To translate in challenging circumstances, even by being there, seeking avenues, giving time - especially in instances of psychoses and doing so safely (for all)?

In addition to the main body of Careif's report and its recommendations, it may be helpful to consider the report's key terms relating them to the domains of Hodges' model? I also note reference to the bio-medical model as an explanatory framework. A conference abstract has been submitted today for April 2026, highlighting the need for bio-psycho-socio-political model / framework (Hodges' model - of course?).

See also:

RCN North West Multicultural Group

Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (SPARC) (Cohort 12)

Dear CHAIN member,

We would like to draw your attention to the following funding opportunity offered by NIHR. Please pass on the information as appropriate. Thank you.

‘Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (SPARC) (Cohort 12)

This award offers a unique opportunity to design and undertake a short, bespoke placement within a part of the NIHR. Tailored to your individual research training needs and background, the award aims to enhance your research career, skills, and professional network.

What are the priority themes for an NIHR SPARC?

• Multiple Long Term Conditions - Morbidity (MLTC-M)

The NIHR SPARC welcomes applications centred around making connections important to your research and work, that may spark innovative new ways of working across MLTC research.

• Links to industry and the commercial sectors

One of the aims of the NIHR is to increase the number of researchers equipped with the skills to work at the interfaces between:

• academia
• the NHS
• wider health, public health and social care
• industry

We work with a diverse range of industry sectors. The NIHR SPARC welcomes applications that undertake placements in other parts of the organisation that have developed partnerships and collaborations with industry partners. This opportunity should develop your skills and experience to have a successful working relationship with industry (including the life-sciences, med-tech, SMEs and the food industry) and encourage entrepreneurship.

Please note applicants wishing to plan and undertake placements that meet their own research training and career development needs will continue to be encouraged and welcomed; however for Cohort 12 of the NIHR SPARC we are particularly encouraging applicants to consider placements in the two areas outlined above.

Closing date: 20 November 2025 at 1:00 pm'

Find out more at: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/short-placement-award-research-collaboration-sparc-cohort-12/2025334?source=chainmail

Kind regards,

Wendy Zhou
CHAIN Manager

 

If you wish to publicise information on the CHAIN Network please email your request to: enquiries AT chain-network.org.uk

 

CHAIN - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online international network for people working in health and social care. For more information on CHAIN and joining the network please visit website: www.chain-network.org.uk

 

Follow CHAIN on X: @CHAIN_Network ; Connect with CHAIN on LinkedIn

See also: 'long term' : 'academia' : 'interfaces' : 'industry' : 'social care'

'National Care Service' - Casey Commission

'Casey Commission tasked with producing plan for ‘national care service’ by 2026

Government remit also asks independent commission to consider services for older people and disabled adults separately and to ensure recommendations stick to government spending settlement

By Mithran Samuel on May 2, 2025 in Adults, Social work leaders

The Casey Commission has been tasked with producing a plan next year for delivering a “national care service” over the course of a decade.

The 2026 report will be followed by a further report, due by 2028, setting out longer-term recommendations for the sector, according to the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) terms of reference for the commission, published today.

The Independent Commission into Adult Social Care, headed by crossbench peer and renowned government troubleshooter Baroness (Louise) Casey, started its work this week.

The plan to set up the commission sparked criticism from social care organisations, after it was announced in January, due to its three-year timeframe being seen as far too long to develop a plan for a sector under under severe immediate pressures and facing significant future challenges.' 

continued...

https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2025/05/02/casey-commission-tasked-with-producing-plan-for-national-care-service-by-2026/

The Casey Commission

... so many people ...

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

... watching this space.

My prompt: Letters to the Editor, The Sunday Times. 12th January 20025. p.22.

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/letters-to-editor/article/sunday-times-letters-labours-national-care-service-proposal-ghx22kzt2

Nursing models of care: "There is another"!

It seems Star Wars forums continue to debate the meaning of Yoda's response to Obi-Wan that "There is another". 

The lack of practice-based debate in nursing and health education about 'nursing theory' and 'models of care, confirms that these academia sagas did indeed take place in a galaxy far, far away.

