About the stories
The six real-life stories were commissioned by the Department of Health to show examples of good personalised care in people's homes. They show how providers of care and support can develop person-centred services, improving the experience for people who use services and carers.
The stories centre on the lives of people who live in the following settings:
- A town in Hertfordshire
- Rural Kent
- Trafford
- Dorset
- A farm in Somerset
- A village in Somerset.
The organisations and people who took part
- Partners in Support
- Community Catalysts.
- No Place Like Home
- Home Instead East Dorset
- Heritage Healthcare Trafford
- Transform Housing & Support.
Extra information was given by:
- Christies Care
- Agincare Group
- Ascot Care
- Unique Homecare Services
- DICE Healthcare Ltd.
Many thanks to all the organisations who got in touch offering help.
The conversations
Rather than ask people to answer a checklist of set questions, the consultant, Lorna Easterbrook, asked a few general questions and then allowed the conversations to take their own route.
People shared all sorts of stories – about marriage, about where they’d lived before, about being ill, about jobs and skills, about their parents, about how they liked to spend their time. They spoke about the support they got. Practical details were explored as well as how it felt to be supported in this way; what mattered to the person; what they liked doing; what they would do if they needed to find anything out about the support or if there was a problem.
Lorna asked what it was that they felt made the support individual to them – in other words, what made it personalised. How would they explain the support they get to someone who doesn’t know what ‘personalised’ means? And, finally, she asked if there was anything else they wanted to add about the support, or how it worked in their lives, or what mattered to them.
Everyone was very generous with their time and their willingness to talk about their experiences and about this part of their lives. Thank you very much to all.
The consultant had separate conversations with the people in the organisations providing the care and support. such as the Registered Care Manager, as well as more senior people, and with support workers.
The stories people tell
Care and support is only one part of people’s lives. Those lives are shaped by relationships, attitudes, past and current experiences, and a whole range of other factors. The stories shared here are just a snapshot of how care and support weaves in and around those much larger, more complicated lives.
With thanks to everyone who took part and Lorna Easterbrook who interviewed the participants.
Back to the stories