direct payments

Individual patient budgets: background and frequently asked questions (Policy paper 1)

Following Lord Darzi’s pledge to pilot direct payments and individual budgets in health care, this paper provides a brief background to the concept and principles of these ways of working, before focusing in more detail on some frequently asked questions.

The paper is intended to help inform forthcoming pilots, and was initially commissioned by NHS West Midlands as part of their Investing for Health strategy.

Self-directed support (Direct payments), Scotland, 2010

This statistics release presents the latest figures for self-directed support (direct payments). The figures apply to payments made during the period 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010 under section 12B of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. People who receive self-directed support (direct payments) are able to purchase and manage for themselves some or all of the care they have been assessed as needing. They are one way of increasing the flexibility, choice, and control people have over the care they receive, so that they can live more independently in their communities.

Personalisation and citizenship: issues and perspectives

Kirstein Rummery, Chair of the Social Policy at the University of Stirling, speaks about personalisation and some of the issues involved. The talk was delivered at the Personalisation and Community Capacity, a joint seminar and workshop by the Perth and Kinross Council and University of Stirling Partnership. It was held at the University of Stirling on 4 December 2009.

Supporting older families : making a real difference

This resource is a practical tool for learning disability partnership boards and others working to support older family carers and their relative with a learning disability – referred to here as older families – to bring about positive changes in their lives. It should enable boards to measure what they are doing, how well they are doing it and to decide what they need to do next.

Will community-based support services make direct payments a viable option for black and minority ethnic service users and carers? (Race equality discussion paper 1)

Discussion paper addressing the question of whether community-based services can deliver better results for black and minority ethnic (BME) service users by explaining the latest direct payments legislation and how it is supposed to work, summarising research evidence which indicates an inability of BME service users to embrace direct payments fully and asks questions which could make direct payments more effective for BME service users.

At your service : navigating the future market in health and social care

Paper examining the ways in which personal budgets will affect the social and health care market. It considers what prospective budget holders know and think about personal budgets, how they would spend it and what difficulties they foresee. It also suggests the likely challenges local authorities and other providers will face in delivering the personalisation agenda and makes recommendations on how to make the transition successfully.

Assessment for care and support in England

The Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading care and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers. They produce information and advice sheets to support those affected by dementia. This information sheet explains that if a person is confused or has dementia and needs support, their local authority social services department should carry out a community care assessment. If this assessment shows that the person needs certain services, the local authority has a duty to ensure that these services are provided.

All in a day's work

'All in a day's work' is suitable as a summative assessment on practising social work law. This learning object will: help users to reflect on what approach, or combination of strategies, they adopt to being a social work law practitioner and will enable users to undertake an assessment of their social work law knowledge. 'All in a day's work' presents a series of tricky situations.