Terminology
A glossary of useful terms relating to personalisation
Co-production
Co-production has been recognised as a fundamental building block across all areas of public service. The Department of Health has worked together with people who use services and carers, to produce a definition of co-production:
"Co-production is when you as an individual influence the support and services you receive, or when groups of people get together to influence the way that services are designed, commissioned and delivered."
Direct Payment
A direct payment is a means-tested cash payment made in the place of regular social service provision to an individual who has been assessed as needing support. Following a financial assessment, those eligible can choose to take a direct payment and arrange for their own support instead. A direct payment is one way of taking a personal budget.
A health care direct payment
Direct payments for health care are monetary payments made by the NHS to individuals to allow them to purchase the care they need. They are one mechanism for delivering personal health budgets, and are one of a number of tools for making the National Health Service more personalised and patient centred. At this stage, direct payments for health care, and personal health budgets more widely, are still at a very early stage of development.
Personal Assistants (PA)
A Personal Assistant (PA) is a person employed to support someone in a way that is right for them. Using their personal budget or personal health budget, a person can employ a PA to provide support with things such as: cooking, cleaning, help with personal care, driving or help with getting around, clinical tasks, shopping, banking or paying bills.
Personal budget
A personal budget is money, which is allocated to someone by a local authority to pay for their assessed support or care needs. Key to the personal budget approach is giving clear, early understanding of the amount available to the individual, so that they can influence or control how it is spent; in a way which helps them best meet their needs.
Personal Health Budget
A personal health budget is an amount of money to support a person’s identified health and well being needs, planned and agreed between the individual and their local NHS team. Personal health budgets allow people to have more choice, flexibility and control over the health services and care they receive. At the heart of a personal health budget is a care plan, the agreement between the healthcare professional and the individual that sets out the person’s health needs, the amount of money available to meet those needs and how this money will be spent.
Personal health budgets are being tested in some areas of England, and health care direct payments are only available within the pilot programme.
Self-Directed Support
This is the term used when people who require support choose and direct their own care and support. It includes any or all of the following features:
- assessment is led by the person and focuses on the outcomes that they and their family want to achieve
- the person knows the amount of money that is likely to be available to achieve these outcomes before they decide how to use the money
- there is advice and support available to help people plan support arrangements that will achieve the agreed outcomes, and to raise concerns about those arrangements should they not work well
- support arrangements make the most of natural support and mainstream services.
Social Capital
Social capital is the shared values and sense of belonging that people have as part of their network, group or community. It has been described as, 'the glue that holds individuals together as a community’.
Think Local Act Personal uses the term, 'social capital', to describe a broad range of approaches that sustain strong, supportive communities and grow and release people's confidence, resilience and assets.
Reference
- Department of Health 2010 Practical approaches to co-production:
http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/PPF/NCAS/Practical_approaches_to_co-production_12_November_2010_v3_ACC.pdf - R Muir, H Khan (Eds) (2006) 'Sticking together: Social capital and local government. The results and implications of the Camden social capital surveys 2002 and 2005'. ippr and London Borough of Camden, p.6.
- http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/Resources/Personalisation/TLAP/THINK_LOCAL_ACT_PERSONAL_5_4_11.pdf
