Person-centred care plans with family involvement

Care plans must be live, person-centred documents. This requires joint ownership with people with learning disabilities and their families rather than simply professional records. While professionals necessarily lead assessments, families should be actively involved in identifying needs. Resulting care plans should be shared with the service user themselves (where appropriate) and families, who should be able to challenge and further contribute to them. People with learning disabilities and/or families should receive a copy of the care plan at agreed intervals and whenever significant changes occur.