Latest news and blogs

Personalisation and co-production in traditional services

Highlighting solutions for registered services that will help accelerate personalisation - what can Community Circles contribute?

Purpose, trust and flexible commissioning

Choice Support has committed to Making it Real. Dan Johnson and Sherri Hope, from Choice Support, and Elizabeth Deeves, from Bexley Council, discuss how this approach is supporting changes in social care commissioning.

Making everyday co-production real

How Leicester City Council is changing its practice using Making it Real

Good commissioning is dependent on co-production – a hypothesis

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.

Do we need to treat people differently to provide equality?

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?

This is why you should co-produce with people

Co-production - what's in it for councils

Catching up with fishing, hooks in more skills for Callum

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

What do Stevie Wonder and social care reform have in common?

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.

Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) has appointed Ian McCreath as its new Head

26/05/21

Ian was previously Policy Manager for Personalisation and Integration at Alzheimer’s Society. He is also co-founder and Operating Officer of the Dementia Change Action Network (DCAN) an open network championing personalisation and co-production alongside NHS England and Improvement.

TLAP statement on 'do not resuscitate' decisions during Covid-19 pandemic

18/03/21

The CQC’s review of ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ decisions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic makes for uncomfortable reading, revealing poor and inconsistent practice around DNACPR decisions.

Independent evaluation finds TLAP highly rated

24/02/21

Survey finds 80% of respondents would recommend Think Local Act Personal as experts in personalised care and support.

What sector leaders and care providers can learn from experts by experience and people who are marginalised by society

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.

How to do personalised care and support - for home living

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.

A life well lived is priceless

Head of TLAP Caroline Speirs gives a blunt reminder on the 'value' of personalisation.

I have a place I can call home and can live the life I want

What does it feel like to move from supported living into your own home? What are the things we take for granted like buying a lawnmower.

Let's work together to shape our future!

01/06/20

TLAP Chair Clenton Farquharson MBE urges commissioners to think about the post-pandemic landscape. He offers advice for how they can commission a diverse market that caters to people's need for choice, control and the chance to live in the community rather than in institutional settings.

I am writing this in the middle of a pandemic. I have to self-isolate, and I’m working through one video call after another. I salute and thank those of you working selflessly on the front line to keep others safe.

When life is unreal, how are we Making it Real?

In this strange new world, what can Making it Real offer? Charlie Crabtree and Richard O'Malley from KeyRing offer some ideas.

New social care action plan applies to many with care and support needs

16/04/20

TLAP statement

TLAP welcomes the publication of the Covid-19 action plan for adult social care. We are pleased that the plan makes explicit its application to people who use direct payments and self-funders as well as residential care home workers and home care workers.

Hard won rights of personalisation should not become another casualty of Covid-19

Kate Sibthorp, a member of the National Co-production Advisory Group writes about how Making it Real is more relevant than ever as we cope with Coronavirus

Guidance for individuals receiving care & support through direct payments: COVID -19

07/04/20

TLAP statement

TLAP welcomes the publication by the government of national guidance and advice on direct payments. We know that many direct payment holders and their families are fearful and uncertain and have felt marginalised, or worse still, largely invisible as the response to the pandemic has mobilised.

Priorities for 2020 on social care - New Year message from TLAP chair

03/01/20

“Wishing you a Happy 2020!

“As Chair of the TLAP Programme Board, I look forward to working with you all to re-humanise social care.

Stalemate, impasse – or have you thought about Making it Real?

In today’s confrontational environment, Sanchi Murison asks if adopting the principles of Making of Real and co-production might be a better way to work.

Pirates on bikes will help wellbeing, not time and task

I’m Rob Price, I work for Shropshire Council’s Adult Social Care Financial Assessment Team, and it’s my job to determine what citizens pay towards the cost of their care packages. Yes, it usually goes down well when I say that in front of the recipients of our direct payments.

How to be creative with Direct Payments, rather than staying stuck and panicking.

Shropshire Council invited TLAP colleagues to look at how they can improve the take up and use of direct payments. Caroline Lewis, speaks from the heart about her own struggles with using her Direct Payment to find personal assistants and what she got out of the session that urged an injection of creativity when it comes to DPs.

What really makes good care?

An important debate is taking place about how to ensure that people who need care and support get that help in a way that enables them to stay safe and well and live the life they want.

Making waves at Shropshire Council with direct payment holders

You may or may not know that Shropshire Council have had a Making it Real board for quite a number of years, and have signed up wholeheartedly to using the updated version of Making it Real.

Could you learn from Bexley Council and its approach to Making it Real & ISFs?

Bexley Council have triumphed in getting an Individual Service Fund offer in place for people living in Supported Living.

Making it Real is the direction of travel for the Government

09/07/19

TLAP is delighted that the Government is supporting Making it Real, our framework for good care and support across social care and health.

Where do we go from here? A response to the Whorlton Hall scandal

Kate Sibthorp is a mum to a daughter with learning disabilities and autism. She is also a member of the National Co-production Advisory Group (NCAG).

Katie’s diary - shadowing the Director of Adult Services and Making it Real in Shropshire

Katie, a member of Shropshire Council’s Making it Real board and someone accessing services locally, discusses a life changing day in her life shadowing the Director of Adult Services and Making it Real in Shropshire.

Making it Real - a system for change

22/03/19

About twelve years ago, I was involved in discussions with a local authority and clinical commissioning group to agree good support for my dad, who had dementia.

What does Making it Real have to say about Valentine’s Day?

Does anyone love Valentine’s Day? Apart from the shops selling cards, flowers, chocolates and romantic dinners?

Making it Real - something wonderful this way comes?

Caroline Speirs, Head of Think Local Act Personal, blogs about shifting power and unlocking traditional mind sets with Making it Real.

TLAP response to the Universal Personalised Care – Implementing the Comprehensive Model

31/01/19

Clenton Farquharson MBE, Chair of the TLAP Board says,

"I applaud the aspiration of the Universal Personalised Care Comprehensive Model. It demonstrates the NHS’s shift to a more personalised approach to health where people with long-term and mental health conditions can rightfully expect support which fits around the context of their lives, rather than patients to be solely diagnosed and treated.

Norman Lamb MP on why you should be making it real

Former Care Minister Norman Lamb MP, supporter of TLAP and advocate for Making it Real discusses his frustrations with the social care system and why the Making it Real framework can support meaningful change.

Spotlight on Manor Community & how they are using Making it Real

16/01/19

"It was a good quality benchmark for our area of adult social care. If more organisations use it, we can start benchmarking ourselves against each other and hopefully be able to better represent what good and outstanding care looks like from the point of view of people who access care and support".

Making New Year’s Resolutions Real

As mum to a young woman with learning disabilities and autism, Kate’s been thinking about how Making it Real could inspire personal assistants and support staff to help people like her daughter achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

Carers Rights Day and a reminder to Make it Real

The Making it Real I statement, “I know what my rights are and can get information and advice on all the options for my health, care and housing” applies to carers and also to the people we care for. It is matched by the We statement, “We make sure people know their legal rights and responsibilities”.

Personalised care in the NHS and Making it Real

Personalised care is an increasing priority for the delivery of NHS services, to ensure people have more choice and control over the way their care is planned and delivered.

What good looks like – fresh perspectives on personalised care and support

09/10/18

Think Local Act Personal, the leadership organisation for personalisation, has published a new framework on what good care and support looks like across social care, health and housing.

What keeps you awake at night?

Do you worry about who’s going to love your children when you’re gone? I do. And so do other parents who have sons and daughters who need support.