Adult Services Directors Look Toward `New Era’ In Care
By News England

At the opening of UK carers week today, directors of adult services in England have urged the country’s nearly 4.88 million carers to look much more closely at ways of controlling their own care budgets.

And given them practical advice on how to get their local director of adult social services, and the local authority as a whole, to understand their needs better.

In a message to carers everywhere, Anne Williams, President of ADASS, said it’s time for carers nationally to be part of the new era in care as fully as possible. It is an era in which:

  • Users and carers, rather than professionals, will control the services provided
  • Assessments will be carried out jointly between users, carers and advocates
  • Information vital to securing the best care for the money available will be far more accessible and user-friendly so that choices can better informed
  • Services will be increasingly more flexible and individually tailored focusing on recovery, reablement and users’ strengths
  • There will be increased clarity about the availability of resources Whereas before services were supplied by the local authority they will more and more be purchased by the individuals concerned.

“Increasingly,” Mrs Williams said, “payments will be made directly to individual users as budget holders – individuals who will be seen by her or his local authority as a consumer or a customer rather than service users and carers as budget holders.” She went on to warn that reaching this goal would have its difficulties.

Changes will have to be wrought in the training and culture of professionals; services will have to be simplified; new types of services will have to be developed for commissioning purposes, and services will have to be `much more accurately costed’.

There was, too, she acknowledged, understandable fears about the risks to users and carers of the new policies and a lack, so far, of fully resourced advocacy services.”

And the way to overcome the difficulties? She urged carers and the people they cared for to become partners in policy making and service delivery. “I don’t mean partnerships with just directors of adult social services,” she insisted. “I mean with lead members, overview and scrutiny committees and local authority cabinets. These are all key constituents of a successful, caring partnership.”

To help carers on their way she offered a list of practical ways in which they could help create and sustain such partnerships over the coming years.

  • Use consultation events, partnership boards, development committees to ask about your council’s policy and future plans
  • Ask about your local council’s Carer’s Strategy. Is it up to date? Does it cover employment?  What involvement have carers had in its development? What does it say about Individualised Budgets and/or Direct Payments?
  • Ensure you represent a cross-section of views of carers and the needs of different age groups, ethnic and cultural minorities
  • Put forward positive ideas about methods of assessment, the kind of services you would like to see. Recommend changes to existing services
  • Offer the expertise of carers already using Direct Payments and Individual Budgets to train and guide professionals
  • Ask directors to be interviewed for local carers’ newsletters
  • Give feedback on individual practice if carers are not being given choice/opportunities
  • Money is tight, so come up with ideas of how to use it more effectively, flexibly and better focused on outcomes
  • Offer support to carers who lack confidence, are unsure about new ways of working, through carers’ centres and carers’ groups

“Local authorities,” she concluded, “will be doing all they can within the resources available to help you make key decisions about your care or the care of the people you care for, and how it is to be funded. They can do so much more with your help, and your say. Make sure you have access to decision makers and decision making bodies. And once you are there, ensure you provide representation on a range of needs as well as feedback to other carers in you neighbourhoods.”