Personalisation

Pluss is currently running personalisation pilots for customers in Plymouth and South Devon.

Personalisation means thinking about public services and social care in an entirely different way – starting with the person rather than the service.

It puts every individual - their strengths, preferences and aspirations - at  at the centre of the decision making process,  giving them control about how and when they are supported to live their lives.

What are the principles of personalisation?
There are five main principles which encompass a personalised approach:

Choice and control – The person is at the centre of the decision making process and is empowered to make informed choices about how they live their life.  This may also include the receipt of a personal budget.

Co-production - Individuals are actively involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of services.

Prevention and early intervention – Offering pro-active, low level services early on, to help people stay independent and active, in a way that’s right for them.

Universal services – Good access to information, advice and advocacy in order for the individual to make informed choices around health, housing, employment, welfare rights, learning, transport, leisure and so on. Also developing local partnerships to co-produce a range of services and improve social inclusion.

Social capital - Using friends, neighbours, family, support groups, charities and voluntary organisations to support people to make the right decision for them.

These five principles are utilised alongside developing the right leadership and organisational systems to enable staff to work in creative, person-centred ways

Read more about Principles of self directed support.

Personalisation versus traditional Social Care
Presently most services are pre-purchased by social care services, the assessment and care management process is then used to place people into these existing services.

"This prior commitment to a set of pre-defined and standardised solutions creates enormous waste.

Published data already suggests:

•    At least 15% of social care is spent on the assessment and care management process.

•    At least 15% of social care goes towards administration, management or is being turned into profit for private sector providers.

•    A large segment of the services purchased are misdirected and would not be purchased by the person because they don’t meet their needs; one published study suggested that over 30% of pre-purchased services were no longer required when people could tailor their own support.

Social care, as presently organised, is structurally wasteful because resources are directed towards services instead of towards people."

Extract taken from In Control’s ‘Economics of Self Directed Support’ paper.

To find out more about Pluss personalised services contact mark.hodges@pluss.org.uk

For more information on personalisation visit the In Control and Think Local, Act Personal websites