Press Release

White Paper brings social care in to 21st century

30th January 2006

National disability charity, United Response (UR) has welcomed the publication today of the government’s white paper ‘Our health, our care, our say: a new direction in community services', as a way of bringing social care in to 21st century.

Su Sayer, Chief Executive of UR said:

“In the past social care has been cut off from health, despite the natural crossover between the two services.

“Today's white paper recognises that joint working is the way forward in providing people with the services they need and want.

“UR works with over 1000 people with learning disabilities, supporting them to make decisions about their lives. And we hope these proposals will mean real choice for many people for whom this has not been a reality. In particular, we believe that the proposed extension of direct payments and Individual Budgets will give people greater control over their own lives, putting them in charge and provide a vital shift in the power balance between provider and client.

“We support an increasing number of people with mental health needs, through a range of services including outreach and community support. We believe that access to services is partly about making things readily available in people's communities. More people are likely to access the services they need if they are close to home and in familiar surroundings such as their local GP's practice. Our experience has shown that specialist mental health intervention at primary care level, provided in partnership with GPs, can be very effective in preventing problems from escalating.

“We believe that the proposals outlined in the white paper have the potential to make more services more accessible to more people and hope that the resources will be put in place to enable them to be put into practice on the ground.

“We look forward to working with government and the health care sector to provide a more independent and joined up service for all our clients.”