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DH guidance on support for Self care
Health Minister Ivan Lewis today announced the introduction of seven Common Core Principles to support self care, designed to help health and social care staff support people to live independently, stay healthy and make the most of their lives by managing their conditions.
The Common Core Principles, which have been developed with Skills for Health and Skills for Care, will be available to employers, managers and workers in health and social care services so that they can use them to help service users get the most out of their care.
The principles aim to help health and social care services enable people to have better control over and responsibility for their own health and well-being, working in partnership with health and social care professionals. The Common Core Principles are intended to support self care in its broadest sense by helping staff across health and social care develop the skills needed to provide people with access to appropriate training, information and support networks. They are aimed at, but not limited to, staff supporting individuals living with a long term condition or with complex needs.
The seven principles are:
- Ensure individuals are able to make informed choices to manage their self care needs
- Communicate effectively to enable individuals to assess their needs, and develop and gain confidence to self care
- Support and enable individuals to access appropriate information to manage their self care needs
- Support and enable individuals to develop skills in self care
- Support and enable individuals to use technology to support self care
- Advise individuals how to access support networks and participate in the planning, development and evaluation of services
- Support and enable risk management and risk taking to maximise independence and choice
A guide to support the implementation of the principles is available here.
Posted 1 May 2008