Blogs and articles

Ian Kennard, Commissioning Manager at Thurrock Council, de-mystifies the mechanics of co-production in commissioning a service designed to help people choose and utilise a direct payment.

Clenton Farquharson MBE, TLAP Chair, opens a conversation about equality, and equity, and asks if we need to treat people differently to provide equality of opportunity?

Co-production - what's in it for councils

Acute Need CIC is one of many care providers who’ve made a commitment to offering personalised care and support by adopting the Making it Real framework

Homeshare arrangements not only support wellbeing, relieve pressure on overstretched health services they support mental health and isolation. Sarah Clarke makes a compelling case for why we need more Homeshare and particularly for older people who were severely impacted by the pandemic in England. 

Kate Linsky from the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) reflects on the work she has undertaken on behalf of TLAP to trace how the role of ‘community’ in shaping policy, legislation and practice in health and social care has grown in recent years.

It’s time for a ‘Big Conversation’ about social care reform and the subject of dementia is a good place to start. Dame Philippa Russell makes the case for ending the taboo around dementia and having a Social Care Long Term plan to match the NHS’s.

Clenton Farquharson, TLAP Chair and member of the Social Care Future Inquiry ‘Whose Social Care is it Anyway?’ talks about building a unified vision for social care and the influence of Stevie Wonder.

We seem to be making it hard for ourselves - how can we improve the way to self-directed support?

Paul Rackham, ex-commissioner, speaks his mind about the challenges to personalisation in the NHS.

A joint ADASS / TLAP blog by James Bullion and Clenton Farquharson discussing the values of equality, diversity and social justice and how these should guide our actions for reform.

As Caroline Speirs, Head of TLAP, departs for pastures new, she shares her reflections on the TLAP partnership after ten years of activity, and her ambitions for its continued success.

Ahead of our event exploring the role of community in providing social care, Caroline Speirs, head of the Think Local Act Personal partnership, shares her thoughts on how our shared experience of the pandemic can help to transform social care so it works better for everyone.

As Sian announces her retirement from Community Catalysts, she reflects on what she’s learnt and her hopes for social care.

According to the American political scientist Christopher Kukk the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ is often incorrectly attributed to Darwin when in fact the term was coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer.

There's young man living in the community. He has ambition and humour. He also has autism and epilepsy. Sam can say with confidence and certainty , ‘I have a place I can call home and I can live the life I want’. It’s an enviable position. How many of us can say this with as much pride? The young man's name is Sam Ward and this is his story. 

If there was one piece of practical action Integrated Care Systems (ICS) could take to make collaborative working a reality, TLAP and NCAG would say it’s ‘co-production’.

When the Head of TLAP asked for a blog on “how not to commission adult social care” I thought I would go one step further and suggest why we shouldn’t be talking about commissioning adult social care at all, because for me, the process of commissioning is a part of the problem it’s trying to solve. In fact, I would argue that commissioning will never make us happy.

What lessons can we learn from the current restrictions and how does that relate to personalisation?

This year, in the face of Covid-19 lockdown and with vulnerable people isolating in their millions, we changed the way our organisation operates, fundamentally and forever.