Kirsten Hogg says third sector organisations are committed to self-directed support even if they are trailing on delivery
When I started my job at Camphill Scotland in 2011, one of the first things on my to do list was to help our member communities get ready for Self Directed Support (SDS). Four years on, I still haven’t ticked it off the list. And I’m not alone: a recent survey by the Providers and Personalisation programme found that only one in three third sector providers consider themselves fully or almost ready for SDS.
This isn’t because providers are not behind the idea. The sector has always been ahead of the game in terms of personalisation, choice and control. Those of us who were involved in the development of the SDS legislation were excited about the opportunities that it would give to individuals, and four years ago I wasn’t the only one raring to go. We are more than ready for the idea of SDS, yet if the yardstick for readiness is systems change, we are coming up short.
If SDS isn’t working, while we try to fix it we must also do what we can within existing systems to make sure that the support we provide is as person-centred as possible
Kirsten Hogg
The lack of change isn’t down to apathy, or ignorance (heaven knows we’ve all read the guidance and been on the training courses). It’s down to reality. It’s because on the ground, for many providers, nothing much has changed in our relationships with local authorities. Tendering, spot purchase and local/national framework agreements are still the order of the day, and we have to have the systems in place to respond to that.
There are, of course, some voluntary sector providers who have always worked differently, and some who have the resources to put into systems change alongside business as usual, but the reality of the market is that only very few organisations have the power to innovate. Apple may be able to tell us what gadgets we need, but the vast majority of organisations supply what purchasers demand; and for now the shift to individual purchasers is not a reality. Yet all is not lost. We may not be able to innovate in market terms, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be innovative.
The delays and disappointments in the implementation of SDS are clear. People who need support are not always being given the choices and chances that we think (and the legislation states) they should be. As a sector we must do all that we can to try to make sure that this is rectified, but we shouldn’t waste all of our energy looking for someone to blame. For me, SDS-readiness is at least as much about buy-in to the ideals of personalisation as it about technical systems change, and that is where the sector is really strong. SDS is a cog in the wheel of personalisation. If SDS isn’t working, while we try to fix it we must also do what we can within existing systems to make sure that the support we provide is as person-centred as possible. We should challenge ourselves to do that every day, and never feel complacent enough to tick that off the list.
Kirsten Hogg is facilitator at Camphill Scotland, the membership body for the Camphill communities in Scotland.
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