Homecare: How can we deliver personalised support?

Is personalised service in homecare a realistic ambition at a time when austerity means budgets and resources are under such pressure? TLAP's Martin Routledge asked this very question a few weeks ago, and came to the conclusion: yes ... sometimes. It depends on many factors, not least the local authority funding the service and the ambitions and values of the organisation providing it.

If these factors are favourable then a personalised service is indeed possible. Our challenge in the social care sector is now to make it the norm. In ths blog we want to share what we are learning about how to make this happen with Hilda.

Hilda's story

Hilda is 92 and lives by herself near Blackpool. Hilda is registered blind and is in the early stages of dementia. After one to many "near misses" on the road to her local supermarket, all agreed that she could use some help getting the weekly shopping. Her niece, Gill, approached United Response, who were working on how to personalise homecare, and asked if they could help.

Hilda is paying for this service herself, and wanted what she describes as a "personal shopper" to provide help. This very specific role provided an ideal opportunity to see what a different kind of homecare service could look like.

The key to any truly personalised service is a deep understanding of the person and their needs, so we began with a meeting including Hilda, Gill, Nick from United Response and myself. We needed to understand what is important to Hilda, how she wants to be supported, what she wants from her service, and who she wanted to provide it. These should always be wide ranging and very human conversations. For example, we learned that Hilda was a great film buff with a soft spot for Cary Grant.

After the meeting, the information was put into a "one-page profile" for Hilda, an invaluable summary of what someone likes, what they don't like, their interests and their needs. Here is some of what we learned about Hilda, through purposeful conversation.

The service that Hilda wants is someone who can support her to go shopping at the supermarket, to call into her local village for bread and pay for her newspaper deliveries. She needs it at a time which suits her, which we worked out would be Wednesday afternoon for one and a half hours.. She wanted no more than two people to support her - consistency and good relationships matter. We also developed a detailed list for any support workers, based on our insights.

• Be punctual, always.
• Hilda can easily trip when she is outside as her eyesight is poor, so encourage her to link arms with you
• Never rush her when she is shopping - she is particular about some brands and will ask you to find them for her
• Hilda will usually steady herself by pushing the shopping trolley - gently make sure that she does not push it into people as she cannot see them
• Hilda always takes carrier bags in her shopping bag and will appreciate help in packing her goods and getting the right money together to pay
• Remind Hilda to use her white stick when out and crossing roads. You need to know that Hilda does not always like using the white stick. Never insist if she does not want to hold it.