Citizen Advisors - Turning Point

Turning Point Connected Care Report 4
Executive Summary
Empowering communities to do more for themselves and encouraging
individuals within a local area to come together and have a role in shaping and
delivering services are key components of the coalition government’s vision for
a Big Society, and in reframing the purpose of public services, particularly in
health and social care, with communities acting as more active participants in
creating better outcomes.
This co-production approach can build capacity, develop the skills of local
people and result in a more appropriate use of services. However, involving
people in the design of services may not be enough to truly build community
resilience and improve quality of life. Individuals will need support to help them
to interact and engage with services and to build their confidence so that they
are able to play an active role in their communities.
Turning Point Connected Care argues that a new approach to service provision,
Citizen Advisors, is best placed to provide this service and offer this type of
support for communities within a more integrated health system. The purpose
of a Citizen Advisor is to assist people in accessing the variety of services that
they require to meet their needs. Citizen Advisors would signpost people into
programmes in their local area and then support people through the process of
engaging with services.
This Turning Point report reviews a number of approaches to service navigation
and wider support, placing particular attention on those that join up health and
social care. This is important because integrating health and social care support
improves efficiency, the service user experience, and can produce savings. For
example, integrated health and social care initiatives can realise savings of
between £1.20 and £2.65 for every £1 spent (Turning Point, 2010).
The report finds that it is essential that citizen advisor type models are designed
and delivered in response to the needs and wishes of the local community. This
criterion is reflected in the fact that there are often differences between citizen
advisor services that have been set up in different communities, particularly
urban and rural areas. Citizen advisors in urban areas tend to focus on directing
people to statutory services, whereas citizen advisors in rural areas play a much
bigger role in community development and tackling social isolation.
However, in many cases individuals require both forms of support and there is
evidence to show that there can be practical difficulties when attempting to
deliver this. Often citizen advisors feel unable to fulfil both aspects of the role,
signposting to services and improving community capacity, and they prefer to
focus on one aspect or another, depending on their background and experience.
This is influenced to a large extent by whether the citizen advisor is a qualified
professional, or a local community member. It seems that this can have a large
impact on the credibility of the service, both with clients and with other
professionals. Local people working as citizen advisors tend to have a much