A message from our service manager
Many people see care planning as a bureaucratic exercise, they think that you can carry out a care plan and it’s a box ticked.
They couldn’t be more wrong. It’s an opportunity, one of many, to see and sit with the person who you will be providing care and support for. To converse, to find out and to learn about them and who they are.
The actual task itself is essential. The care plan is a very important document to ascertain finding out what you need, how you need it and how and if it can be done for you. At Curantis we use Positive Care Planning.
What is positive care planning?
It is care planning…done positively!
We ask you what you used to do, what you enjoyed and what you would like to do. Rather than tell you what services are available; we find out who you are , what makes you tick , what you want to spend your time doing and how you want to live. It means that we fit in around you rather than the other way around.
That doesn’t mean we can agree to providing support for everything, but what it does mean is that if anything is possible we will try to make it happen for you.
A service user, used to like to paint, in her heyday; she used to be quite good! She’s not able to paint the same anymore, but she can still enjoy the simple pleasure of putting ‘paint to paper’.
Of course we have to do risk assessments, I’m not saying we can do everything for you that you want, what I am saying is that we will ask you what you want and focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t! Instead of closing doors we are about opening them.
We build the care plans using familiar and comfortable language – no jargon here – we recognise that the care plan is a way of life for you , so what we do is make sure that we can make that way of life for you as comfortable and as helpful as possible. We want you to maintain as much independence for yourself. That’s a top priority. But alongside that we want to ensure that you are safe.
Of course we are just like the other home care providers! We provide carers who can support with personal care, palliative, respite, and light domestic chores. So in that sense we are just like them.
But not everyone would personally ask your friends and family what they feel your needs are, not everyone would produce a detailed plan for you in any format you would like in order for you to understand it better. And not everyone would be as flexible in their approach to involving you in the care plan. We involve you in writing the care plan as much as possible, including the opportunity to sign the care plan so that we can agree on what you expect from us and what we can provide you with.
All I ask is that you communicate with me however is best for you, so that I can help to provide you with what you need. If you want to play scrabble, or chess, have a social life, meaningful conversations, the opportunities and the list is endless.
Once upon a time you read to your family, from fairy tales to Blue Peter: Here’s one I made earlier , now it’s the time you need that care and support, let us provide you with all the care you need, we understand that your loved ones can’t always be there to look after you , but we can!