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Social care and independent living
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What is social care?
If you are experiencing a mental health problem, clinical treatment is not the only source of help. Social care, provided by social services or joint social and health care services, can make a great difference to the impact of mental distress.
Mental health service users receive the smallest share of available social services and are too often only offered medical help. But mental distress has social and economic consequences, impacting family life and making it difficult to engage with work, education and social activities.
To prevent mental ill health and avert crises, social care and support can:
- provide personal support in the home or help to access a range of social, cultural and training activities, exercise and respite
- support families by providing back-up help when parents can't cope
- help rebuild independent life in the community after a hospital stay.
For more information on social care:
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The future of funding for social care in England
The Government is running a consultation throughout 2008 about the future of funding for social care in England. They want to know what a quality social care service would look like and how society should pay for it. They want to know what the state should take responsibility for, and what individuals and their families should be responsible for.
Mind is working to achieve a fair deal for people with mental distress of all ages, in whatever proposals the Government draws up. We recently ran a survey on people’s experiences and views of these developments, and are currently processing the evidence it generated. If you missed the survey but wish to tell us about your experiences or views, we would still like to hear them. Please email Anna Bird at a.bird@mind.org.uk.
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Access to care services
In May 2008, Mind responded to the Commission for Social Care Inspection’s (CSCI)review of the eligibility criteria for social care services, known as Fair Access to Care Services (FACS). We highlighted inequalities in access to care services and we raised concerns around the high threshold for eligibility that stops people receiving care and support at an early stage to prevent their problems worsening. In most local authorities, a person’s need has to reach a “substantial” or “critical” level before they qualify for care, meaning that acute care is emphasised over recovery or prevention.
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Complaints procedures in health and social care
Mind has been working to improve complaints procedures for users of health and social care services. In 2007 the Department of Health ran a consultation on reforming complaints procedures. An effective system of handling complaints is essential for mental health service users, but they are often deterred or intimidated by service providers. There is a lot of local variability in how well complaints are handled, so we recommended that a national regulator should have powers to investigate, and there should be independent, third-party reporting schemes.
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Personalisation of care services: individual budgets and direct payments
In December 2007 a number of Government bodies agreed to a three-year transformation of social care by personalising services. The aim is to promote independent living, with service users taking control of their own needs assessments, deciding what they want from services (in consultation with their careworkers), and managing their care budgets and care packages. More people will be given direct payments to purchase services themselves.
Individual budgets, where individuals are given a sum of money with which to design a care and support package that best suits their particular needs, were piloted in 13 areas of England in 2007. Lessons from these pilots will inform the nation-wide ‘transformation’ in coming years.
Mind supports the principles behind independent living and sees personalisation as positive and empowering, so long as adequate support is provided where it is required and good quality services are available to make choice meaningful. However, Mind has serious concerns about the shortage of money for social care and eligibility criteria being restricted so that only people with “critical” or “substantial” needs can access social care services. (See Access to care services for more details.)
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Independent living – Our Lives, Our Choices
Mind is a member of the Our Lives, Our Choices campaign coalition. This campaign aims for the Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill to be passed through Parliament. Even though the Bill has not yet been passed, the campaign has achieved a number of successes to date. These include:
- Raising the profile of the “portability” problem, where people moving from one place to another may find they are not entitled to the same care package in their new local authority. This has been acknowledged as a key Government concern in the upcoming care and support reforms.
- Closing a loophole in human rights law whereby people in residential care funded by local authorities but provided by private companies, were not covered by the Human Rights Act.
- Giving consideartion in the current Housing Bill to the needs of disabled people in the definition of "good design".
- The Government's Office for Disability Issues's launch of its five-year Independent Living Strategy in 2008, which aims to bring choice and control to disabled people.
Visit the National Centre for Independent Living website for more information about the Independent Living Bill and the Our Lives, Our Choices campaign.
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