Quarriers, Scotland’s third largest charity, is totally committed to the principles of Self Directed Support, despite recognising that, as one of the country’s largest service providers, they will arguably face the biggest challenges.
Gerry Wells, the organisation’s Service Director said: “We find it very easy to accept the principles of Self Directed Support because we already strive to provide individualised, person-centred support.
Gerry Wells, Service Director of Quarriers
“We see Self Directed Support having most impact for adults with learning disabilities, although our understanding is that it could apply to any care group.
“The challenge for Quarriers is that if we are going to continue to be a major provider in someone’s life, we will have to become their provider of choice.
“The essential thing is that the individual is even more at the centre of decision making and that extends to them being in total control of their own budget.
“They could use their budget to purchase support from Quarriers, support from another provider, or they might spend it on new technology which means they don’t need services at all because they no longer need someone in their house all the time.”
Quarriers is already working hard to grasp the opportunities created by Self Directed Support.
Gerry continued: “We recognise that we cannot be both a broker and a service provider and that our role will continue to be providing services, albeit delivering them to individuals rather than local authorities.
“However we do feel we have a role to play in helping people make crucial decisions about their lives like ‘what are my aspirations, where would I want to live, what are my wishes and desires and how can they be met?’
“That’s person centred planning. We think we are good at that and would like to continue to offer it as a service.”
Quarriers is investing in creating a Community Connections Planning Service to help its project staff develop their skills in this area and are recruiting for a Community Connections coordinator and a project worker.
Gerry added: “Improving people’s community connections may well be about improving their family connections so people end up getting family support rather than paid support.
“Community living is really all about being supported in a more natural basis by informal community connections and networks, but one of biggest challenges is helping individuals make those informal connections to the extent that some of their paid support can be taken out.
“We should endeavour to do this not only because it is a much more natural way to live, but also because it enables local authority resources to go further, which is something that has to happen in a time of sever financial restraints.”
Gerry also recognises that the bigger the organisation, the bigger the challenge in delivering Self Directed Support.
He continued: “There are probably more anxieties for large organisation like ours. Providers need to be very flexible because it is the individual who is pulling the strings.
“Any large organisation which has grown up over the years finds it harder to be flexible over issues like HR, and working practices, although we reluctantly had to tackle these issue with our staff last year to reduce some of our costs.
“However we pride ourselves on being very flexible. Our staff work round the clock. Our rotas are built around an individual’s routine, not around staff routines.
“We strongly believe that if people in Self Directed Support can purchase a service that meets requirements without costing as much as their current provision, then that’s good for them and good for the system.
“Many of the people we support have complex needs that require a much more professional approach and support from skilled and trained staff who deliver services round about a whole life experience rather than home care.
“A major issue might around the extent of personal budgets and what individuals can, or cannot, afford to purchase with them, particularly those service users who have quite complex needs.’
Quarriers has over 2,000 staff, an annual turnover of around £43m and operates in15 local authority areas in Scotland as well as in the South West of England.
