Relentless optimism - creative commissioning for personalised care

12 September 2006

Councils need to re-think how they commission care services if personalised care is to become a reality, says our new report.

Personalised care is about giving people who use services the opportunity to be involved in the development of services.

The report looks at issues including:

  • how care services are commissioned
  • what the barriers are to personalised services
  • what qualities people who use services value
  • the progress of pilot schemes developing personalised care
  • lessons from the commercial sector.

Our Chair Dame Denise Platt said: “Commissioning offers an opportunity to transform people’s lives through better services – it’s not simply about procedures and processes.

Some councils are taking a strategic approach to commissioning a wide range of services that enable people to live their lives to the full.

But too many are still commissioning the same traditional profile of services, with too strong a focus on residential care.”

The report is based on a seminar we hosted in May 2006 to challenge thinking on commissioning.

It concludes with some questions for local councils and national policy-makers to continue the debate.

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Created: 9/12/2006 Last updated: 5/11/2007