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The UK Department of Health has today announced
the launch of 11
new pilot schemes to explore self-assessment for people with
long-term needs.
People with long term health and social care needs will be able to
assess their own support needs and apply directly for services to help
them, thanks to 11 new pilots announced by Care Services Minister Ivan
Lewis today.
The ground-breaking new projects will explore the scope for enabling
people to self assess their need for support from a range of services,
such as equipment, home care, standard housing adaptations and low-level
preventative services.
This could, for example, involve using the internet, or approaching
a third sector organisation for help with filling in an online form.
The outcome of an assessment could be receiving reliable information
about equipment and services, or result in them receiving a piece of
equipment directly, rather than being assessed by social services.
Announcing the pilots Ivan Lewis said:
" In our joint health and
social care white paper we promised to put people in control of their
care and deliver services closer to home. These pilots will help us
do just that - which is why I'm delighted to announce they will receive £850,000
of funding.
_ Self assessment has the potential
to give patients and service users much greater control over their
care and faster, easier access
to services. This is central to our vision for the future of health
and social care."
Precise arrangements vary, but local partnerships will be led by social
services departments and include joint working with a range of partners,
such as primary care trusts, other local government departments and
voluntary sector organisations.
The successful councils are:
- London Borough of Barnet
- Birmingham City Council
- Bristol City Council
- Croydon Council
- Derby City Council
- East Riding of Yorkshire County Council
- London Borough of Hammersmith
and Fulham
- Kingston Upon Hull City Council
- Royal Borough of Kingston Upon
Thames
- Nottinghamshire County Council
- St. Helens Metropolitan Borough
Council
Some pilots involve a focus on people arranging their own care, as
well as those in receipt of formal health and social care. There is
also a focus, in a number of pilots, on groups in the community whose
needs can be difficult to meet, including minority ethnic groups, carers
and people living in rural areas.
In all cases, self-assessment will be introduced as an additional
point of access for local services, rather than a replacement for traditional
ways of accessing services.
The pilots will launch in October 2006 and run until 30 September
2007.
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those of IvyRose Ltd.. Material in this news item was released
by the UK Department of Health on 4 August 2006 and may have
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