1. International week at Laurea Tikkurila 1 st March 2010 Dr Mary Larkin De Montfort University Leicester

2. the concepts of ”service user” and “carer” the empowerment of service users the empowerment of carers the future promotion of service user and carer empowerment

3. DEFINITION OF “EMPOWERMENT” “degrees of empowerment are measured by the existence of choice, the use of choice and the achievement of choice” (Alsop, R. and Heinsohn (2005:4)

4. move away from institutional care to ‘community care’ in the 1980s - National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 care for those in need which is based in their homes and mainly provided by families and friends on an informal basis, supported by formal care creation of 2 new identifiable groups in society

5. This has been shaped by: the social equality and the modernisation discourses policy initiatives

6. User involvement Self-management Personalised models of care

7. involved in the planning and development of services contribute to professional training and social work education design and conduct research have their own user-led organisations e.g. National Service User Network hold positions in national social care organisations e.g. General Social Care Council

8. Expert Patient Programme (EPP) (Department of Health,2001) ( http://www.expertpatients.co.uk/ ) http://www.expertpatients.co.uk/ individuals have more control over their health by managing it and their treatment in partnership with health care professionals 6 week self care skills training course delivered by lay tutors each patient is an expert about their own condition use of patient expertise to build local support networks

9. place the individual at the centre of the health and social care process foster independence more choice and control over care referred to as personalisation (http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Socialcarereform/ Personalisation) central to personalisation is self directed support e.g. - direct payments - individual budgets

10. 3. THE EMPOWERMENT OF CARERS This has been facilitated through: legislative acts carers movement

11. National Strategy for Carers (1999) Employment Relations Act (1999) Carers and Disabled Children’s Act (2000) The Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (2000) Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act (2004) National Carers Strategy (2008)

12. Carers movement growth the size and power of national and local carers organizations advocacy role increased government website for carers (http://www.carers.gov.uk)http://www.carers.gov.uk Carers UK – “the voice of carers” (http://www.carersuk.org)

13. 4. THE FUTURE PROMOTION OF SERVICE USER AND CARER EMPOWERMENT emphasis on interdependency and empowerment of both service users and carers evidence efforts to empower service users and carers continues (www.dh.gov.uk and www.sdo.lshtm.ac.uk)www.dh.gov.ukwww.sdo.lshtm.ac.uk criticisms possible ways forward: - address underlying attitudes - learning from others - collaborative working - research

14. CONTACT ME ! mlarkin@dmu.ac.uk