You or Your Loved One
Self-Directed Care & Support for You or Your Loved One
The last ten years have seen a big shift in how people access care and support. The concepts of personalised care and choice & control are increasingly at the centre of how local authorities and NHS organisations think about care and support.
In it’s simplest form, this can be about making sure that you have access to information, advice and guidance that is specific to you and what matters to you. The wider community has a huge part to play, and you should be able to find free and paid-for options locally.
Self-directed care & support models encourage people to reflect on what is working well and what matters to them. As part of this, you might assess your own strengths and support needs, consider how these could be met and make your own plans.
In its fullest form, self-directed care & support enables you to manage your own pot of funding and arrange the care and support that matters to you. This is sometimes called a ‘direct payment’, ‘a personal budget’ or a ‘personal health budget’. This is truly empowering and can be life-changing as it is an alternative to traditional models involving institutional care and support, care homes or home care agencies arranged for you by the council or the NHS.
What we do
Since 2008, we have been working with local authorities and their citizens to design, build and operate user-friendly websites and apps that can be used by you to find information so you can start your self-directed care & support journey. You can see whether we operate in your area here.
We have developed number of online tools that you can use to continue your self-directed care & support journey. These include self-service tools that make it easier to get in touch with your local authority, work out what your options are and to plan your support. We also operate directories and marketplace tools to enable you to connect with local groups & activities and find the personal assistant or care provider that is right for you.
Having studied the challenges that people face with ongoing management of a direct payment or personal budget, we developed a Virtual Wallet solution that makes it easy for you to arrange and manage your own care & support. Go to My Virtual Wallet to read more.
Did you know?
Although there are subtle differences, the terminology ‘direct payment’, ‘personal budget’ and ‘personal health budget’ all mean broadly the same thing.
Resources
Examples of some of our tools:-
- Leeds Directory - a directory of local activities and providers (opens in a new window).
- Live Well York - an information, advice and guidance site (opens in a new window).
- Bolton PA Web - helping individuals and personal assistants connect (opens in a new window).
- Greater Manchester Personal Assistants - information about employing a personal assistant (opens in a new window).
- Powys Virtual Wallet - information about direct payments in Powys (opens in a new window).
- Cheshire Virtual Wallet - information about personal health budgets in Cheshire CCG (opens in a new window).
- Managing your own self-directed care & support budget - our video about the benefits (opens in a new window).
- My Virtual Wallet (opens in a new window) - the landing page for people who are interested in, or already have, a Virtual Wallet account.
Recommended External Reading
- In-Control – a national charity focussed on self-directed care & support (opens in a new window).
- NHS information about Personal Health Budgets (opens in a new window).
- NHS England Video about Personal Health Budgets (opens in a new window) - a short video explaining personal health budgets.
- NHS England Video about PHBs in Continuing Healthcare (opens in a new window) - a video explaining personal health budgets in relation to continuing healthcare.
- Shared stories from other PHB holders (opens in a new window).