COVID-19

The global Covid-19 pandemic, starting in early 2020, has posed unprecedented challenges to health and social care systems in the UK. The government’s response to this crisis, some of which is outlined in the Coronavirus Act 2020 -  has created...

Part Three: The COVID Context and Struggle for Intersectional Women’s Rights The role of women’s organisations and leadership was vital in responding to this crisis. Women’s rights organisations, advocates and women’s defenders mobilised quickly to ensure service continuity, to minimise...

Part Two: A Reversal on Rights and Protections Microaggressions is a term used to identify indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination against a marginalised group occurring through laws and policies. Discussed above, such microaggressions have been evident in funding structures especially...

The specialist Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)[1] sector mobilised a year ago to address the impact of the shadow pandemics[2] – COVID 19 and VAWG. It was clear from the start that restrictive measures introduced to address the health...

When I was interviewed in the 1980s for the position of senior social worker at Broadmoor maximum security hospital the medical director, Dr Patrick McGrath, said, “We could let half of the patients here leave, the problem is that we...

As the COVID-19 pandemic brings issues of social policy to the forefront of every nation, we face a time of uncertainty and opportunity. We can never go back to how it was before, so we are given a rare chance...

The media have been more active recently in reporting the backlog which is building up in the NHS in operations, imaging and other tests for cancer and other serious illnesses. This has been one of the difficult consequences for the...