by Raymond Sheehy | Aug 25, 2026 | Flexible Support, Independant Living, Uncategorised
Something about how our sector talks about independence has bothered me for a while. We tend to measure it by how little support someone needs — fewer visits, a shorter care plan, eventually a tenancy with no hours attached at all. For a lot of people, that works fine...
by Raymond Sheehy | Aug 25, 2026 | Partnership Working
“Partnership working” turns up in nearly every tender document I read, usually near the top, usually followed by a paragraph that says very little about what it involves day to day. I’ve grown a bit wary of the phrase, mostly because I’ve seen...
by Raymond Sheehy | Jul 25, 2026 | Forensic Mental Health
When we talk about the cost of running mental health services, we’re usually thinking of one thing: the number on the invoice. What does a bed cost? What does a support worker cost? What does the programme cost per person, per year? Budget constraints are real. We...
by Raymond Sheehy | Jun 25, 2026 | Flexible Support
There’s a version of this conversation that happens in commissioning meetings across the country, and I’ve been in enough of them to know how it goes. Someone flags that a person in the community needs a bit more support — a few extra hours of flexible...
by Raymond Sheehy | Jun 25, 2026 | Flexible Support
Hospital discharge is supposed to mean someone’s better. In a lot of cases, it’s actually when things get risky. I’ve watched it happen more times than I’d like. Someone spends weeks, sometimes months, in hospital with round-the-clock support,...
