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Care planning

  • Last modified date:
    16 January 2009

High quality care for all:  the final report of the NHS Next Stage review re-affirms the commitment made in Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, White Paper that over the next two years, every one of the 15 million people with one or more long term conditions should be offered a personalised care plan.  

What is care planning?

Personalised care planning is essentially about addressing an individual’s full range of needs, taking into account their health, personal, social, economic, educational, mental health, ethnic and cultural background and circumstances.  It recognises that there are other issues in addition to medical needs that can impact on a person’s total health and well-being.

Who will deliver it?

Care planning will generally be delivered in primary care in GP practices by staff such as practice nurses.  It will also be delivered in hospitals by staff such as specialist nurses or could even be delivered in people’s homes by staff such as community matrons, case managers and social care workers. 

What are the benefits?

Personalised care planning can lead to a range of benefits for individuals, commissioners, providers of services and the health and social care workforce.  These centre around:

  • embedding personalisation of care and services
  • promoting health through information and self care, people staying healthier for longer “adding life to years”
  • promoting independence and achievement of other goals such as returning to work
  • reducing health inequalities – standardising care across the country
  • promoting integration and partnership working
  • stimulating genuine choices – those choices feeding into commissioning decisions
  • promotes a more planned, proactive approach to health and social care services
  • efficiency savings, for example reductions in hospital admissions, out patient appointments and GP consultations

For commissioners and providers

Personalised care planning: a guide for commissioners

This guide will provide commissioners of health and social care services with the information and support they need to embed personalised care planning in their localities.  This should ensure that people with long term conditions receive more individualised care and services to help them manage their conditions better and achieve the outcomes they want for themselves.  The guide has been developed in collaboration with stakeholders across health, social care, the voluntary and independent sectors and patient representative groups.

For workforce

Detailed guidance will be issued in early 2009 for the NHS and social care workforce about what personalised and integrated care planning means for them with a variety of case study examples of how it could be delivered.

Want to find out more?

Please e-mail us with any questions, information or any initiatives you may have on care planning, at

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