By supporting the person to participate in identifying their needs and to enable them to decide on how and where the support is given, and who should provide it, you will be enabling them to take an active rather than a passive role. Enabling people to assert their rights and empowering them to take control over their care and health provision means more than just consulting them and finding out their views. It means we need to enable them to make their views, wishes and dreams become reality.

Under self directed support the person who is being supported engages in a review of the services they receive at the end of the year to see how they have met the outcomes they have identified as being the most important to them. It is the person not the professional who decides what their highest priorities are.

Co-development means that service users work in partnership with those who manage and provide services to plan, change and develop services and policies. Service users and carer’s expertise arises out of their experience. The term ‘expertise by experience’ is used in relation to this. This involves joint planning and accepting the experience which service users and carers have as well as the views of those with professional training.

Co-evaluation means working in partnership with service users in the evaluation of services and policies. The aim is to reach agreement on whether the policies and services are working and to bring about changes which are effective and meet service users needs and expectations.

Coproduction involves working in partnership with service users to reach agreement on matters, such as policy and development, and service development and then to put what is decided into practice.

Assistive Technology (AT) is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people. AT may maximise independence skills such as mobilising, dressing, cooking, remotely opening and closing doors, transferring, bathing, getting up and down stairs etc. People can be advised/assessed by qualified occupational therapists, physiotherapists and other specialist workers such as those working with people with sensory impairments and speech and language therapists. The range of AT is enormous and continuingly being developed and improved.

Use to answer question 7.5c of the Care Certificate