Changing Attitudes

Lorna Cherry is a service user who is part of the Skills for Care Involvement Team in Sussex. Lorna talks here about her work providing training to social care staff from a service user perspective on care provision.

"There are very different expectations when you go to speak at a training course. Some of the people on the course will have a social care background but are very new to social work. They are not quite sure what to expect – but they are very open.

Social care staff are a bit more apprehensive, thinking that you are going in with your own agenda.

But it's not about going in and telling people how to do their job. It's about giving them an insight into what it feels like to be a service user receiving social care services.

I know about me

I have been involved with Sussex Skills for Care since 2001. I'm happy to talk to anyone about anything. And I know about me and I know what it's like to be me and become disabled and have to rely on social workers and care workers.

I was unhappy with the social work services I received and I felt that if I can contribute any kind of insight into what it feels like to be on the receiving end of care then that would be a good thing.

The attitudes you come across in social care is sometimes a mirror of the attitudes that you come across in wider society.

But I like it when I see something change for an individual. Often you will get someone come up to you at the end of the session and talk to you one on one about the impact the session has had on them.

Or you will hear back from a service user whose care worker came on the course and they will say it changed the way that person is providing care.

Personalisation agenda

The biggest impact on the involvement of people who use services has been the Personalisation Agenda – not just for people providing care but for the service user themselves.

You do see people change their minds about having service users involved and the wish to have us involved is there. As more and more people are seeing the benefits of having us involved, then the people who were anti us are now coming round.

I like the strategic impact when I see that something we have said is making a difference in an organisation. It would be brilliant if health care could have a similar approach.

As service users we just want to get on with our lives and service users should have a proper and genuine choice in order to make an informed decision about the care they receive.

Service users are always involved now in county council commissioning of social care services. I'll continue doing this for as long as they want service users involved."

 

Further information

• Lorna acts as an information point for Experts by Experience, a West Sussex-based group who raise disability awareness by providing health and social care professionals with an insight into their world.
• Skills for Care provides a range of resources relating to the participation of people who use services and their carers in care services.