Personalisation Information Pack A step by step guide to accessing health and social care support Accessing health and social care support can seem complicated. It can be difficult to know which route you need to take in order to get the services that you need. This leaflet has been designed to help guide you along this journey and explain the process of accessing personalised support. There are 9 steps along the way. Each of these steps is illustrated on the road map on pages 2 and 3 of this leaflet. Simply follow the road map and, step by step, the process of accessing health and social care support will be explained. This pack doesn t aim to explain everything in detail. If you have any questions or concerns about the journey ahead of you, simply talk to your worker who will be happy to help.
Your step by step journey Step 1: Introduction Your journey starts by understanding what is meant by terms such as personalisation and personal budgets. See page 4 for Step 2: Assessment Your needs will be assessed by a health or social care worker. This assessment will be used to set your personal budget. See page 4 for Planning your support Step 4a: Writing your own plan You can choose to write your own support plan with help from family and friends. There is a guide available to help you to do this. See page 6 for Step 3: Planning your support You need a plan which outlines how you will use your personal budget to meet your health and social care needs. See page 5 for more Step 4b: Brokerage You can get help from a broker to write a support plan and find support that will help you to meet your needs. See page 6 for more Receiving support Brokerage Step 7: Organising support When your plan has been agreed you will be able to organise the support you need. There is help available to do this. See page 7 for Step 9: Review Your support will be reviewed regularly to make sure it is working and is still right for you. See page 7 for Step 8: Receiving support You should now have begun to receive your support services. See page 7 for Step 6: Getting your plan agreed Once your plan is complete it will be checked to make sure it meets your needs. See page 7 for more Step 5: Managing the money Support, advice and services are available to help you manage your personal budget. See page 6 for 2 3
Step 1: Introduction Your journey starts by understanding what is meant by terms such as personalisation and personal budgets. What is personalisation? Personalisation is a new way of delivering health and social care services. It aims to give people more choice and control over how their care needs are met. What is a personal budget? A personal budget is an amount of money allocated to you by Nottingham City Council and/or NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group. A personal budget makes it clear to you how much money is available for your care and support. You will be able to discuss and agree the best way to spend this money to meet your health and social care needs. This gives you more choice and control over the support you get. Why use a personal budget? Personal budgets help you to get the best out of the services that you receive. This is because you are in control and can decide how your health and/or social care needs are met in a way that makes sense to you. Who can have a personal budget? Personal budgets are available to many people who are eligible to receive help from Nottingham City Council and/or NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group. An assessment will determine whether you are eligible for support or not. Step 3: Planning your support Once you know how much money your personal budget provides, you will be able to plan how to spend the budget to meet your health and social care needs. This is called a support plan. A support plan is a description of how you want to live your life and how you are going to use your personal budget to meet your needs and achieve your goals. It should describe: What you would like to achieve What things you would like to change or keep the same What support you need to stay healthy and safe How you will spend your budget. You will only need to write one support plan detailing how your health and/or social care needs will be met. You can either write the plan yourself or get some help from a broker (see steps 4a and 4b for details). Your budget can be spent on a variety of things to help you meet your health and social care needs. For example, you might want to spend your budget on: A personal assistant Services from a care agency or support organisation Equipment to help you live more independently Leisure activities to keep you fit and healthy Transport to get you out and about. There are, however, some things that a personal budget cannot be used for. See Step 6: Getting your plan agreed on page 7. Step 2: Assessment A health or social care professional will assess your needs before you are offered a personal budget. This assessment will look at: Your eligibility for support Your health and/or social care needs Things that you need help with You may have more than one assessment. The person doing the assessment should explain the purpose of each assessment to you. The result of your assessment (or assessments) will then be used to calculate your personal budget. If you are an adult and receive a personal budget for your social care you may be asked to make a financial contribution. Dave s story I was born in Nottingham in 1962 and have lived in Nottingham all my life. I lived an active life until December 2001 when a cancerous growth in my spine caused vertebrae to collapse leaving me paralysed from the chest down. I spent nearly 19 months being treated and rehabilitated in the City Hospital. When I was ready to return to life in the community, a social worker introduced me to Personal Budgets. I was allocated a set amount of money and together we worked out a plan showing how I wanted to live my life and the things I wanted to do in the future. I was told that I could use this money to employ my own carers, whose working hours would fit around the times I needed them. I used my personal budget to train my personal assistants to support me with my health needs. The District Nurse now only visits once a week to check everything is ok. This allows me to have my dressings done at a time and place convenient for me. It allows me to have a shower in the evening and a lie in on a Sunday. My Personal Budget enables me to organise my care flexibly, giving me the opportunity to participate in everything that life offers. 4 5
