New agreement to lead transformation of public services

Forty-eight leading health, care and housing organisations have partnered up to transform public service delivery to promote people’s independence and wellbeing by committing to Working together for personalised, community-based care and support 2014-17 – a new partnership agreement released by Think Local Act Personal (TLAP).

The partnership – which started in 2011 and aims to transform the way care services are delivered – has expanded and secured further commitments from new organisations that cover the health, housing and children’s sectors. This comes on the back of renewed support from government, with further grant funding secured for the next year.

The agreement sets out a new vision for personalisation based on what people have said is a priority, following the enormous changes to the care and health sector since 2011. It is launched alongside commitments from each partner setting out how they will help deliver the new vision, and a review of the partnership’s first three years of work is also published.

Care Services Minister Norman Lamb said:”I welcome this new partnership agreement, which brings together almost 50 national organisations, committed to drive forward a shared vision for personalisation and community-based support, a vision which I personally share. Personalisation is at the heart of the changes we need to see across our health and care system and is central to the Care Act now passed into law. This new agreement sets an ambitious agenda to build care and support around the whole person, their skills, aspirations and talents, as well as their needs, and provides a platform to extend this thinking across other public services too. I particularly welcome the focus on taking a personalised approach to delivering coordinated care. Integration and personalisation are for me two sides of the same coin and the current context presents a huge opportunity to bring these important objectives together. People should be able to expect the same focus on their independence, the same regard for their wishes and the same opportunities to make choices and to take control, whether they have a long term health condition or a social care need, a mental health problem or a learning disability. Fundamentally, good care and support should promote people’s wellbeing and help build stronger community links, not just for the few but for everybody. The new TLAP agreement is an opportunity to refocus on making this the norm, in all settings and for all people, all of the time.”

TLAP Director Sam Bennett said:”Think Local Act Personal is a unique approach to improving public services because we combine the delivery of a national programme with an ambitious movement for social change. We are pleased to welcome the new partners who will help and extend the reach and influence of TLAP’s work, particularly into health and housing. This time, all partners are making specific commitments for how they will support delivery of the agreement, which will help drive the agenda and ensure the sector take collective responsibility for this work.”

TLAP’s citizen co-chairs Clenton Farquharson and Marjory Broughton said:”TLAP’s strength is its modelling of co-production with people who use services, families and carers. Our work ensures their lived experiences are at the heart of everything the partnership does. The review of our first three years of work has shown this in particular has helped shaped the way partners work in their own organisations and we look forward to sharing this with the new organisations that have joined TLAP today.”

Commitments for action being made by TLAP partners today include:

• The Care Quality Commission designing a programme to ensure their staff are trained and kept up to date on personalisation and its positive significance in the care and health system.
• The Housing & Support Alliance, Sitra and Housing LIN each developing an understanding of how self-directed support fits with housing and highlighting innovative, person-centred approaches to housing related care and support.
• The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) strongly encouraging all councils to sign up to the Making it Real markers of progress to co-produce their plans for change with people who use their services and transparently publish these plans online.
• Disability Rights UK to ensure TLAP’s work is informed by disabled people leading change while Shaping Our Lives works to ensure the full diversity of people who use services have equal access to person-centred support.
• The National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTI) working to ensure paid work is a core outcome of personalisation for young disabled people as they move into adulthood – including their launch today of research on the use of personal budgets for employment support.
• Voluntary Organisations Disability Group showing what good personalised care and support for people with lifelong disabilities look like, including their launch today of “Making it Real: personalisation in social care, a case study report”.
• NHS Confederation working to ensure policy and practice of personal health budgets implementation reflects the evolving learning and evidence.
• Public Health England continuing to work with TLAP to support health and wellbeing boards to develop a framework for community empowerment.
• NHS England supporting the dissemination and adoption of the Narrative for person-centred, coordinated care and follow on work that relates specifically to mental health, children with complex lives, end of life care and older people.
• The Local Government Association championing personalisation to elected members so they can support this agenda locally; the Towards Excellence in Adult Social Care programme sharing how Making it Real can help councils with their local accounts; and the Winterbourne View Joint Improvement Programme sharing what good, personalised care looks like for people with the most complex needs living in the community.
• The Association of Directors of Children’s Services supporting the development and dissemination of Making Real for Children with Complex Lives, which includes case studies of what good personalised support looks like for children and young people.
• Skills for Care ensuring the care and support workforce development activity supports the strategic aims of set out in the partnership agreement; and the Centre for Workforce Intelligence modelling and producing intelligence about future workforce requirements.
• The Social Care Institute for Excellence continuing to host TLAP and coordinate work with them, including the direct payments in residential care project.
• The Carers Trust promoting good practice in personalisation for carers with the Carers Trust network of more than 130 local carers’ organisations across England; while Carers UK providing information and training on personalisation for their network of carers, local groups and professionals.
• InControl undertaking a survey of people and carers who use personal budgets to find, share and help councils act on what works best to improve personal budget delivery.
• Community Catalysts contributing to the evidence base on community capacity building through a Birmingham University evaluated project focusing on local area coordination in Peterborough; and CSV maximising the development of social capital through volunteering and time and asset-sharing initiatives.
• The United Kingdome Homecare Association undertaking an extensive programme of information, training and campaigning for their members; and the Registered Nursing Home Association will encourage their members to sign up to Making it Real and share examples of what good personalised care in residential settings looks like.
• Independent Age to involve people even more closely in the development of their services and campaigns, following TLAP’s example.

These commitments will be carried out alongside other work to support the Care Act implementation, extend personal health budgets, taking an asset-based approach to building community capacity building and overseeing implementation of the Personalisation Action Plan released earlier this year.

You can read the new TLAP Partnership Agreement, partner commitments and first phase review by visiting www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk