More needs to be done to fully implement self-directed support and realise its potential in supporting the transformation of social care delivery in Scotland.
That is the main finding of a report on self-directed support produced by the Care Inspectorate in partnership with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
Self-directed support puts people who experience care at the centre of the support planning process. It enables people, carers and families to make informed choices about what their social care support is and how it is delivered.
Inspectors considered the delivery of self-directed support in six health and social care partnerships across Scotland to evaluate how well they have embedded the principles and values of self-directed support to deliver better outcomes for people.
Inspectors noted: “We found there has been much progress in the implementation of self-directed support, with some partnerships demonstrating significant change in the delivery of social care under this agenda. Where self-directed support was well-implemented it offered a degree of flexibility, choice and control for people that was previously unavailable.
“Yet more needs to be done to fully implement self-directed support and realise its potential in supporting the transformation of social care delivery in Scotland.
“In most partnerships, we found good-quality services providing care and support to people. However, this was not always happening in a way that allowed for personalised approaches or that reflected a shift in choice and control from services to people.
“Partnerships needed to build on what they had already achieved to ensure a focus on personal outcomes was consistently at the heart of how services were planned and delivered.”
Peter Macleod, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “This overview report provides a summary of what we found across the partnerships we inspected and what that tells us about self-directed support in Scotland in general.
“In our analysis of the current challenges, we recognise that there are some issues that are bigger than any one partnership and will not be resolved by partnerships working alone. We present these issues here in this report as four topics for national debate involving interested parties from across Scotland.”
The report is available here: http://bit.ly/selfdirectedsupport