Self-Funders in England: How much choice and control do they really have?

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Self-funders (or elf-funders) are people who have to pay for their social care using their own finances, as opposed to receiving partial or full funding from their local council’s adult social care department. In England a threshold exists of £23,250, those who have above this amount in savings and sometimes other assets are deemed to [read the full story…]

Person-centred care: challenges and changes to the training of psychiatrists

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“A significant number of people receiving psychiatric care are not treated with the utmost dignity within our services that a true ‘person-centred’ approach would ensure.”

Linda Gask summarises a new report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists on person-centred care and its implications for training in psychiatry.

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Power and powerlessness: Mental health practitioner and service user perspectives on personal budgets

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Martin Stevens examines a study on mental health service user and practitioner experiences of personal budgets and finds that power and attitudes remain important factors.

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Choice and control for carers: How is personalisation working?

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Sarah Carr looks at a literature review assessing how choice is working for family carers in the context of social care personalisation.

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Supporting choice? Older people and personal budgets

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Martin Stevens examines research into how councils are implementing personal budgets for older people and has important questions about supporting choice.

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E-markets and micros: evidence for the future of social care?

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Sarah Carr takes an unusual step of appraising a ‘think tank’ research report on e-marketplaces for social care and discusses the work in relation to the broader context of evidence-based policy.

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Jobs for the girls? Intergenerational care and gender inequality in Europe

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Martin Stevens discusses research on gender inequality and intergenerational patterns of care in Europe and reveals possible potential implications for current social care reform.

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Policy impacts on home care services for older people

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Mike Clark provides a timely commentary on research into the impact of personalisation on home care services for older people and finds inherent tensions between choice, competition and the desire for improving the relational aspects of direct care.

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