We’re delighted to welcome Lucy Summerhayes and the team from Dorking Healthcare (DHC) to the My Future Care community.
As part of their Live Well Service, Lucy and her colleagues are using the My Future Care Handbook to support people across Surrey to feel more informed, prepared and in control when it comes to planning for later life.
We spoke to Lucy to find out more
What kind of support do you provide, and who do you provide it to?
Our Live Well Service supports clients aged 17 and over who are registered with a Dorking GP practice. As Social Prescribers, we take a fresh, holistic approach to empower people to take charge of their health and wellbeing in positive and meaningful ways. This can include connecting them with community groups, exercise classes, financial advice services, volunteer hubs – and much more.
What kind of challenges do the people you work with face when it comes to making plans for later life and beyond?
Knowing where to start can be a huge challenge. It often feels overwhelming, and people may not know what to focus on first. There’s also a common perception that planning for later life is daunting or bleak, which can be off-putting and make it harder to engage with the conversation.
How do you hope the My Future Care Handbooks and support will help you meet people’s needs better?
We hope the Handbook will help us to positively reframe perceptions around later life planning and encourage more people to take part in it. Ultimately, we want people to feel empowered and in control of their lives, and we see the Handbook as a valuable tool to support those conversations.
Thank you to Lucy and the DHC team for sharing how you’re using the Handbook to support person-centred, proactive planning.
Feeling motivated by Lucy’s insights? Could you incorporate future care planning support into your group or service?
Take advantage of our free training and ongoing support programme. Our online training will equip your team to help the people you work with make an action plan and see it through, using the My Future Care Handbook as a source of information and structure for the conversation. Handbooks are available free in certain areas (thanks to area-specific funding), otherwise bulk prices are available.
