Responsibilities
What is different?
Referral process
Responsibilities
District nurses
GPs
What is different?
You may find that people have new questions for you as a result of the new way of working. You will find a lot of useful information in the Knowledge Hub. Some of the most useful resources for health professionals in the Knowledge Hub include:
- The Guide for Individuals and their Carers (.pdf, 3.4Mb).
- Commonly Asked Questions (.pdf, 30Kb) covering some of the questions you are likely to be asked.
- The most important difference is likely to be the cultural shift. Self directed support encourages people to think about an individual's own situation, preferences and wishes for the future, before looking at the best way to provide care for their needs.
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You can help your patients to view social services as a partner rather than an agency providing a service which has been decided for them. Adult Social Care in Oxfordshire is now based on a person-centred, community-based model. In short, you can prepare individuals by conveying that they themselves have a responsibility to work with social services to plan support that helps them to be as independent as possible.
Referral process
There are no changes to the referral process.
Responsibilities
On a practical level, most responsibilities remain unchanged. Our locality-based teams remain in place as they are now, with the difference of the new role or support broker now in place. Support brokers help individuals plan their support around their lives by finding the best possible solution for their situation. This allows for unique solutions, while ensuring identified needs are met. To familiarise yourself with the role of the support broker you can also visit the Support Broker pages in the left-hand menu.
We recommend keeping informed with the latest developments in Adult Social Care by signing up to John Dixon's monthly Adult Social Care updates. Please email takingcontrol@oxfordshire.gov.uk to be added to the list.
District nurses
If you are a District Nurse, you will be called upon to give training to Personal Assistants under the Shared Care Protocol, instead of only training Care Agency staff as was the case under the previous way of working.
GPs
As a GP, the important difference is preparing the individual for self directed support. You need to be aware of questions you are likely to be asked, and you can play an important role in ensuring people have some basic information.
It is important that you are able to discuss choice and control with people you are referring to social services. A a GP you are often the first contact people have about changing needs, and as such you can help people to start thinking about what is important to them as an individual, such as personal priorities (living in own home, being able to go out to socialise) and preferences (involving family members for personal care instead of professional carers, arranging an assisted holiday instead of 'traditional' respite).
There are no specific formal changes of role/responsibilities as a result of the introduction of self directed support.
