Letter: Harder-headed social work

Sir: I, for one, will not be shedding any tears at the departure of Joyce Brand from her career as a social worker ("The men who took the heart out of social work", 9 April). Many in the profession like her joined for worthy reasons, as she puts it "wanting to relieve and prevent hardship and suffering".

Thankfully a harder-headed approach to providing for those with a range of complex needs is being developed with the advent of community care. The requirement for social services managers to allocate resources to client care managed by both private and voluntary organisations has concentrated minds on the quality existing local authority provision. Often, genuine client-informed services can be found in the voluntary and private sectors. It is this competition that challenges the "tea and sympathy" values of Joyce Brand.

Creating specialised divisions within social services departments - children and families, elderly services and special needs - has enabled social workers to become more focused and knowledgeable concerning services for specific groups. The move to a more demarcated care market-place has enhanced social workers' professional integrity and has inspired public confidence in the service.

Finally, the promotion of "human well-being" far from being the sole preserve of saintly social workers is in fact the responsibility of us all.

JEREMY KILLINGRAY

Labour Councillor

London Borough of Hackney

London E8