Preparation - What this means for Sarah

Jane arranges to meet Sarah at her cottage and explains what the care and support planning process is, and how it could be useful.

Jane checks what Sarah has understood from the conversations with the consultant and specialist nurse. They look at who is important to Sarah, so that she can decide who she wants to help her.

Jane explains that the next stage is to think more about what matters to Sarah. Jane talks through the options for who could help – it could be a family member or friend, a professional that she has already worked with, a peer supporter, or someone from the voluntary sector. Sarah decides that she would like her daughter-in-law Catherine to help her.

Jane explains that she will be checking whether Sarah is eligible for a personal budget, she also explains that there are a range of resources to help Sarah and Catherine.

Jane shares conversation cards, guides and tools and asks whether Sarah wants to look at videos, but Sarah is happy with the cards and guide. Finally, Jane asks how Sarah wants to keep in touch before the conversation – when, how and how often.

Preparation by Sarah:

Catherine and Sarah set aside time to have a cup of tea and look at the materials and start to talk about what matters to Sarah. They also started talking about Sarah’s concerns for the future. She was worried about who would look after her husband, Eric, as Sarah is his main carer. Sarah was also thinking about what would happen to her flock of sheep and her dog and how to cope with the house. She wanted to stay out of hospital and really wanted to die at home.

Preparation by the practitioner:

Jane talked to the social worker in the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) about assessments for a personal budget and made arrangements to find out her indicative allocation.

As Sarah is the main carer for her husband Eric, Jane got in touch with the mental health team to start looking at support for him.