Using Panels from 'Caring for the Whole Person' as stimulus for group discussion oN person-centred home care.
On page 1 of Caring for the Whole Person, Panel One provides examples of flexible, person-centred care which are readily understandable by all stakeholders in older people’s services. They could be used to launch a group discussion of the subject which involved any of the following: Care Managers, a provider managers’ forum, care workers, an older people’s forum, a family carers’ organisation, or elected councillors.
Likewise Panel Six, on page 85, provides clear, simple illustrations of the sort of customer requests which, according to the 2005 Green Paper, services should now seek to heed. These too could be used to stimulate discussions relating to service development.
Possible questions for a discussion group
A facilitator could choose some examples and seek comment on topics like:
Do you think that isolated older home care customers should receive these types of help?
Sometimes it may be helpful to discuss the selected examples one by one. There may be a case for initially asking participants to spend some minutes on their own reading the examples, making brief notes on their own views, then sharing these in turn. This should ensure that different opinions get expressed and that discussion will be stimulated.
Background information on the examples
If desired, a facilitator can obtain some extra background information about the examples in Panel One as follows. See pages 30 – 32 in Chapter Five of Caring for the Whole Person for examples A, B, C and I, which come from independent agencies. See pages 44 – 47 in Chapter Six for examples D, E, F, G and H, which come from in-house Social Services providers.
Information about costs for all examples in Panel One and Panel Six is given on page 88 of Caring for the Whole Person. Facilitators could acquire equivalent local information about home care hourly costs in anticipation that this subject may get raised.
Return to:
'Caring for the whole person: home care for older people which promotes well-being and choice'