Self Directed Support

The way adult social care is organised for some patients receiving mental health services has changed. You may have heard of this being referred to as “personalisation” or “personal budgets” or by the name of the new system which is called Self Directed Support or SDS.

SDS has been put in place to help adults (aged 18 and over) who are eligible to receive some social care and support services. It is the process by which you can have more choice and control over the support that you need to go about your daily life. It puts you at the centre of decisions about what you want to achieve in life, how and where you live and what social care and support services you need to do this.

Unfortunately SDS cannot be accessed by all of our patients as not everyone has eligible social care needs. However, some people may be entitled to receive social care money to help pay for the support they need with their day to day living as well as support with their mental health.

As Oxford Health NHS FT delivers adult mental health care across two counties, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, the trust is working with two different county councils who have implemented SDS. Therefore, there are slight differences in the way this is being managed in each county.

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Page last reviewed: 14 August, 2017