House of Care

The house of care is a metaphor.

The walls, roof and foundation of the house remind everyone what needs to be in place to allow "good conversations" to happen. 

"Good conversations" are about:

• agreeding a shared agenda - the person and the practitioner each share what they want to talk about
• what matters to the person, rather than a focus on "what is the matter"
• using that shared understanding about what matters to agree a plan
• what the person can do for themselves and what community based resources could be accessed, as well as what the practitioner can do for them. 

This is often referred to as care and support planning. It includes the concepts of shared decision making and supported self management and is asset based. 

There is good evidence that using this approach leads to better outcomes for the person and the system.

Lothian's House of Care Collaboration supports this approach by:

• Facilitating reflective learning to identiy opportunities and help address system barriers
• Capturing and sharing learning
• Offering training in good conversation skills
• Working with people with lived experience of health and care services to inform our approach
• Tailoring it to address health inequalities
• Advising on ways to gather information which reflects the difference this approach can make to people and practitioners
• Creating strategic alliances to spread and sustain the approach

For further information, contact Tracy McLeod, Project Coordinator, at tracy.mcleod@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk