Council wins award for adult care website (From Harrow Times)

Harrow Council wins award for adult care website shop4support

7:40am Monday 8th November 2010 in News By Jack Royston

AN “Amazon-style” website selling services and products to adults receiving social care has won an award.

Harrow Council offers the adults it supports the option of having their own budgets which they can use to decide how their care should be provided and who it should be provided by.

The authority was the first in the country to use online market place shop4support to run the scheme.

The council picked up the Supporting Independence Award at the NHS London Health and Social Care Awards 2010 on Wednesday.

Councillor Margaret Davine said: “We are very proud to be a national leader in giving residents in need of social care greater choice and independence.

“Personal budgets are about putting residents in control and the shop4support service enables them to live full and active lives as independently as possible.

“We are thrilled with the award but the hard work will continue as we look to roll out shop4support to all of our social care users.”

Councillor Barry Macleod-Cullinane, deputy leader of the Tory group, said: “This award is fantastic news, and many congratulations are due to the officers who worked so hard in order to achieve it.

“The council's work with Shop4Support is vital to widening and deepening care choices, for enabling personalisation to provide our users and their families with real, meaningful choices over their services rather than an artificial, pseudo-choice.

"Personalisation has been warmly embraced by the new coalition government, and I'm very pleased that Labour appear to be as committed to continuing its life-changing policies as we were during our last Conservative administration.”