This guest post is by Vidhya Alakeson, one of In Control’s associates and Deputy Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation. Vidhya is a leading consultant in the personalisation of health and social care. She is an internationally recognised expert on personal health budgets and has been closely involved in the development and implementation of personalisation in the NHS. Yesterday 56,000 people who are eligible for continuing healthcare got the right to have that care delivered…

In Control, Lancaster University and Think Local Act Personal have today Tuesday October 28th published the Third National Personal Budget Survey sharing the experiences of more than 4,000 people with personal budgets and their carers.   The report, focuses on the use of personal budgets in adult social services and health across England and is the largest survey to date looking at the impact that personal budgets are having on people’s lives.   More than 80…

In Control, Lancaster University and Think Local Act Personal have today, Tuesday 28th October 2014, published a national survey of the experiences of 129 personal health budget holders and 101 carers to look at the impact that personal health budgets are having on people’s lives.   Twenty-two different NHS and council organisations in 13 areas took part in the survey, which aims to  identify the critical process conditions that clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), local authorities and partner…

Parents and young people themselves should be at the heart of checking and improving Education Health and Care Plans (EHC) and personal budgets under the SEND reforms according to a the report we published in the summer.   The report ‘Measuring the outcomes of EHC plans and personal budgets’ shows how this can be done via a pilot survey of 133 people from six council areas carried out by In Control with Lancaster University, and supported…

Inclusive Change launches today as a partnership between In Control, Community Catalysts, Inclusive Neighbourhoods, Inclusion North and Shared Lives Plus. These organisations are now working together to support citizens and leaders to have new conversations which can identify their area’s strengths and resources as well as its needs, and to pursue together the simple goal of ‘good lives in good places’, rather than focusing solely on ‘service efficiencies’. The partnership is already working with one…

A beautiful tribute to Nicola Kirk, written by Jo Fitzgerald at People Hub and published in the Guardian. My friend Nicola Kirk (nee Darby), who has died aged 41 of cancer, may not have been a politician or a medical professional, but she was nevertheless a true pioneer in public services.     When her husband, Stephen, had an accident in 2008 that left him completely paralysed from the neck down, life was turned upside…

We welcome the launch of the Coalition for Collaborative Care which brings together some of the most influential bodies in health and social care to champion the transformation of support provided for people with long-term health conditions.   More than 15 million people in the UK are living with a long-term condition. They are the biggest users of NHS services but they are spending a large amount of their own time managing their care and…

We would like to congratulate Miro Griffiths, one of our associates, on receiving his MBE last week.     Miro received his MBE for services to people with disabilities.   Commenting on the award, Miro said: “It is a great honour to receive the MBE and I am stunned by the whole experience. I have tried to promote the views of disabled people and help bring about positive change for our society. I feel the…