To quote from the excellent SCIE booklet ‘Leadership for personalisation and social inclusion in mental health’:

Personalisation means thinking about care and support services in an entirely different way. This means starting with the person as an individual with strengths, preferences and aspirations. They drive the process of identifying their needs and aspirations and making choices about how and when they are supported to live their lives. It requires a significant transformation of all adult social care services, including mental health, so that all systems, processes, staff and services are geared up to put people first. The traditional service-led approach has often meant that people have not received the right help at the right time and have been unable to shape the kind of support they need. Personalisation is about giving people much more choice and control over their lives in all social care settings including those integrated with health. It is far wider than simply giving personal budgets to people eligible for council funding. Personalisation means addressing the needs and aspirations of whole communities to ensure everyone has access to the right information, advice and advocacy to make informed choices about the support they need. It means ensuring that people have services such as transport, leisure and education, housing, health and opportunities for employment regardless of age or disability.