Person Centred Planning

"Person Centred Planning discovers and acts on what is important to a

person. It is a process for continual listening and learning, focusing on what is
important to someone now and in the future, and acting on this in alliance with
their family and their friends"

Person-centred planning is designed specifically to 'empower' people, to

directly support their social inclusion, and to directly challenge their
devaluation. The process should focus on discovering the person's gifts, skills
and capacities, and on listening for what is really important to the person. It is
based on the values of human rights, independence, choice and social
inclusion, and is designed to enable people to direct their own services and
support in a personalised way.

It is a planning system that believes in the social model of disability rather

than the medical model.

The Community Connections Service operates via a system of Service

Delivery Agreements between OHT, the Service Provider, and the individuals
who are to be supported. These agreements are formalised in a signed
document between the Service User, their Carer or parent if appropriate and
the Support Team Manager.

The Service Delivery Agreements were established after the inauguration of

the Community Connections Service in order to clearly define the role of the
service with each Service User. In the first instance the agreements were
drawn up using the information relative to the service from the individual’s
care plan and then augmented by an assessment being undertaken by the
Support Team Manager with each individual and other interested parties
important to that individual. It was therefore possible to define each
agreement as being person centred from the outset. The development of each
individual’s service in a person centred manner is an ongoing process
throughout each support session where the individual’s being supported are
encouraged to air their views to their support worker who in turn feeds back to
the Support Team Manager, who in turn responds either via the support
worker or directly to the service user. This ongoing process works well in
practice as it allows for a fluid service to be undertaken, in some instances it
is necessary for multi agency involvement in order to achieve goals which
service users have expressed a wish to achieve. Furthermore the agreements
have been further formally updated about 18 months ago via the undertaking
of a “working/ not working” discussion between the Support Team Managers
and the individual service users and their interested parties, which allowed for
open discussions to be undertaken with regard to all aspects of the service
being provided. These discussions resulted in all Service Delivery
Agreements being formally updated.

In striving to provide a person centred service the Community Connections

Service helps to create a space in which a supported individual who may not
usually be listened to has central stage. It provides an environment where any
discussion is centred around what the person is telling us is important to them
in their own words and behaviours.

I have undertaken PCP Training with OHT, however the implementation of the
colourful maps and PATH’s and suchlike PCP Tools, which were an integral
part of the training, are beyond the scope with regard to time of a service that
rarely supports individuals longer than 3 hours on a weekly basis. However if
individuals have developed any plan/path then they are welcomed to share it
with us in order that we may provide a service that fully interacts with it,
currently no one whom is supported within the Community Connections
Service has a completed plan that I am currently aware of, despite this the
Community Connections Service as stated earlier utilises the principles and
practices of PCP at all times with each service user.

PCP can be outlined as:

a) Putting the person with learning disabilities at the centre

b) Doing things with the person, not to them or for them

c) Understanding the person's abilities, needs and interests

d) Seeking to find out what is important to the person from their perspective

e) Seeking to know what support the person needs to get the best out of life

f) Seeking to help the person make choices and decisions

g) Which leads to changes which improve the quality of life of the person with
learning disabilities

h) And is an ongoing process, not a one-off meeting.

An important element of PCP is understanding that each person has an

unique way of getting their message across which varies from individual to
individual and is dependent on the person’s level of communication skills
including their ability at and choice of spoken language, their eye contact, and
their body language.

In order for the principles of PCP to be undertaken successfully it is necessary

for there to be effective communication and in this regard it forms the
foundation stone of PCP and must therefore be given great consideration. In
all aspects of communication it is essential to:

1) Think about people: the person at the centre and your own response
2) Think about the ways information is presented and shared

3) Think about the effects of the environment

4) Think about the ongoing process of making choices.

The Learning Disability Advisory Group Report to the National Assembly for
Wales Document titled "Fulfilling the Promises" of June 2001 included the
following statement:

“ Individual Planning - confirm that person centred planning is fundamental to

addressing individual needs and aspirations and that the cornerstone to their
conduct should be multi-disciplinary and multi-agency Community Learning
Disability Teams; any additional resource requirements should be considered
within the National Assembly’s larger investment programme.

Target – By 2003/2004, all people with a learning disability will have an

individual person-centred plan, normally reviewed annually “

The importance of PCP has been further outlined in documents such as

Valuing People Now: the delivery plan 2010-2011 and We Can Dream by The
Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities’.

REFERENCES

Thompson J. Kilbane J. Sanderson H. (2008) Person Centred Practice for

Professionals. Open University Press

Department of Health 2007 Valuing People Now DOH London

O'Brien, J. and Lyle O'Brien, C. 1988. A Little Book About Person Centred
Planning. Inclusion Press, Toronto.

Learning Disability Advisory Group Report to the National Assembly for Wales
"Fulfilling the Promises"
Proposals for a framework for services for people with learning disabilities
June 2001