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When a person receiving care is included in decisions about their care and support, and have a say in how they live their life and how they want to spend their time.

Care and support for adults who need extra help to manage their lives and be independent - including older people, people with a disability or long-term illness, people with mental health problems, and carers. Adult social care includes assessment of a person’s needs, provision of services or allocation of funds to enable the person to purchase their own care and support. It includes residential care, home care, personal assistants, day services, the provision of aids and adaptations and personal budgets.

Advocate can be used in a general sense, as one who speaks on behalf of another, or it can have special meanings derived from the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

There are formal and informal advocates and these can be:

• Individuals acting informally:
• Carers
• Relatives
• Partners
• Neighbours or friends
• Staff.
• Those prescribed by legislation, such as Independent Mental Health Advocates and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates.
• Those provided by schemes run by local authorities, the NHS and charities.

Help to make things easier for Supported People around their home. If they are struggling or disabled, they may need special equipment to enable them to live more comfortably and independently. They may also need changes to their home to make it easier and safer to get around. Aids and adaptations include things like grab rails, ramps, walk-in showers and stair-lifts.

A care plan, also known as a support or nursing care plan, is a document created for a person that is receiving healthcare, personal care, or other forms of support. A care and support plan details the type of support the person needs and how this support will be given. This means the person can stay as independent as possible, have as much control over their life as possible and do the things they enjoy.

Behaviour that may cause harm to the person or to those around them and may make it difficult for them to go out and about. It may include aggression, self-injury or disruptive or destructive behaviour. It is often caused by a person’s difficulty in communicating what they need - perhaps because of a learning disability, autism, dementia, or a mental health problem. People whose behaviour is a threat to their own wellbeing or to others need the right support. They may be referred by their GP to a specialist behavioural team. The specialist team will work on understanding the causes of the behaviour and finding solutions. This is sometimes known as positive behaviour support.

Keeping information about someone safe and private, and not sharing it without the person’s knowledge and agreement. Any information you provide about yourself should be protected carefully, and should only be shared with people or organisations who genuinely need to know it. Your personal details should not be discussed without your agreement.

Dignity is concerned with how people feel, think and behave in relation to the worth or value that they place on themselves and others. To treat someone with dignity is to treat them as being of worth and respecting them as a valued person, taking account of their individual views and beliefs.

When something goes wrong with the health or social care that is provided to a person, the organisation that provides the care has a legal duty to be open with them, to explain what has happened and to apologise to them.

The right for supported people to choose the way they live their life. It does not necessarily mean living by themself or doing everything for themself. It means the right to receive the assistance and support they need so they can participate in their community and live the life they want.

A team of different professionals (such as doctors, nurses, therapists, psychologists, social workers, and others) working together to provide care and support that meets the person’s needs. The team brings together many different types of knowledge, skills and expertise, and should look at the person as a whole person.

In social care, an ‘outcome’ refers to an aim or objective the person would like to achieve or need to happen - for example, continuing to live in a person’s own home, or being able to go out and about. The person should be able to say which outcomes are the most important to the person and receive support to achieve them.

Taking part in decisions about things that affect them and other people. This may be about their own day-to-day life, such as what to eat or how to spend their time, or about how a service or organisation is run. It is more than consultation: they should not just be asked their view, but should be able to have an influence over the final decision.

Help with personal matters such as eating, drinking, washing, going to the toilet, getting up, getting dressed, going to bed, taking medicines and other things.

An approach that puts the person receiving care and support at

the centre of the way care is planned and delivered. It is based around the person and their

own needs, preferences, and priorities. It treats the person as an equal partner and puts into

practice the principle of ‘no decision about me without me’.

A method of addressing “challenging behaviour,” with

the aim of improving a person’s quality of life. It involves looking at things from the perspective

of the person and working out how their environment could be improved and helping them to

learn new skills. People are treated with dignity and are not punished.

An organisation that provides services, such as care and support services.

When a person’s movements or behaviour are deliberately restricted by someone.

Restraint may be used in an emergency, to prevent someone harming themselves or other

people. It may also be used in a planned way to prevent someone who is unable to make decisions for themselves causing harm. If restraint is used wrongly, it may be abuse.

What the person is entitled to receive, and how they should be treated, as a citizen. If the person has a disability or mental health problem, is an older person or acts as a carer for someone else, the person has the right to have a person’s needs assessed by a person’s local council. The person has a right to a service or direct payment if their assessment puts them above the eligibility threshold their local council is using. The person and a person’s carers have the right to be consulted about their assessment and about any changes in the services they receive.

The process of ensuring that people at risk are not being abused, neglected, or exploited and ensuring that people who are deemed ‘unsuitable’ do not work with them. (If you believe that you or someone you know is being abused, you should let the adult social care department at a person’s local council know. They should carry out an investigation and put a protection plan in place if abuse is happening.) Councils have a duty to work with other organisations to protect adults from abuse and neglect. They do this through local safeguarding boards.

A sleepover shift consists of working during the day, a rest period sleeping over in the service between 11pm - 7am and then working again the next day. Sleepover shift are typically 3pm - 3pm or 10am - 10am. The sleepover period is over and above your contracted hours and gets paid as an additional payment.

Any help that a person needs, such as personal care or practical assistance, to live a person’s life as comfortably and independently as possible, because of age, illness, or disability.

A process to guide, support and assist employees to enable them to carry out the duties they are employed to perform.

These are the people we provide support to and are at the heart of everything we do.

The process by which young people with health or social care needs move from children’s services to adult services- sometimes called “Preparing for Adulthood.” It should be carefully planned, so that there are no gaps in the care young people receive. Young people and their families should be fully involved in the planning process.

An adult who may need care and support because of their age, disability, or illness, and may be unable to protect themselves from harm, neglect, or abuse.