Directly Provided Services

West Sussex County Council provides a wide range of social care services across West Sussex. Some are provided directly by the County Council which are referred to as Directly Provided Services (DPS) (opens in new window) and others are provided in partnership with other organisations. DPS includes 7-day opportunity centres, 6 residential homes and a Shared Lives scheme.

As part of our continuous improvement approach and yearly priority setting (business planning) we engage with staff, people we support families and other professionals to inform those priorities. These are aligned with the WSCC plan (opens in new window) , the Adults Business Plan for 2025 to 2027 (opens in new window) and the Adults Strategy the ‘life you want to lead’ (opens in new window).

To ensure we can identify and celebrate what difference we make to the people we support we use eight Shared Goals (shown below) which describe the way in which we support people to meet their goals.

The Shared Goals were coproduced with staff, people who use services, families and carers and other professionals over a number of years. These align with the Adults Strategy and CQC Quality Statements (opens in new window) and are designed to focus on delivering direct benefits to the people we support (promotion of strength-based practice).

Directly Provided Services Shared Goals:

1.Supporting people to live the lives they want to lead – including work (paid and non-paid), education, and having the opportunity to try new things.

2.Support people to access and be involved in their local community. This may include independent travel and local facilities.

3.Supporting people to maintain friendships and relationships and meet new people. This may include families, friends, partners etc.

4.Reduce long term support and increase short term support – giving ‘the right amount of support at the right time’.

5.Supporting people to be involved in everyday decision-making about the support they receive ensuring who they are is always considered and supported. This is about how they are included in support planning, risk assessment, reviews etc.

6.People are at the heart of decision making in your service. This is about having an influence on how the service is run. This may include participating in staff recruitment, activity development, how money is spent on the service, the environment and equipment, meals etc.

7.People have access to information to support them to know and understand how to stay safe and healthy. This may include people having a health passport, understanding support available, safe places in the community, use of a mobile phone etc.

8.People understand how to raise a concern/make a complaint and feel that changes are made . People feel listened to and what they say makes a difference.