On the 10th December 2010, in the Cannock District Council Ballroom, we held a listening event where we linked service users, carers and third sector providers with members of the Staffordshire County Health & Social Care team to discuss the type of support that people will need if they are to be truly empowered by the personalisation agenda.

Attended by over 40 people, in groups of 8, attendees discussed various questions to identify the key issues that needed to be resolved.

A summary of the feedback was as follows:

When asked about support needed to manage Direct Payments the key message was that users and potential users find the paperwork daunting.  One lady who took a Direct Payment so she could access something other than meals on wheels was forced to go back to meals on wheels because the process was just too complicated.  A carer stated that it takes time and mental capacity to manage a direct payment and many carers were simply too occupied in their caring capacity to take on any additional responsibilities.

Many people were unclear about what Direct Payments could be used for so greater information was needed.

Peer support was discussed; attendees raised issues around legal issues, particularly around the quality of advice given; others expressed interest in setting up peer support groups but didn’t know where to go for support or funding.  A group set up in Tamworth, Mercian Ability Partnership, uses peer support and self advocacy to enable and support disabled people to enable other disabled people.  Again there was a lack of knowledge as to how to find out what was already out there.

The role of brokers in the personalisation agenda led to concerns that there were not the services currently available for the brokers to be advising on.  Giving good advice to a person with fluctuating health needs was also seen as a challenge.  Again the promotion and accessibility of the broker role was seen as crucial.

Broad discussions took place around the range of services that should be available with a Personal Budget / Direct payment.  Many mentioned support to help service users / carers access the normal day to day activities that many of us take for granted.  Others said that transport was an issue and others said that they did not always want people to do things for them, e.g. gardening, but just to be there in case something went wrong.

The final discussion was around Staffordshire Cares, the brand name for Adult Services in Staffordshire.  The rebranding will be supported by one single telephone number to access all services, together with a range of manned and unmanned information points across the county along with a Staffordshire Directory of Services.  Comments included the use of day care centres as hubs to distribute information and to be able to share experiences of services.  The capture of user feedback was also seen as a useful way of measuring and informing potential clients of the kind and quality of services available from different providers.  The use of leaflets alone was seen as being insufficient, as was the reliance on information technology.  Issues with the housebound and those in rural communities was highlighted and the use of agencies to visit these clients was seen as a way of ensuring that they are  kept informed.

A final concern was the importance of keeping information on the data-base up to date.

A full list of all responses can be found on the attached appendix (click here to view). 

Information from the event will be shared with the personalisation team of Staffordshire County Council and will be used to help inform their development of this agenda.