Personalisation is about starting with the needs of the individual, rather than the needs of the service. Putting People First in Sandwell means changing the way Sandwell Council works, so that we can provide better services for local people.

Putting People First is about:

• giving you more choice, so you can decide how you want to live your life
• giving you control over the services you receive
• improving information and advice about services
• enabling you to feel part of the community and take part in community life
• making sure that services everyone should be able to use, such as transport, education and health services, really are accessible to all and meet the needs of local people
• providing services that will support you at an early stage to help you keep your independence for longer
• enabling local people to have their say and influence how these changes happen.

Personalisation and delivering better services will affect the council as a whole. However, our Adult Services and Health division is responsible for making these changes and making sure that personalisation meets the needs of Sandwell people.

Choice and control

If you need support you will be able to have more control over how, when and where you buy the support you need.

You will be able to assess your own needs, with support from your care manager, by completing a supported self assessment. This will identify your support needs and show how you would like to have these met.

You will be central to planning your own support. You will be able to buy and manage your own support services if you choose, rather than have us arrange and manage them for you. This is called self directed support, and will be done through a personal budget.

You can find out more about personal budgets here.

We will support you to plan and manage your support.

Your safety will always be a priority.

Information and advice

We want you to have better access to, and information about, all the services that are available to you. This will involve having one main point of contact for people who want to access social care services, and improving the information that is available on our website and in our publications.

Part of the community

People who use social care services can be amongst the most vulnerable in our society. You may not be able to take part in activities that you previously enjoyed, which can lead to a feeling of isolation. This can cause further deterioration in your health and wellbeing.

We want to make sure that everyone is able to take part in community life, and is able to make and sustain relationships with family, friends and neighbours. We will develop new services and processes that will help to do this.

Services accessible to all (universal services)

Everyone should have access to the services that they wish to use. This includes leisure, health, libraries, transport, housing and education. We are working with the Primary Care Trust, other council services and organisations to make sure our services meet the needs of all our local people.

Supporting people to keep their independence for longer

We will have a wide range of services that are designed to give people the support they need when they need it. These services will help you stay independent for as long as possible. They will reduce the risk of things going wrong with any informal support you may receive. These are called ‘preventative services’.

Listening to you

People who use our services, relatives, friends and carers, are having a say in how our services develop. Your knowledge, gained from personal experience of the social care system, is essential if we are to make these changes work. If we are serious about putting people who use the services at the centre of everything we do, then we must listen to and act on your views.

To make sure that we involve and engage people we:

• hold events and activities which anyone can come along to
• have set up a community forum which meets every month
• invited a group of people – who we call the Putting People First ambassadors – from the forum to take part in meetings and have a hands-on role in how the Putting People First Programme is run.