short break bureau: mental health voucher scheme

Permission to Dream 2015Mental Health Voucher Scheme

Lynda Wright

What is your dream??

• To play golf on a sunny morning.

• To learn how to make sculptures and paint my own art work.

What is your dream??

• To do woodworkclasses.

• To be able to go to the shopsand pick clothes myself.

Short Break Vouchers

• 5 providers who accept vouchers.• Making soap, bubble bath and glass painting.• Swimming, bingo and bowling.• Days out, comedy or music concerts. • Art classes.• Golf, woodwork classes, gardening and fishing.

Why was the Mental Health Voucher Scheme set up?

• Discussions with the integrated mental health team and mental health carers group.

• Alternative to direct payments. • Address low uptake of overnight breaks for

those with a mental illness and their carers.• Objective is to increase the amount of respite.

Who is the service for?

• Aged 18 and over.• Service user must have a severe and enduring

mental health illness.• They must be eligible for respite. • Vouchers are based on assessed need.

How does the voucher scheme work?

• 1 voucher = 1 hour of support.• Providers agree to accept vouchers.• Vouchers to be used flexibly by agreement

between voucher recipient and provider.• Voucher must be signed by provider once the

support has been provided.• Provider submits regular invoices to FC with

the number of vouchers used.

Vouchers and SDS

• Flexible and easy to use.• Individuals have direct control over their

respite.• Personalised / person centred – can build in

own interests, goals, hobbies.• Incorporates SDS principles of involvement.

Outcomes for the service user

• Improved levels of confidence.• Improving money management skills.• Avoidance of hospital admission – used

vouchers for support during difficult time.• Improvements in mood, planning ahead and

engaging in more social activities.• Reassurance, used only when needed.

Outcomes for the carer

• Improved health and wellbeing.

• More time for themselves – sleeping / relaxing

• Less stressed and worried.

Challenges

• Initially service users had difficulty knowing what they would like to use the vouchers for.

• Flexibility dependent on provider. • Parameters of what can be done with

vouchers is limited by providers who accept the vouchers.

• Engaging with carers to get them to think about their own needs.

What did we learn?

• Keep it simple.• Build services around service users interests. – approach providers gradually.• Be clear about the use of the vouchers throughout.• Maintain the focus on respite.

What ensured that the pilot project worked well?

• From the start everyone involved understood and supported the pilot’s aim and objective.

• Providers support/cooperation and flexibility.• Providers and workers supported individuals

to decide what activities they would like to do in the future.

• Change provider without going back through the Council.

Future Developments?

• Increasing the number of service users and providers.

• Pooling resources – service users doing activities together so voucher hours go further.

• Widen the service user group that can use the vouchers- hoping to widen to those with dementia.