Care Services Minister gives big push for personalised care

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow has sent out a strong message to councils that the much-discussed idea of personalised care needs to now be put into practice.

Speaking at the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’ (ADASS) Spring Seminar, Mr Burstow emphasised the need for joint working across the health and social care sector. He also identified six sites across the UK which had been selected as pilot sites for new scheme, Social Work Practices for adult social care.

The Social Work Practice is designed to give frontline social care workers more flexibility in the way that they work with the people whom they support. It will enable them to work with service users and their carers to improve outcomes. The pilots are expected to start in the summer and run for two years.

Mr Burstow explained: "Our plans will free up frontline social workers to do what they do best: help people maintain their independence. This shift in power will give people greater control over their care and support."

The pilots are to be led by social workers but be independent of local authorities. The scheme is supported by over £1 million of funding from the Department of Health and will be overseen by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

The main aim of the Social Work Practices scheme is to reduce bureaucracy and enable social workers to carry out their role effectively and allow them more freedom to spend time with people in their care. It is hoped that this will improve the lives of those receiving care and support as they will be given increased stability and greater continuity in their care.

The new system will also allow social workers to provide a more responsive service as they will have more control of the daily management of their services. It will also enable them to build stronger links across local communities and contribute towards a more joined-up approach between health and social care. Overall, job satisfaction among social workers is expected to increase as staff feel more empowered and valued.

First Response Training can offer a number of related courses suitable for those working in health and social care. Their care sector training courses have been carefully developed and mapped to meet the Common Induction Standards and Care Quality Commission (CQC) requirements. Courses also link to the new Diploma in Health and Social Care (Level 2).

Julie Crowther, Associate Director of Quality and Curriculum at First Response, says: "Our product development is driven by changes in the field, updates in legislation and customer demand. We are focused on providing the very best health and social care training courses in the subjects that are important for health and social care workers.

"We can offer training in subjects such as Person-Centred Care, Positive Communication, Lone Working and Personal Safety, Principles of Good Record-Keeping and Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults, to name just a few. These courses are linked to the QCF framework and are very important as the sector undergoes major changes and personalised care finally becomes a reality."

For more information on any of their care sector training courses, call First Response today on 0800 310 2300.