Step 4a: Writing your own plan You can choose to write your own support plan with help from family and friends. The support plan can be in whatever format you choose. Please talk to your worker about how you would like to write your support plan. They can give you a guide to help you. Step 4b: Brokerage You can get help from a broker to write a support plan. A broker can be a carer, volunteer or a trained professional who will help you to write a support plan. The broker will help you to put your plan into action. A broker can help you by: Finding out what is available locally for you to spend your personal budget on Putting you in touch with support in your local community such as local clubs and groups or suitable people to provide your personal care and support Helping you if you would like to employ personal assistants Giving technical advice to help you get the most out of your personal budget Please talk to your worker about how you would like to write your support plan. Step 5: Managing the money Once you have written your support plan you will need to decide how you want to manage your personal budget. There are several options available and you can decide which option is the best for you. Step 6: Getting your plan agreed There are some things that a personal budget cannot be used for. Your plan will not be agreed if it contains any of the following: Anything that is illegal Day to day living costs Alcohol Cigarettes Gambling Debt repayment Costs that should be met by another funding source or statutory body Anything that you are already receiving benefits for Anything that is against specific professional advice Anything that has been proven not to work Anything that has been turned down by an NHS exceptions committee Anything that is considered unreasonable or that could bring Nottingham City Council or NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group into disrepute Your support plan will need to be agreed by your worker and other professionals. If your plan is not agreed you should be told why and asked to make some changes. You can talk to your worker about the changes that you may need to make. POCKET HERE Direct Payment the money is given directly to you for you to buy the services that you need. You have to show what you have spent it on but you buy and manage the services yourself. There are a number of support services that can help you use direct payments and buy services. For more information about these services please ask your worker. Commissioned Services Nottingham City Council and/or NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group will set up the services you ask for on your behalf and will arrange to pay for your support. This option can only be used for services that Nottingham City Council or NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group has a contract with (a broker or social worker can give you a list of these services). Notional budget (health money only) NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group will hold the budget and buy services chosen by you on your behalf. It is not possible to employ personal assistants using a notional budget. Budget held by a third party a different organisation or trust can hold the money for you. The trust can then help you decide what you need and help you buy the services that you have chosen. You can speak to your worker to find out more about each of the options above and decide which one is right for you. Step 7: Organising support Once your plan has been agreed you will be able to organise the services and support you need. Your worker will be able to give you advice about how to do this. Step 8: Receiving support By this stage you should have begun to receive your support services. Every time you use these services you should consider whether they still meet your needs and expectations or whether you would like to make any changes. If you have any problems or questions please speak to your worker. Step 9: Review Your support plan will be reviewed after it has been put in place to check how things are going and how you are spending the money. You can ask for a review at any time if your support is not working, or if you want to make a change. 6 7
Pete s story Pete is 19 years old and has fragile diabetes, autism and a high level of learning needs. Pete has always required lots of support to keep healthy and when he wanted to go to college at 17, he couldn t get a place unless he had someone with him at all times. Pete didn t want to go to a residential college so instead he and his mum worked with the local Transition team to put together a combined Personal Health Budget and Personal Budget, made up of money from health and social care. Focusing on Pete s needs, they developed a detailed plan involving the kinds of activities and support required during the week and also identified what kind of person would be best suited to support him. The budget they agreed is managed by a direct payment support service that has also supported Pete and his mum in recruiting the personal assistants employed to support him; they organise payment of these workers and calculate the tax to be paid so his mum doesn t need to worry about that. Pete now employs three male personal assistants to support him for over 30 hours per week. They are all trained to give injections and to read Pete s blood-sugar levels. One of them takes him out on the weekends, another attends college with him and the third supports him to go out and do things that other young people do, such as shopping and visiting his sister and her family. It means that his mother is now able to establish a life for herself and is able to work more hours. Altogether it has meant that Pete and his family have more freedom, choice and control over their lives. Find out more To find out more about personal budgets contact the worker who helps you most often with your support. Websites: www.mynottingham.gov.uk www.nottinghamcity.nhs.uk www.personalhealthbudgets.dh.gov.uk www.in-control.org.uk Nottingham City Council NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group Department of Health In Control If you require this information in an alternative language, large font, Braille, audio tape or text only version, please call 0115 883 9474 or email phb.team@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk 43833 DES