Personalisation – making it happen: the social worker’s perspective
This video looks at the work of a personal budget team in Hull. It shows how the team works with people who use services to provide personalised care, focusing on one family where a mother is having difficulty coping with one of her adult sons who has learning disabilities. The opportunity to spend time at a garden centre transforms the life of her son, but also gives his mother a much-needed break. Without personalisation, this solution would not have been possible and the family would have been reliant on traditional services. Social workers from the team talk about their new ways of working and about the benefits it brings to both them and the people who use their services.
Messages for practice
- Personalisation is a very different way of working and will transform the day-to-day practices of social workers.
- Although personalisation can present challenges to social workers, it should lead to improved job satisfaction because it will mean that they can provide more tailored and effective care than through the traditional service model.
- Personalisation means accepting that a social worker is not in control, but is working in partnership with the person using services to achieve the best outcome for that person.
- By getting to know an individual, a social worker can come to understand what the person really needs to improve their quality of life. Getting to know an individual may also involve talking to their family, carers and friends.
Who will find this useful?
Qualified social workers; social work students; professionals allied to social work: service users and their carers.