10th September 2015

Think Local Act Personal Partnership Reports and Products

The Think Local Act Partnership has launched several new reports and products today and earlier this month:

Getting Better Outcomes for Older People using personal budgets

http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/News/Perso...

This report collates research from across the sector to show that older people do experience positive benefits from having a personal budget, although these are not as marked as for other groups. It draws on TLAP’s recent work to highlight what does and doesn't work well for older people using personal budgets, recommends what can be done to improve practice and includes case studies from councils across England that are working to improve personal budget delivery. Better process for accessing and using personal budgets is strongly associated with better outcomes for people, so the report recommends that anything councils can do to improve their personal budgets processes is likely to be of benefit to older people. It follows on from earlier work by TLAP and ADASS in 2013 on reviewing progress with personal budgets for older people.

Getting the sums right - How to sustainably finance personal health budgets

http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/News/PersonalisationNewsItem/?cid=10546

This is a new briefing paper published by the NHS Confederation today in partnership with Think Local Act Personal following a workshop we held last November. This is part of our ongoing work on coordinated care and integrating health and social care at the individual level through personal budgets. The briefing includes case studies from organisations which have already introduced personal health budgets and sets out how organisations can address financial challenges when implementing them. It also covers identifying and allocating funds for personal health budgets from existing budgets and managing the risk of paying to run two services at the same time. It includes recommendations for care purchasers such as clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and service providers such as mental health and community service organisations.

Joining up health and social care personal budgets

http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Latest/Resource/?cid=10544

This joint briefing published by the NHS Confederation is intended for commissioners and providers who are considering, or already leading, local deployment of personal budgets in health. It is also of relevance to leaders and managers who are considering how to join up personal budgets in health with personal budgets in social care. This follows a workshop on the same issue TLAP hosted with NHS Confed and the Kings Fund last year.

The impact of market dynamics on workforce metrics in homecare

http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/News/PersonalisationNewsItem/?cid=10537

TLAP’s National Market Development Forum commissioned Skills for Care to research with homecare providers the impact of contract arrangements on workforce measures like vacancies, turnover, sickness and pay rates. This information was considered alongside Skills for Care workforce metrics collected through the National Minimum Dataset for Social Care. The research covered homecare providers' contract arrangements including contracted hours, fees and delivery; hourly rates of pay; and prevalent management cultures around practice, training and development.

Map of Quality Initiatives

http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/Browse/Quality/Quality-Initiatives-Map/

This is an online “map” to help providers of adult social care navigate the complex quality system. It identifies the organisations responsible for policy, setting quality standards and guidance, along with key frameworks and initiatives that providers need to know about. The map will evolve over time as new organisations or initiatives are added when appropriate. This work follows on earlier work by the National Market Development Forum on the Driving Up Quality briefings.