Personalisation and carers: the roles of carers in assessment, support planning and managing personal budgets

Researchers: Wendy Mitchell, Caroline Glendinning, Jenni Brooks

Funder: The National Institute for Health Research, School for Social Care Research

Duration: January 2011 to December 2012

Background

Personalised adult social care emphasises the aspirations and preferences of service users. Carers have also secured rights to assessments and support (DH, 2007, Putting People First). These developments have occurred largely separately and may overlook the close relationships between disabled and older people and the family/friends (informal carers) that support them. This study will examine how far current practice in social care recognises and balances the needs and interests of service users and informal carers; and how far this practice is consistent with what service users and carers actually want. Clarifying the role of carers within personalisation is particularly important for service users with communication and/or cognitive impairments who depend on carers to communicate their needs and wishes.

Aims

The study’s aims are to:

describe social care practice in relation to carers’ roles in the assessment, support planning and management of personal budgets
examine how far personalised assessment and support planning processes recognise and balance the respective needs and wishes of service users and informal carers
examine the respective views of service users with communication and/or cognitive impairments and their carers on the role that each wants carers to play in self-assessment and support planning processes.

Methods

The study has three stages:

Stage 1: a short online survey of all adult social care departments in two English regions. The questionnaire will explore how carers are involved in assessment, support planning and management of personalised support arrangements. Three departments will be selected for Stages 2 and 3.
Stage 2: across the three departments interviews with Personalisation and Carers’ leads will be conducted. Focus groups will also be held with front-line staff working with older people and people with learning disabilities. Personalisation and Carers’ lead interviews will examine local authority policies and practice guidance. Interviews with front line staff will focus on practitioners’ experiences of conducting personalised assessments, support planning and reviews with service users (with communication and/or cognitive impairments) and their carers’.
Stage 3: older people with dementia and young adults with learning disabilities (up to 25 years) with communication impairments and their informal carers will be recruited from the three departments. Individual interviews will be conducted with carers and service users. Verbal and symbol- based research methods will be used, as appropriate, with service users. Interviews will explore service user and carers’ own experiences and evaluations of personalised assessment, support planning and reviews.

Policy and practice aims

The study will identify the range of practice currently promoted and used by front-line staff. This practice will be compared with service user and informal carers’ own experiences. These insights will be used to inform guidance on assessment and support planning processes and management of personalised support arrangements that more accurately reflect both service users’ and carers’ wishes. The study generally seeks to explore the views of an often-overlooked group of service users, as well as those of their carers’.

Presentations

2012

Personalisation and carers: the role of carers in assessment, support planning and managing personal budgets workshop
Brooks, J. and Mitchell, W., Personalisation. Where are we at? Where are we going? Conference, University of Lincoln, Hull, 20 April 2012.

Personalisation and carers: the roles of carers in assessment, support planning and managing personal budgets
Mitchell, W., NIHR School for Social Care Research Personalisation Research Workshop, London School of Economics, London, 6 February 2012.

If you require further information about the project, please contact Wendy Mitchell