Self Directed Support / Personalisation
Self directed support and personalisation describe how provision of health and social care services is changing to become more service-user focused, with more choice, control and empowerment resting with the people who use services. The personalisation agenda includes individual budgets, direct payments, self directed support and individual service funds.
Volition, along with the other voluntary sector forums (Leeds Older People's Forum, Leeds Learning Disabilities Forum, Physical & Sensory Impairment Network and Leeds Voice Health Forum) coordinates the Voluntary Sector Providers' Self Directed Support Forum (terms of reference 22.5KB). Minutes of meetings are available from Volition.
Leeds Adult Social Care publish up-to-date information about self directed support and direct payments on Leeds City Council's website. You can find information for people who use services and carers, as well as for service providers. The SDS newsletter can be downloaded here.
The Leeds Directory produced by Keeping House offers information on services across Leeds that can promote independence and help to support people and their carers in their daily lives.
Free to Live is the local peer support network for people who use, or are thinking of using, a direct payment or personal budget.
In 2008 Volition was commissioned by Skills for Care to research the leadership challenges and workforce development needs related to personalisation, of the mental health voluntary sector in Leeds:
Full report (206KB)
Summary report (56.2KB)
Useful links
Here are some of the key organisations and documents relating to the personalisation agenda:
A useful glossary of terms is available from Better Caring.
Paths to Personalisation in Mental Health is a guide from the National Mental Health Development Unit. It's for people who use services, carers, workers and commissioners.
Putting Us First is a project about direct payments and individual budgets for people who use mental health services. It is a joint project between Mind and the Norah Fry Research Centre, University of Bristol, running from October 2008 to March 2010.
Mind has published three resources as part of the project’s first phase:
Personalisation in mental health: A review of the evidence (PDF, 295KB)
Creating a vision: Views of personalisation, from people who use mental health services (PDF, 325KB)
Overcoming the barriers: A guide for care coordinators (PDF, 659KB)
In Control is a partnership between families, individuals, services, local authorities, government and many other organisations. Their mission is to play a key role in creating a new system of social care, in which people will control their support, their money and their lives as valued citizens. Their website contains lots of information and tools, and sets out a new model for support.
The Think Local, Act Personal partnership is comprised of over 30 national and umbrella organisations representing the broad interest in personalisation and community-based support. Their website includes loads of useful resources, plus information, news, and details of events.
Putting People First, published by the Department of Health in December 2007, sets out the government’s intention of large scale reform of adult social care to a more personalised system that supports choice, independence and dignity. A ministerial concordat or agreement across central and local government, it outlines the shared aims and values which will guide the changes.
Putting People First: Transforming Adult Social Care is a hub of information aimed at all social care practitioners. It supports implementation of personalised care and has toolkits and other resources to promote good practice and knowledge sharing.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) have produced a range of resources about personalisation. Personalisation: a rough guide (PDF, 720KB), was produced by in October 2008. It sets out SCIE’s understanding of personalisation at a very early stage of implementation, exploring what personalisation is, where the idea came from and placing the transformation of adult social care in the wider public service reform agenda.
A series of "At a glance" briefings are available, aimed at commissioners, voluntary sector service providers, advocacy organisations, home care providers, housing providers etc.
SCIE have also produced a helpful toolkit for organisations, Getting Personal: measuring providers' progress towards personalisation.
The
Evaluation of the Individual Budgets pilot programme: final report, was published by the Department of Health in October 2008.
The Individual Budgets pilot programme was a cross-government initiative led by the Department of Health working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, and Communities and Local Government. The pilot was conducted over two years 2006-2007 involving 13 local authorities.
The report was written by a combined team from The University of York, Manchester University, LSE, University of Kent and Kings College London. They were collectively called The Individual Budgets Evaluation Network (IBSEN).
The National Centre for Independent Living is a national support, advice and consultancy organisation that aims to enable disabled people to be equal citizens. The website is a resource on independent living, direct payments and individual budgets.
The Department of Health intends to pilot Personal Health Budgets in 2010. They published an initial information sheet in July 2008 (PDF, 100 KB) and an update in October 2008 (PDF, 48 KB).
ESRC and ACEVO held a public policy seminar ‘The impact of personal budgets on third sector providers of social care’ in February 2009. The research paper following the seminar can be downloaded here (PDF 1.22 MB).