​​​​​​​VODG Responds to Government Plans for more Personalised Home Care

Responding to plans announced today by Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Social Care and Mental Health, to provide more personalised home care through neighbourhood commissioning, Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), said:

“VODG has long called for a reframing of commissioning - an approach to the design and delivery of care and support for disabled people co-design by disabled people, based on partnership with voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations (VCFSE), bravery and a long term vision. Today’s announcement to make home care more personalised and improve continuity of support, is very welcome. Too often, people who rely on care at home see a succession of different staff. Having unfamiliar care workers regularly coming into their homes, often at their most vulnerable moments, can feel intrusive and undermine their sense of dignity.

"Greater continuity could benefit care workers too, with less time spent travelling between appointments and more predictable working patterns. Building relationships with the people they support also gives staff a better understanding of their individual needs and enables them to provide more consistent, high-quality support. 

'However, familiarity alone is not enough. It is vital that care workers receive the training they need to support people with a wide range of disabilities and complex conditions.

"Delivering on these ambitions will require genuine co-production between disabled people, health services, social care and the VCFSE sector. Neighbourhood commissioning offers real opportunities to improve services, but without this partnership, we risk missing the chance to deliver more joined-up support that meets people's individual needs and ambitions.”