Service
users and their families need access to independent information and advice if
personalisation is to work, says Stephen Burke
It's still
early days in making "personalisation" happen, given that we are less than six
months into implementing the Putting People First transformation programme. But
its impact to date has been limited for many people using care.
Personalisation
should extend to everyone needing and using care and support. So it shouldn't
matter whether you're eligible for a personal budget or whether you pay for
your own care as a self-funder. And it shouldn't matter where you live and your
situation. But for many people choosing and using care homes for example,
perhaps people with dementia or near end of life, personalisation is still more
rhetoric than reality.
That is
best illustrated by recent enquiries to Counsel and Care's advice service.
These demonstrate the lack of control faced by many people using care homes.
In one
such case, Ms D was concerned about her brother who was in a care home far away
from his home town and all his family and friends. He was becoming very
depressed in his current home. But his local council would not increase the
rate they were willing to pay to enable him to move to a care home that could
meet all his care needs.
Counsel
and Care's advice worker was able to provide Ms D with the relevant legislation
and a draft letter to support her complaint about this to her brother's
council. As a result, the local council agreed to raise their standard rate to
a level where a smaller care home could be found for him in his own community.
Things
could have been so different for this older person and his carer if they had
got help earlier. Critical to making personalisation work for all individuals
is access to good, independent information and advice.
It's not
just about swamping people with lots of information - there is plenty of it
about which can add to the confusion. What people want is someone to talk to,
who can advise them on their care, housing and financial options, and help them
through the care maze.
Counsel and Care has been providing tailored, in-depth advice to individuals for some 50 years. We are now working with several local authorities to help them make the promise of universal information and advice a reality for all their older residents and carers.
Stephen Burke is chief executive of Counsel and Care
For details of Counsel and Care's
work with local authorities, e-mail Michael Stuart;
tel: 020 7241 8531
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