Should we be updating Making it Real? We think so, and now, more than ever!
TLAP remains concerned with what we see as the ‘rhetoric versus reality gap’ where, despite policy and legislation, progress with implementing person and community centred approaches, has stalled.
The importance of updating Making it Real, national markers of progress in person-centred care, in this challenging climate has been gaining momentum amongst partners. Following our first summit in February, with encouragement from Rt Honourable Norman Lamb MP who has been a long term supporter, we believe it is needed now more than ever to help reassert the importance and value of good personalisation.
Working with Coalition for Collaborative Care and National Voices we are drawing up a new Making it Real that reflects the Care Act 2014 with its focus on wellbeing and NHS England's commitment to and adoption of person centred approaches. This new Making it Real will recognise the wider world in which we live our lives and so will not be limited to health and social care. Housing, leisure and community more generally will also be a feature.
What is Making it Real
Making it Real was first launched by Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) over five years ago, setting out a framework and principles for what good personalisation looks like. At its heart is a series of ‘I’ statements that describe what people who access services and carers expect to experience if care and support is truly personalised. Since then it has been widely used.
Who can use it?
- People with care & support needs, their families and carers can use Making it Real to understand what to expect when they access local care and support, health and housing.
- Organisations that commission, fund, and deliver services can use it to check how they are doing with personalised care and support and to understand how they can improve.
- Staff working in a wide range of settings like those who work to provide support to people at home (including primary care),
- Staff working in hospitals and care homes can use it to make sure their practice supports personalisation.
Why is it so important to update Making it Real?
We want to make sure that Making it Real reflects the reality of how people wish to live their lives. We also want it to be taken up by as many organisations and areas across England as possible. Proposals are being developed for ‘local offers of support’ so that people with lived experience and carers can help organisations and areas not just use Making it Real, but ‘make it stick’. We're also engaging with a wide cross section of organisations to help lay the ground for its adoption.
What we need to do to meet our 2018 deadline for updating Making it Real?
A second Making it Real Summit will be held on 3rd October 2017 to share the work in progress. We will use the results to help us finalise the Making it Real framework. If you would like to contribute your ideas now on what should be covered in the updated Making it Real and how to maximise its impact, please get in touch with Tim Parkin or you can join the What's next for Making it Real discussion via our discussion forum.