With spring in the air and thoughts now starting to stray towards the long summer nights and been able to stray from the cosy fireside to the garden and planting new seeds, though this is Scotland so with the recommend wellies and waterproofs in tow. I can’t help but wonder if I’m choosing the right seeds to sow, should I start from scratch with the seeds or should I just go to the shop and buy any plants I can find? Who do I go to for information and advice, as a total novice at gardening there is more chance of me going to the local bakers and asking for gardening sheers than going to the local garden centre? Why does this even matter I hear you ask, well for service users this is very much the point, they need to have someone who they can have a good quality conversation with to help them understand the very detailed process of accessing social care.
We are a disabled people’s organisation in Fife who are offering this service, with the approach very much centred on the person and their families/carers and helping them to understand self-directed support (SDS). This gives them the confidence that when they see a social worker for an SDS assessment they know what they are talking about, what to highlight and what to expect. Very much like myself I have the seeds and the knowledge and now the confidence to sow them.
An example of this was I was working with a lady who had a risk of falls and has dementia but wants to stay in her own home. I met with her and her daughter to have a conversation to find out what she wanted in terms of help, what her needs were and how she wanted to receive her support, this meant her daughter was able to liaise with social work to get in the care she needs because she had the confidence to put across her mum’s choices over her support. This really shows the value of what a small thing like having a good quality conversation can have on individuals and asking them what they want and what matters to them.
However, what happens when you bought the wrong seeds, you have a hole in your wellie and it just seems to be constantly pouring with rain, we are in Scotland after all. There is still hope of that seed coming through the surface with the right support and May does seem to be the month of sun breaking through those dreary days and flowers coming into bloom.
Another service we provide is assisting people at meetings with social work where communication has broken down. A person who I supported on such an issue is bedbound and receives 3 hours support a day in the evening but needs more help. Unfortunately communication had completely broken down between her and her social worker so she was reluctant to see her social worker again. I went to visit her to have a conversation to find out more about what help she needed, what her personal assistants were doing when they came out, what extra help would benefit her and how much time she needed to do different personal care tasks.
From this visit I then arranged a joint visit with social work to support her to communicate with her social worker. Both were firm about their views which made it hard for each to understand where the other was coming from. Previous requests for extra support were turned down but we managed to agree that if her PA kept a record of how long it took to do each of the tasks during their 3 hour visit for 4 weeks. If all the time was taken up on personal care tasks only then would her social worker have evidence to take to her manager to request extra hours so that a visit earlier could happen for someone to come and help her with lunch and any personal care tasks needed. Without my involvement it is unlikely that things would have moved forward.
Thinking of different ways to evidence the need for care and having good conversations makes all the difference. Also having someone to explain that the social worker is hearing how bad things are but that they can’t make a case for extra care without evidence to prove it’s needed, that decisions are made higher up and funding is stretched. Communication is key and it has to be in a way that the person you’re working with understands so re-wording jargon and explaining things in a different way makes a huge difference.
Very much like my gardening skills if they are encouraged, given the right support and confidence and the opportunity to flourish the outcome can be a garden full of roses.
More information
For further information on Disabled Peoples Housing Service (Fife) Self Directed Support Options Project, please get in touch via:
- Website – www.sdsoptionsfife.org.uk
- Telephone – 01592 803 280
- Twitter – @SDSOptions
- Email – enquiries.sds@dphsfife.org.uk
~ Claire Chue Hong, Disabled Peoples Housing Service Fife (DPHS)