What is Personalisation?
‘Putting people first: A shared vision and commitment to the transformation of Adult Social Care’, was published in December 2007. The concordat contains the Government’s vision of how personalisation of social care services will allow people more control over their own lives and the services they choose. Click here to read ‘Putting People First’ on the Department of Health website (PDF).
Individual Budgets
The pioneering work to put people in control of their lives and the support they get was carried out by in Control. This is based on the principles of self-directed support, with individuals given a sum of money to spend in the way they choose to meet their needs; this is called an individual budget.
Self-Directed Support is a new system. It’s about people being in control of the support they need to live their life as they choose. Some people manage their support on their own. Others need help – from family or friends or people who are paid to help. In the old system, professionals made all the decisions about the support people could have and who would provide it. The person needing support often had no control. This new system started with social care and the money in social services. But it’s quickly becoming about health, education and other funding and services. You can read more about Self-Directed Support throughout this link.
Our approach
In 2008 we appointed Gemma Homan as Special Projects Lead. Gemma’s main focus has been researching Personalisation and implementing the strategy within our organisation. Over the past year Gemma has attended various events and key training around Personalisation. People we support, staff and families have a good sense of what Personalisation means for them following the regular updates given by Gemma. Over the next we have an action plan in place which involves working closely with the local authorities in which we provide services to ensure we implement Personalisation with the effect to match people’s wishes.
For the past 15 years we have been providing person centered support. We see each person we support as an individual and ensure that their service is budgeted this way. A trained person centered planner will work with the person to build their Essential Lifestyle Plan and from this the support is designed. Therefore for us Personalisation will not have a major impact, in fact it will support our values and vision for what we believe services for people with learning disabilities should look like – the person in total control!
