Appendix 1

`Completing The Circle'

A consultation document

A Strategy to ensure users and carers are both consulted and involved in their service assessment, planning and delivery. Consultation and Involvement takes place at individual, local, care group and strategic levels and users and carers should have the opportunity both to take part and to see what is decided and how.

1. Introduction - Our responsibility

The law requires that we must consult and involve users and carers. However it is also an issue of good practice, effective management, and best value, that we should work together with users and carers to achieve our common and shared aims.

In addition, Hampshire County Council is determined to ensure that for everyone in Hampshire we maximise life opportunities, particularly for the young and vulnerable, through the provision of and support for high quality accessible services.

Also Hampshire County Council will work together with local people to build strong and safe communities for everyone by improving our dialogue with local communities so that everyone's views are heard, and ensuring that the community plays a central role in shaping services.

In response to the legal requirement and to reflect good practice this strategy provides a framework for consultation and involvement that operates at both the individual and the collective level. All staff have a responsibility to respond to this strategy as appropriate within their role.

2. The aim of the Strategy on Consultation and Involvement with Service Users

· To build on current good practice

· To develop effective ways of consulting with and involving users and carers in the planning and development of our services

· To ensure that the above activity takes place at an individual and a collective level

· To work with users and carers to continually improve the methods used for consultation and involvement

· To embed consultation with and involvement of users and carers into practice, supported by the Performance Development Review process

3. Who are users and carers ?

· A user is anyone who has contact with the department one or more times. A user is also someone who is likely to want, or need, to use our services in the future. A user is a citizen of Hampshire with all the rights and benefits of any citizen.

· A carer is anyone who provides a substantial amount of care on a regular basis, without the benefit of a contract of employment or other formal arrangement, to a user. A carer is a citizen of Hampshire with all the rights and benefits of any citizen.

· User and carer `representatives'. Many groups seek to represent the views of users and carers - while we value this work immensely, we also need to make sure that we are hearing the direct voice of users and carers.

4. The Consultation and Involvement Framework

The Consultation and Involvement Framework sets out the rationale for consultation and involvement. It provides a model of increasing consultation and involvement that will empower service users within the process.

5. Why consult with users and carers ?

In order to assess the impact of policy development and service provision on service users and carers. Consultation is a two-way process that aims to:

· Enable those who want and need services to contribute to the process of delivering and developing services and policies

· Demonstrate a commitment to be open and accountable

· Lead to stronger and more responsive policies and procedures that better respond to individual and community needs

6. Why involve users and carers ?

In order to ensure services are responsive to individual need and reflect the individual's situation, involvement aims to:

· Enable service planning and policy development to be influenced by a wide range of experience and expertise

· Provide opportunities to review policies and procedures

· Help plan, prioritise and deliver better services

· Create better partnership working and mutual understanding

7. How do we consult and involve people ?

Consultation and involvement between The Social Services Department and users and carers happens at 3 levels:

1. Individual or Personal - between each service user and carer and the individual representative of the department.

2. Local group - service planning, implementation and monitoring and local resource allocation.

3. Strategic - Policy and overall resource management and accountability.

 

There are many examples of good practice where staff are consulting with and involving uses and carers at all three levels and this practice needs to be strengthened and reinforce across all our activity.

8. The model for consulting and involving users and carers

The level and nature of consultation and involvement by The Department is a progressive movement along a spectrum of activities. It starts with recognising the individual as a user and carer and progresses to delegating control (for example Direct Payments or Voucher Schemes) depending on the individual's circumstance

The Individual

Recognising Informing Listening Responding

Local Groups

Information Consulting Working in Delegating

Sharing Partnership Control

Strategic

Information Consulting Working in Delegating Sharing Partnership Control

The more steps and progress The Department makes along the ladders, the greater degree of individual choice, opportunity, and empowerment is created for users and carers.

Each section informs the next

1. Individual - assessment and individual care planning for users and carers. Care management and person centred planning. CPA, individual day and residential plans, risk assessment etc.

2. Local group - ongoing dialogue, based on information from individuals, with groups, representatives and users and carers as appropriate.

3. Strategic - formal consultation based on a combination of local political and government direction, information from individuals and groups.

 

To clarify for users and carers what they can expect from the Department, in respect of consultation and involvement, a set of standards that will be developed into a leaflet (available in various formats) is shown below.

To support staff in understanding the practice that they should be undertaking to consult and involve at the individual, local group and strategic levels a checklist is shown below.

8. How we inform and report back to users and carers

In order to demonstrate real commitment to consultation and involvement, the Department will keep people informed at each stage of the process, either by discussion, written documents or electronic publication on `Hantsweb'© of the progress and results of consultation and involvement. Clear evidence of consultation and involvement will be required in reports and documents prepared by Officers.

Standards for user and carer consultation and involvement

A checklist of good practice for social services staff and ensure consultation with and involvement of users and carers

Definitions

Consultation is defined in The English Dictionary are `seeking advice'.

Involvement is defined as `having a relationship'

Partnership is defined as `doing something together'.

Users are anyone in Hampshire who uses, has used or intends to use the services of the department.

Carers are anyone who provides a substantial amount of care on a regular basis to someone who needs that care.

Service Users. The law is now such that users and carers in relation to The Department's activities should be known collectively as `service users'.