There is, as ever, positive and negative news too. The bibliography in the sidebar keeps growing. I'm hoping for news of additions dropping into the inbox before the end of the year. Not just prospective papers I know about (yes, there is another prospect!), but other work. In a way the latter is even more special. As these sporadics reveal that there are research heroes out there, on their own path and journey of discovery. Finding Hodges' model, they have applied it to their respective field.

Yesterday, searching for 'Activities of Daily Living' (first published in 1980) while writing the DASH post, on BMJ Careers I came across:

'What models do nurses use to guide their care?'

Is that 'models' plural?

Perhaps the response to the question says something about:

• nurse academia;
• how our medical colleagues view nursing;
• and more importantly - their understanding of nursing, the nursing profession, ongoing aspirations and relevance to self , health and social care in the 21st century?

In January, frustrated at the effort that is getting published (a shared experience then) and lack of attention to theory I posted:

Are you planning a health* study in 2025?

The literature trail for Hodges' model is not voluminous, but it is there:

• as a model of care, conceptual framework;
• person-centredness;
• integrated and holistic care;
• holistic bandwidth
• SDGs
• life chances, health career, prevention, life-style and literacies
• socio-technical approach
• global health;
• reflection and reflective practice;
• critical thinking
• mind-mapping;
• concepts, conceptual spaces, threshold concepts

- with much more to do, even in the above.

Please, call this a gentle nudge. Thank you.

Image: http://www.quickmeme.com/

Paper - (finally!) "A generic model and conceptual framework to prime curiosity across health and social care ..."

 It has been over a decade but at last the second* paper has been published in Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice:

Jones, P. (2025), A Generic Model and Conceptual Framework to Prime Curiosity Across Health and Social Care Disciplines to Facilitate Lifelong Learning. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 31: e70252. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.70252

ABSTRACT 

Rationale: The Corona virus pandemic highlighted the importance in continuity of the physical and emotional labour across all care sectors. Synergy between healthcare in hospitals, and community services must be allied with social care; and be central to integrated and efficient policy and service delivery. Services were found wanting in the pandemic and in recurring winter crises. The politics of funding for care delivered in rest and nursing homes remains contested, awaiting long‐promised governmental action. The workforce is recognised as dedicated, skilled, compassionate and yet under‐valued and under‐paid; managers face ongoing recruitment challenges, with a national shortage of staff, and high turnover of personnel. A National Care Service is awaited in England and Wales. 

Aims and Objectives: This study explores the ongoing care crisis, using the educational lens of threshold concepts, projected, analysed and synthesised of a generic conceptual framework, known as Hodges' model. Readers will understand Hodges' model and threshold concepts being equipped to explain both. 

Methods: The study is descriptive and uses a conceptual mapping approach supported by discussion and literature. Additional resources and avenues for ongoing study are also provided. 

Conclusion: In conclusion, Hodges' model is a pragmatic, practice‐based tool, that can support and sustain curiosity for workforce learning and development. 

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Messrs Mark Bird and Matthew Graham and the journal's reviewers for comments on drafts of this study; and acknowledge the effort of Dr Michael T. Flanagan in creating the informative threshold concepts resource (referred to above). 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/IRPNBR2KHJNYJK8XUAW6?target=10.1111/jep.70252

*This paper was originally the first of a two-part work. Feedback from reviewers suggested the papers be standalone. United now, in one journal.

Many thanks to the reviewers, editor, editorial and publications team at JECP.

This paper has been added to bibliography in the blog's sidebar.

Politicians! Please leave it to the Public ...

Individual

|

      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

'Kick' - a verb, more often it seems, a noun.	Health and Social Care?
Gent kicking a can Wall poster/photo Corfu Town	... to kick the can down the road!

Biblio - addition: Conceptual Mapping Exercise of DoLS in Residential & Community Care Using Hodges' Model and Threshold Concepts

After a great many years of on-off effort, radical revisions - from one to two papers - part 1 and part 2; and then finally two standalone papers, I received news this morning from ORCID and Wiley of online publication.

News of the second paper (part 1 - to me) is still to follow.

Many thanks to the individuals who read earlier drafts, the editor and team of JECP.

It is a real delight to add an item to the blog's bibliography in the sidebar.

Apologies in advance, the paper is not open access, I cannot personally cover the fees. Happy to assist with an earlier draft.

