Care Vision ‘Overlooks’ Most Vulnerable

The nation’s leading social services director has spoken of his fear that the government’s personalisation agenda will leave out some of the country’s most vulnerable people.

John Dixon, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said yesterday(WEDS) that concerns over safeguarding could stop people with severe disabilities gaining the control over their care they were entitled to.

Speaking at the National Children’s and Adults Services Conference in Liverpool, Mr Dixon said he believed that the potential for headline-grabbing tragedies that the self-directed care would bring could see some carers and social workers limiting the options of current service users.

“There’s a real risk that people with severe care needs will be overlooked by personalisation,” he said.
“We need to confront this head on.”

However, Mr Dixon said he believed the work surrounding the upcoming Green Paper on care funding was capable of creating a system as significant as the introduction of the NHS had been.

“This isn’t just unfinished business from 60 years ago,” he told well over 1,000 delegates.
“We also need to fit the settlement for how people live today  – people’s horizons are so much broader than they were in 1948.”

Mr Dixon said there was a determination between local government and the Department of Health to devise a completely new social care system fit for the 21st Century.

He added that the lack of obvious solutions to how the system should operate and be funded was not a stumbling block in discussions.
“I think it really helps when no-one knows what the answers are,” he said.