Further to the post about Personalisation and citizen focused services there is interesting news about the development of In Control Cymru.
In Control Cymru has been working with 7 local authorities and 17 provider organisations to explore and develop how people in Wales who require social care support can get control over their lives as active citizens. In Wrexham where there has been the most significant development in this area 65 people are now using individual budgets.
However the steering group of In Control Cymru recognise that it is imperative that this agenda is set within the Welsh context and unique political environment and they have come to recognise that personalisation and In Control have become synonymous with the English agenda change. They have decided to rebrand as, The Welsh Alliance of Citizen Directed Support to place greater emphasis on establishing a Welsh model of social care and to find a new way to express this which is appropriate to the context of Wales.
In light of the rebranding, The Welsh Alliance of Citizen Directed Support is seeking to work with all its stakeholder groups, ADSS Cymru, AWASH, SSIA and WAG to develop a model of social care appropriate for Wales.
The first step in this journey will be to define what Citizen Directed Support means to us in Wales.
Speaking personally, (although I need to acknowledge an interest as of last week I became chair of the Alliance Provider Network and are thus part of the Alliance Steering Group) I think this is a great opportunity and a potential threat. We have the opportunity to influence and shape a national practice agenda focused on Citizen Directed Services, many people wanted to create a genuinely Welsh model and now it is there to be created. However if we sit back, there is now a significant risk that the energy transforming services in person centered ways across the UK will pass us by and the inevitable budget pressures that we are facing will erode the quality of people lives in a slow but sure fashion.
So I think we should all take some time to answer the question
What Citizen Directed Support means to us? – possibly in 100 words or less
Well here goes here is mine (although I am sure it will change)?
- Citizen Directed Support means that individuals are supported to have control over the services that they use through a range of methods such as individual budgets or user led services. However they are equally supported to become part of mutually supportive communities who they have investment in and influence over. Agencies deliver services to individuals acheiving explicitly agreed individual outcomes; however they also actively support communities to build their capacity for collaboration and mutual assistance. Explicit shared systems for communication exist between individuals, community groups and agencies to support collaborative decision-making and local adaptation. (94 words – I should have said 150 or less)
Somebody else have a go!
Thanks for your note about Citizen Directed Support.
First and as an aside, it’s nice to see the notion of citizen appearing more regularly now. One alternative is that we are ‘consumers’, which is sometimes illusory – since a lot of the stuff we are consuming is, in one degree or another, a choice that Hobson might have had access to. In the same vein, I also like the idea of mutually supportive groups, communities if you like. They offer a chance of individual expressions being beneficially amplified – often to the extent they become more than the sum of the parts.
As to your stab at a definition, I agree with it (save for a couple of minor changes) though for clarity it might benefit from unpicking into principles that we can say underpin the notion. They could be displayed something like this (still below the magic 100):
The five principles of Citizen Directed Support:
Individuals are supported to have control over the range of services they use, through a range of methods such as individual budgets or use led services.
They are equally helped to become part of mutually supportive communities which they have investment in and influence over.
Agencies deliver services to individuals achieving explicitly agreed individual outcomes.
They also actively support communities to build their capacity for collaboration and mutual assistance.
Explicit shared systems of communication exist between individuals, community groups and agencies to support collaborative decision making and local adaptation.
Beyond that, I’m interested in who might ultimately be responsible for orchestrating and maintaining the practice. I haven’t yet answered that to my satisfaction. If Citizen Directed Support were up and running in a locality, it maybe would have assumed a dynamic of its own (and that would have to be respected) but commissioners would perhaps still need to be the bankers of last resort.
By: Clive Scarlett on July 5, 2009
at 8:36 pm
Hello Clive
I like these 5 principles of Citizen Directed Support, it is very clear. Coordination is interesting I am looking at an approach called Locality building in partnership with Time Banks Wales at the moment and will report back at our next meeting. I think some of the coordination may also come in the ‘sustainable’ outcomes commissioning where there are also outcomes about collaborative behaviour from providers.
Rick
By: rickwilsontg on July 13, 2009
at 11:06 am
I’ve had a go at a definition of CDS. Here it goes:
Personalisation/Citizen Directed Support is putting the service users with their family and carer(s) back in the centre by self assessing or co-assessing holistically. It’s about the ethos that the individual/customer knows best, allowing/enabling people to shape and control their own services – thereby their life. It’s about putting more resources into prevention and reablement, making people part of their community and vice versa. Transparent allocation of resources to provide a full range of services, developing the marketplace, making choice real. Access and inclusion where citizens have equal rights and opportunities. It’s about supporting better health and social care outcomes by seeing images of possibilities by good support planning. Give staff and users guidelines permission to do it differently, not prescriptions.
By: Mariann on August 26, 2009
at 11:41 am
Great analysis. It’s the individual that counts and their primary choices I think its amazing that we have the opportunity to give back what was always theirs but forgotten and yes it will scare them possibly but with the great support from the professionals envolved this can only ultimately have a profound positive effect on our community and individually their lifestyle and future.
Proud to be apart of this
By: Wendy Henderson on June 18, 2010
at 10:14 am