Once again, if you can add to the bibliography, or are interested in using Hodges' model please let me know. Or as several researchers have done: 'Just get on with it!'. Learning post-publication of a citation for Hodges' model, is a welcome surprise too.

Jones, P. (2025), A Conceptual Mapping Exercise of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in Residential & Community Care Using Hodges' Model and Threshold Concepts. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 31: e70085. https://doi.org/10.1111/jep.70085

A short & sweet tweet/X for . . .

         ... the challenge of a lifetime ...

    ... for several researchers mathematicians?

Listening to @BBCRadio4's 'The Kitchen Cabinet', reminded of Hodges' model #h2cm as a cabinet, space, place, or repository. A critical cabinet for at least two reasons:
#1. An aide-mémoire
for assessments, plans, interventions (as formulations too), evaluation. #Person 🧵1.

— Peter Jones (@h2cm) March 20, 2025

This thread, also written - copied out beforehand provides the basis for an enlarged post to follow.

News on two papers: Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards & Threshold Concepts

 - plus of course Hodges' model

While I could find out (here on W2tQ!?), I can't remember exactly when I started a writing project about threshold concepts, deprivation of liberty safeguards in the context of residential care and nursing homes. It was at least 2013, and may date back to 2011. Well, whenever it was: what a palaver! 

One paper, rejected, the advice was to split the work and create two. The two papers were then also rejected. My writing is always off-piste as it were, on-off too; and then ironically COVID-19 may have helped too? Afterwards, I started to pick it up again - the same title but parts 1 & 2. I never heard from one journal, so quickly moved on. Each time, the work improved thanks to two reviewers and their feedback. All the time my thought about Hodges' model has itself changed: I like to think progressed. With further revision, I finally had two standalone papers.

The important thing is the news received this week: Re. ...

'"A Conceptual Mapping Exercise of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in Residential & Community Care using Hodges’ Model and Threshold Concepts". I am pleased to be able to tell you that has been accepted for publication in Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.'

A further paper (part 1 originally) same journal, to be referenced in the above, needs some minor revisions.

I am worried about another paper, with a similar history, that I can now turn my attention to (this itself speaks volumes!). I can see I need to alter the emphasis, balance of Hodges' model, diagrams, psychological therapies and case formulation. A co-author would help, but of course everyone's busy.

So if you're writing and struggling: do keep going!

Consultation: Community Mental Health Services [ UK Parliament ]

Source: Health and Social Care Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

'Community Mental Health Services

Inquiry

The Committee is undertaking an inquiry into community mental health services. The inquiry will examine what good looks like from the perspective of service users and their families/carers. The Committee would like the inquiry to shine a light on case studies of innovative practice and high-quality care across the country, and to undertake meaningful and impactful engagement with people accessing these services. 

The inquiry will consider how service users’ wider health and social needs can be addressed, including in employment and housing, and to understand what policy interventions are required to improve how these needs are met. As part of this inquiry, the Committee also wants to assess to what extent the Community Mental Health Framework is driving improvements in the delivery of more integrated, person-centred care. 

This inquiry is focussing on adults with severe mental health needs in particular, which includes but is not limited to people with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and severe depression. The Committee recognises the scale of the challenge in children and young people’s mental health, and plans to do further work in this area in due course, building on its predecessor Committee’s 2021 inquiry. 

In line with the general practice of select committees, the Health and Social Care Committee is not able to take up individual cases or complaints. If you would like political support or advice you may wish to contact your local Member of Parliament.

This inquiry is currently accepting evidence

The committee wants to hear your views. We welcome submissions from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Tuesday 4 February 2025.' 

Read the call for evidence before submitting:

https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8755/community-mental-health-services/

Young Carers Choir - 'Love is Enough'

'Young carers face many challenges throughout the year and Christmas can be an especially tough time.

When their friends are having fun, young carers’ responsibilities don’t stop. That’s why we’re delighted Sir Ed Davey and the Bath Philharmonia’s Young Carers Choir have come together to record for a wonderful Christmas song – Love is Enough. 

The song, in support of young carers through Carers Trust and the Bath Philharmonia, has been written by young carers and shines a light on their lives.' 

continued ...