Person-centred planning and person-centred thinking are central themes in government policy for people with learning disabilities. The same ideas are also, of course, just as important in social services for other groups of people.

The NDT provides training courses on person-centred planning for staff in services, and for people with learning disabilities. These include training to introduce people to the principles and methods used in person-centred planning, and also training to learn how to help other people make their own plans.

Person-Centred Planning is worthwhile but not easy. After you have done the training and supported some people to plan, how do you keep improving? The NDT has developed two sets of materials to check how how well person-centred planning is being done, and whether services are learning to be person-centred.

How are we doing on Person-Centred Planning?
This pack will be helpful to you if you are doing person-centred planning, whether for someone you are close to, or as part of your job. The pack helps you to:

	think about how you are getting on
	work together to evaluate individual and team progress
	develop continuous quality improvement.

The 'How are we doing' pack in use

How are we doing on Person-Centred Planning? was designed by examining the relevant literature, reviewing our extensive experience of training and ongoing support and then by piloting the approach with a number of individuals and organisations. Whether you are working to stay true to the best possible practice, or helping more traditional services to make small steps towards becoming more person-centred, this audit tool is vital.

The pack is in the form of a set of cards, each one looking at one aspect of person-centred planning.

The costs is £ 25 plus £ 5 post and packing. Please order from the NDT national office.

Person-centred Approaches: an audit tool for Partnership Boards
This audit tool is one of a series of checklists, commmissioned by the Valuing People Support Team. All the checklists review progress in changing services so that they respond to the needs and wishes of each person. Other checklists are intended for use by service commissioners, care managers, providers, families, and self-advocates.

The audit tool for Partnership Boards looks across the whole range of activities of local commissioners and services, to assess progress and decide the action that needs to be taken.

The feature that makes the Partnership Board audit tool most distinctive is that it has been created in PowerPoint slides, rather than on paper. This makes it much easier for groups of people - perhaps the whole Partnership Board - to work on the audit together. What's more, it's been programmed with unusual and highly innovative features -

	The Board's agreed answers are entered on the PC, and immediately shown on screen, so that everyone can see what has been decided
	Lists of options for action, as shown on screen, are based on earlier answers about how well services making progress.
	Extra ideas for action can be typed in, and added to the list.
	A shortlist of top-priority options for action is offered automatically.
	A full report of the Board’s answers and decisions can be generated as a MS Word document.
	The Board’s answers and decisions are stored as a separate file that can be reviewed, archived, or emailed.

The checklists are being launched by the Valuing People Support Team, and should be available soon (free of charge) from the Valuing People Web site.