Reimagining Day Time Supports

In our work with people who commission, provide, fund and use day time services it is clear that they face common and growing core pressures.

These pressures include changing expectations of people who use services (usually aspirational, sometimes generational, sometimes short breaks focused); a real desire to give people more choice and control over the services and support they receive; a policy focus on working more closely with communities, providing support to people who have and pool individual budgets; and, of course, funding pressures.

Exploring these pressures in more detail highlights a number of fundamental issues and opportunities:

• Using real coproduction in both the planning and the delivery of services to ensure they are flexing to meet fluid demands and are ready for the future.
• Using all the opportunities available in a wide range of different geographical, employment and social communities and seeing themselves as facilitators of opportunity for all local people rather than simply providers of a set of services to particular groups.
• Using reduced budgets to offer the same or more services, by being more flexible and creative about working with individuals to achieve their aspirations.
• The impact of personal budgets / self-directed supports on the choices people can make.
• Buildings, transport and community accessibility: seeing day opportunities as an integral part of the local community's resources.
• Developing the local market, from which people can source a wide range of support and services.
• Understanding best practice in the commissioning and development of services (for example employment supports) that actually deliver real jobs.

Whilst the detail for each ‘client’ group and for each kind of organisation (voluntary, charitable, statutory) may be different, these pressures and opportunities are common. The answers will be too. Working together with colleagues, people using services, and communities from the whole sector locally will help ensure the future day time support offered is seamless and robust enough to last.

We know that there are good people providing and commissioning day time supports, and that there are useful working practice and tools. However, too many of these people are working in isolation and so don’t have the time for creative thinking, idea sharing and development opportunities. Some face opposition; others, a competitive environment.

NDTi works with local providers, commissioners and others to design and deliver bespoke reviews, development programmes, change management, and workforce development. We tailor the support we offer to the context and needs of the area, with a view to ensuring that local support and provision enables the people you support to live good and connected lives in their own communities.