Welfare Reform on the Web (December 2011): Social care - UK - community care

The evolution of assisted living provider services (ALPs) to support twenty-first century health, social care and housing needs

D. Miles and K. Doughty

Journal of Assistive Technologies, vol. 5, 2011, p. 140-145

Nottingham City Council, with support from the NHS, has extended its telecare service to offer a wide range of standalone electronic equipment, including many items that might otherwise be available only through a community equipment service. The upshot is that staff are able to offer more complete solutions following a single assessment visit, which result in more needs being met and better outcomes being achieved. The Nottingham model of assisted living provider services is proposed as an example of how home improvements, community equipment and telecare/health services may be integrated.

Individual budgets and adult safeguarding: parallel or converging tracks? Further findings from the evaluation of the Individual Budget pilots

J. Manthorpe and others

Journal of Social Work, vol.11, 2011, p. 422-438

The transformation of adult social care in England has several elements, one of which is the move to personal budgets which will allow users greater choice and control over their services. A forerunner of personal budgets, Individual Budgets, were piloted in 13 local authorities during 2005-2007 and evaluated by an independent research team. This article presents findings from the team's second round of interviews with adult safeguarding co-ordinators (ASCs) in the 13 pilot areas held early in 2008, which explored their engagement with social care transformation. ASCs are working at the intersection of simultaneous demands for greater choice and control and for greater user safety. The second round of interviews revealed greater engagement than previously with the personalisation agenda, but their detailed expertise in adult safeguarding and their local intelligence were not regularly accessed.