If you or someone you care for receives assistance from Social Services you can now apply for Personal Budgets through Direct Payment. This means that you can now have total choice and control over who provides the care services you need, rather than your council providing them to you. This means you can choose who provides your essential daily care needs, equipment and services.

Clients still need to be assessed by Social Services to ascertain what care services you require.

As an example, you may have an elderly relative whom Social Services suggest requires a Careline alarm as part of their care plan, perhaps after returning home from the hospital. Rather than automatically obtaining this from your Local Authority, you can now elect to receive such a service from a National Supplier such as TeleCare24.

You will receive a budget from Social Services to source and pay for the service directly with the provider. This gives you and your family greater choice and control over your life and provides you with further independence.

In order to set up your Personal Budget Direct Payment, all you need to do is contact the Adult Social Services Department in your Local Authority. They have a legal obligation to offer this provision to you. Some Local Authorities are quite proactive in offering this as a solution for their residents, whilst others seem to be a little slow on the uptake. However, it’s very easy to set up and someone within that department should be able to do everything for you.

If you have applied for Direct Payment and require a Careline alarm from TeleCare24 then please call 0800 180 8540 or visit our website. We have a team here ready and waiting to help anyone who has set up a Direct Payment facility with their local council.

If you need some helpful advice on how to access Direct Payments then please visit the NHS Choices website.