Will that be all Master Wayne? Alfred & Personalisation

 

 

Imagine having Batman’s butler on hand, to look after you? Finally think I've lost it? Not yet…

I think of it like this, he’s always been there, 24/7, day and night, he's looked after Batman since he was a kid. He doesn’t moan, he just does his job. He may even have his own way of doing things, his own beliefs or ideas, but he lets Batman make the choices, even if sometimes the idea, like dressing up as a bat, may be a bit strange. 

Well believe it or not our NHS has been doing just that! It may be getting on a bit, a bit tired, hasn't had proper pay rise for years, it’s over worked but still standing and ready to show up when we need it. just like our trustworthy butler

The least we can do is every now and then give back listen and understand their needs. Batman would be nothing without Alfred and the personalised care that he offers.

The NHS similarly is looking to offer us the same level of care through its personalisation process. It's not happening overnight and it’s not a quick fix. It's a long term goal embodied via the universal personalised care plan. The long term plan is to offer a much more ‘Alfredised’ approach to our care. In order to do this it needs our help. 

The NHS is looking to recruit peer supporters and peer leaders, to assist it in developing it’s services, utilising the people with lived experience to work with the NHS to help direct and inform what our needs are. 

You may even have heard of social prescribers and community connectors in your area, most should have one or be getting one in the future so do check with your local general practice. 

Perhaps as a person in the community, you might even like to be considered for the role? It's another great opportunity. 

These prescribers will be working with and in the communities. They will help to strengthen and direct to more choices than standard medicine but also assist in building local communities, groups, and offering different types of support. 

The other part of the plan for personalisation is geared towards personal budgets, with the hope for them to be widened across more services and types of care.

This would mean that you would get the money, in essence, to choose the type of care you want. This would offer a much wider scope than the traditional NHS services and it’s already happening in Continuing Health Care and Wheelchair Services.

For all this to work it does need people to participate, we need to be more proactive, with supporting and engaging with the NHS. We need to use our knowledge and experiences to tell them what works or what doesn’t. This is also known as coproduction, we input in to development of services.

If you haven’t heard already, why not ask about Personalised Care? There is even a free online course that you can do in your own time and online @FutureLearn- Search for personalised care.

With our fingers crossed, we will all have a personalised NHS Alfred to help care for us in the future.