You have the right to choose who cares for you.

If you receive Fast Track palliative care

Fast Track funding from the NHS is reviewed after 42 days. If at that point you no longer meet the criteria, you should be reassessed to see whether the local authority will fund your care instead.

If the local authority takes over, you will often be told that you will no longer receive care from the people who are currently looking after you, and more often than not you will have new carers the very next day.

Being told you are not going to recover is the most distressing thing a person can hear. The very least you should expect is exceptional care and dignity, but you should also have control: over who you trust to come into your home, who laughs and cries with you, and who is with you when you are at your most vulnerable. Most people receiving end of life care form a real bond with the people caring for them. To be told that from tomorrow you will never see them again is a cruelty nobody should have to face.

What a Direct Payment does

A Direct Payment is money paid to you (or someone acting for you) by the local authority instead of the council arranging your care itself. It allows you to:

• be in control of your own care;
• choose who delivers it;
• keep the carers you already know and trust, if that is what you want.

In our experience the local authority is reluctant to tell people that they have this right. That has to change. People receiving care deserve openness about their options.

This applies to everyone, not just end of life care

If your care is arranged and funded by the local authority and it is not of the standard you are entitled to, you do not have to put up with it because you think you have to. Ask about Direct Payments, choose your own provider, and take some much-needed control back over your life.

How to ask

1. Speak to your social worker or the local authority and say you want to be assessed for a Direct Payment.
2. Any half-decent care provider will also be happy to talk it through with you.
3. If you are still unsure, ring us on 01543 495695. We will explain the process. We are not saying choose us; we are saying ask us, and we will help you choose for yourself.

This page is general information based on our experience in Staffordshire, not legal or financial advice. Your social worker, the local authority and organisations such as Citizens Advice can advise on your individual circumstances.