Self-directed support implementation plan 2019-2021: easy read version

Self-Directed Support Implementation Plan 2019-21: Easy Read

This is an Easy Read version of the Self-Directed Support Implementation Plan for 2019 to 2021.

This is a plan of what is going to be done to make self-directed support work better.

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman and the CoSLA representative, Councillor Stuart Currie have said that being able to make decisions about your social care support is very important.

CoSLA is the organisation that represents Councils.

Self-directed support is how social care support should work in Scotland. It means people should have a say in what their support looks like, and they can make all the decisions about it if they want to.

Self-directed support is for people of all ages and includes unpaid carers.

Self-directed support should give people who use it the freedom to choose the kind of social care support that will give them dignity, and control over their lives.

It has been available since 2013 when the law was changed to make sure people using support could make decisions about it.

Since 2011 for 10 years there has been a plan for Self-directed support across Scotland.

A lot has been learned from speaking to people who use support and people who work in social care support.

This plan expects workers who support people to work as a team to offer the best support.

Improving self-directed support is one of the changes that is being made for all adult social care support.

These changes have been led by the People-led Policy Panel. This is a group of people who need or use adult social care support, as supported people and unpaid carers.

This group have worked with the Scottish Government and CoSLA, as well as people who work in social care support.

This document has a Change Map in it.

A Change Map tells you what changes need to happen to make sure that everyone gets the right support and can make decisions about it.

This would be:

• from when you first contact Social Work.

• to your first assessment.

• or getting advice if you don't get the support that you expected to get.

The Change Map has 4 parts to it:

Involvement

This means that the views of supported people, unpaid carers, and workers who work in social care support are used to make social care support better.

If it works better people will have their Outcomes met.

Leaders and Systems

The people who make decisions about money, employing workers and the systems that they manage make it easy for you to make decisions about your social care support.

This will include:

• Councils and the NHS planning to make social care support work well.

• Communities and people with social care needs, help decide how support is planned, bought and checked on to make sure that support is working well.

• Communities and people who use social care support are able to create and run services in the community.

• Decision making systems are created that make social care support more flexible and work better for the person who needs support.

• How services are created and paid for is more flexible to make social care support work better for the person who needs it.

• How to check that services are working well. The services should be flexible and be based on a person's outcomes

• Workers who work in all the organisations that provide support, work well together.

Workforce

This means that the workers who work in social care support help and support people to have all the right information so they can make the best choices about their social care support.

And all the workers have the right skills, values, confidence and ways of working.

Workers who provide social care support in any organisation are trained well and given good information to be able to help people to make decisions about their social care support.

• Workers ask the right questions so people get the outcomes that are important to them.

• Workers think about what things people are good at and try and remove any barriers that may stop them reaching their outcomes.

• Workers who work directly with people who use support have enough power to make simple decisions without needing to get permission from their boss first.

People

People have choice and control over their lives.

• Workers and people listen to each other. Listening helps everyone to learn what matters and helps everyone learn what support people need.

• People get good information and advice about support. This helps people know more about the choices they can make.

• People are able to make their own choices about how they live their life.

• People have the right to access good quality independent support, if they feel it is required.

• People are helped to find out what's going on in their community.

• Everyone is supported to be part of their community and to spend time with people important to them if this is what they want to do.

• People know how much money they will get for their support.

• People know about the support and care available to them.

• People and their family and friends are able to be creative when making decisions about their support.

• People agree with their worker about how to use their money.

• Everyone understands how and why decisions about the money and support are made.

Other organisations will make changes to what they do to make self-directed support better, like the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate is responsible for checking that organisations that provide social care support are doing it well and listening to the people who use support.

Other organisations will continue enabling people who use social care support to be involved in changing it for the better nationally.

As the changes to create better social care support are made, systems will be added which check how well social care support is working for the people who need support and the workers who provide the services.

Made with Photosymbols and some words by People First Scotland by Inclusion Scotland.