When we need some help or support we generally don't care whether it's called "healthcare" or "social care" or whether we're called a "patient" or "service user". We don't want to be passed from one "team" to another to address specific issues in isolation with no one able to take a holistic view. We simply want someone to help.
Successive governments have focussed on empowering individuals to allow them to make choices about their own care. The new Care Bill, which is currently in the midst of the Parliamentary process, embodies this philosophy. Other inititaives, for example named GPs for the over-75s, also seek to bring a holistic approach to care. Westcott welcomes these inititatives, indeed it is a founding philosphy of the company.
However, choice and empowerment for the care consumer can lead to people being swamped with information and data as authorities strive to ensure they have all the information necessary. It is often challenging to cut through all the "noise" to discern that which is relevant to our particular circumstances.
Successive governments have focussed on empowering individuals to allow them to make choices about their own care. The new Care Bill, which is currently in the midst of the Parliamentary process, embodies this philosophy. Other inititaives, for example named GPs for the over-75s, also seek to bring a holistic approach to care. Westcott welcomes these inititatives, indeed it is a founding philosphy of the company.
However, choice and empowerment for the care consumer can lead to people being swamped with information and data as authorities strive to ensure they have all the information necessary. It is often challenging to cut through all the "noise" to discern that which is relevant to our particular circumstances.
As consumers of care we move in and out of three broad care systems. Each is incredibly complex with various layers operating in their own silos and providing us with yet more information and data to allow us to make choices:
- Well-being - maintaining a healthy lifestyle, e.g. choices about diet, exercise, complementary therapies
- Healthcare - managing medical situations, e.g. GP visits, hospital admissions, medication
- Social Care - support with activities of daily living, e.g. living with chronic conditions, disabilities, recovering from illness, coping with old age
It's likely that we'll move from one to another, for example having been healthy we may enter the healthcare system to have an operation. Once we have recovered sufficiently from a medical perspective we will be discharged by the hospital. Although our medical needs have been met, it may still be challenging to manage certain activities of daily living, e.g. cooking, cleaning. This is where social care would come into play.
In our next series of blogs Westcott will explore these three broad areas of care in more detail, including the fact that only healthcare is free at the point of service. Paying for well-being and social care are the responsibility of the service user: Social Services only offer financial support to those who do not have the ability to pay for it themselves. Finally, we'll examine ways in which these different systems could be integrated better.
In our next series of blogs Westcott will explore these three broad areas of care in more detail, including the fact that only healthcare is free at the point of service. Paying for well-being and social care are the responsibility of the service user: Social Services only offer financial support to those who do not have the ability to pay for it themselves. Finally, we'll examine ways in which these different systems could be integrated better.