SAMH Comment on Self-Directed Support Report
24th August 2017
Self-directed support (SDS) is a way of giving people who need social care more control over how the money spent on their care is used. People can choose from a menu of options, ranging from managing a budget themselves to the more traditional route of receiving a service chosen by the local authority.
A report out today by Audit Scotland says while many people have benefited from SDS, integration authorities still have a lot to do provide this for everyone.
Billy Watson, Chief Executive at SAMH said:
“SDS is clearly working well for some people, but it isn’t for people with mental health problems, who make up just 5% of those receiving SDS.
“Social care is still mostly based on providing a certain number of hours of support per week; not on helping people achieve their goals. People with mental health problems can be well for weeks then extremely unwell for a while. So it makes no sense to tie people into weekly hours of support.
“What we want to see is care packages focusing on outcomes, not hours, so people whose mental health fluctuates can have more support when they need it and less when they don’t.
Earlier this year in our local government manifesto we called to make self-directed support work for people with mental health problems.
We asked councils to:
- Focus on achieving outcomes with people, not carrying out tasks
- Allow annualised contracts so that people with mental health problems can receive support when they needs it, not when the council says they should
- Find ways to involve third sector providers or primary care staff in assessments
SDS is a good idea. Let’s make it work in practice as well as on paper.
