Is personalisation working in social care? Live discussion

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Is personalisation working in social care? Live discussion
Four years after the government's paper Putting People First, is a personalised social care system becoming a reality? Join our panel on Wednesday 21 March 12-2pm to discuss
Jessica Fuhl
Wednesday March 21 2012
Guardian Professional

http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2012/mar/20/personalisation-working-social-care-live-discussion

Four years ago, following the white paper Our health, our care, our say [http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/Browsable/DH_4127552" title="] the government set out a vision of a transformed adult social care system where "person-centred planning and self-directed support [was] to become mainstream".
Putting People First [http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_081119.pdf" title="], or personalisation, was initiated across 13 pilot councils, before the government set the target that a personalised adult care system was to be rolled out to all adult service users across the country by April 2013.
Councils are moving toward a system of personal budgets for all those eligible for publicly-funded adult social care support, and are required to provide universal information, advice and advocacy services for service users and carers, regardless of eligibility for public funding. Currently, more than a third of adult service users already use a personal budget.
However this week on the network [http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2012/mar/19/personal-budget-older-people-social-services?intcmp=239" title="] we reported that the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) has called for a review of the implementation of personal budgets in order to "identify how they can be overhauled to work more effectively in the future". In a discussion paper, the association argued that personal budgets may not be having sufficient impact on changing personal experiences for older people.
And previously on the network, professor of social policy at Brunel University Peter Beresford argued [http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2012/jan/17/personal-budgets-way-ahead-social?intcmp=239" title="]: "Personalisation and personal budgets are beginning to look like just the latest in a long line of good ideas in social care, from patch and community social work, to genericism, care management and community care, which through underfunding and poor implementation have withered on the vine."
Blogger Pollyanna Perkins also has criticised the use of personalisation, claiming: "Personalisation is bogging us down. Whatever happened to social work? [http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2011/dec/19/personalisation-bogging-us-down-social?intcmp=239" title="]"
Our online live discussion will look at personalised care approaches in social work and how they are being implemented across the country. Are systems and processes overtaking the principles of personalisation? Are service users receiving the right support in managing their personal budgets and direct payments? And are personal budgets achieving the right outcomes?
Join us from midday on Wednesday to discuss these issues, or leave your comments below ahead of the debate. You can also tweet your questions or follow the debate at @GdnSocialCare [https://twitter.com/#!/GdnSocialCare] on Twitter.

Panel
Peter Hay is president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services [http://www.adass.org.uk/" title="] and chair of Research & Practice for Adults [http://www.ripfa.org.uk/" title="](RiPfA).
Richard Humphries is a senior fellow at The King's Fund [http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/" title="]. He was previously a joint director of social services and health authority chief executive and worked for the Department of Health [http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm" title="] in helping to support the implementation of national health and social care policy.
Charlotte Hammond leads area operations and change implementation in the active intervention and safeguarding team at Lancashire County Council [http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/home/2010/search/index.asp" title="].
Sue Brown is head of public policy at Sense [http://www.sense.org.uk/" title="], a national charity that supports and campaigns for people who are deafblind.
Elaine Cotterill is a full-time carer for her husband of 23 years, John, who has multiple sclerosis. She has written about the her own experience of the benefits of personal budgets [http://www.in-control.org.uk/support/support-for-individuals,-family-members-carers/personal-stories/elaine.aspx" title="] and how it has helped her and her husband John manage his care.
Peter Beresford is professor of social policy at Brunel University [http://www.brunel.ac.uk/shssc/people/social-work/peter-beresford" title="] and chair of Shaping Our Lives [http://www.shapingourlives.org.uk/" title="], a national network for service users and disabled people. He has written numerous articles on social care policy for the Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/peterberesford" title="].
Sarah Carr is author of Personalisation: a rough guide [http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report20.pdf" title="] and a senior research analyst at the Social Care Institute for Excellence [http://www.scie.org.uk/index.aspx" title="].
Martin Routledge is programme director at Think Local, Act Personal [http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/" title="] and co-author of Personal Budgets: Taking Stock, Moving Forward [http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk%2F_library%2FResources%2FPersonalisation%2FTLAP%2FPaper5TakingStockMovingForwards.pdf&ei=FpdnT7a-EYGR0AXmuMTnCA&usg=AFQjCNHseuj03z_u4piXTcbnlwuHS5Rx-w" title="]. He is also head of operations for In Control [http://www.in-control.org.uk/].
Jenny Pitts works as an independent social care consultant and is managing director of Ambrey Associates [http://www.ambrey.co.uk/" title="]. She was previously West Midlands co-ordinator for In Control [http://www.in-control.org.uk/" title="].
Jon Glasby is director of the health services management centre [http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/social-policy/departments/health-services-management-centre/index.aspx" title="] at Birmingham University and a qualified social worker.
Wendy Lowder works as the assistant director for personalisation at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council [http://www.barnsley.gov.uk/" title="]and is a fellow at the Centre for Welfare Reform [http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/" title="].
This article is published by Guardian Professional. [http://reg.guardian.managemyaccount.co.uk/social-care/start.php" title="]Join the social care network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

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