The LPS policy team at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published on 25 June 2021 an update on current developments. In this blog, we look at what’s new.
LPS implementation support programmes
The DHSC has established two English implementation support programmes as follows:
Local Government Implementation Support Programme
This programme will be led by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, in partnership with DHSC, with support from the Department for Education.
This programme will:
- “develop exemplar training products for local authorities, for the conversion of best interest assessors (BIAs) to approved mental capacity professionals (AMCPs). The government proposes that BIAs under DoLS are replaced with the statutory AMCP role under LPS. BIAs that wish to convert to AMCPs would need to undergo training, which would be delivered by local authorities. Exemplar training will help local authorities prepare and deliver high quality training.
- appoint ‘regional implementation champions’ separately for adult and children’s services in each of the English regions
- provide targeted support to local authorities to facilitate implementation planning and activities
- work through established regional structures across both adult and children’s services to develop and disseminate key information about LPS and to inform local authority planning for implementation”
Social Care Providers Implementation Support Programme
This programme will be led by the Social Care Institute for Excellence and Skills for Care in partnership with the DHSC.
This programme’s remit is to:
- “establish how the social care sector is planning for LPS and what national support it needs to make implementation a success
- develop and disseminate key information about LPS to inform social care providers’ planning for implementation. This will include exemplar guidance, resources and training for people working in social care.”
As for a third implementation support programme for the health sector, the DHSC is working with NHS England and Health Education England.
You can read the DHSC’s guidance on the LPS support programme here.
More information about implementation planning, workforce training and readiness will be included in the Government’s forthcoming public consultation on LPS.
As a reminder, all announcements and publications about the implementation of LPS can be found on the LPS documents collection page.
Draft LPS Code of Practice
The LPS steering group met on 18 May to discuss the draft Code which will provide statutory guidance on implementing the LPS system in England and Wales. You can read a summary of that discussion here.
Currently we still do not know when the public consultation on the draft Code and regulations will be published but we will keep readers updated.
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