Range of housing types

The range of housing types that should be made available is as wide as that for people without learning disabilities. In this section the whole range has been split into various general types although it has to be stated that there is much crossover between types. There are also some suggestions about the general advantages and disadvantages of each type, although it must be stressed that different people will view advantages and disadvantages according to their own preferences. Choice is very much a personal thing.

Group homes

Group accommodation for up to four people in one house or flat can be provided with
varying levels of support for different residents, including those with the need for very high
levels of support and live-in support.

The advantages of this model are that relevant support can be made available on demand, the availability of compatible friendships, company and activity with other co-residents, yet also an ability to live one’s own life in a separate room if desired. Group homes can offer a high degree of staff contact.

The closeness of others can be a disadvantage for those of a very independent frame of mind and group treatment needs to avoided by good practice providers. Systems such as Active Support can be used to ensure maximum independence and engagement of coresidents in their home and community life.

Independent living

Independent living separates the provision of housing from the “support” people need to live. People can live in a range of houses and flats from a number of different housing providers, depending on availability and choice, and they hold their own tenancies or have ownership arrangements. Support can be offered in a range of ways and at different levels of intensity depending on individual need. Continuing the theme from group homes, the advantages of  the model are that it empowers the individual to make their own decisions about their lives, to make choices about what they do, when and where. Support can be tailored to the person and not overpower the person’s own independence. People can have a lot of control over their environment, depending on their tenancy agreement of ownership of their home.

The following are examples of how support can be delivered to people living in independent living:

  • The Keyring housing model
    Offers independent housing for several people living within the same neighbourhood. A relatively low level of support is usually needed and is provided by an individual volunteer who lives in one of the housing units. The Keyring emphasis on neighbourhood also offers the opportunity for people to support one another and offers the benefits of a ready-made community of people. This model is not available in Cardiff.
  • Intensively supported independent living.
    This model has been offered to people with autism and/or challenging behaviour who find it difficult to live within a shared setting and who might otherwise be more expensively accommodated out of county. In this model 12 to 15 units are situated near to one another, some with living space for individual support workers, although general support for the whole scheme needs also to be centrally located, along with some community facilities. Each unit is fitted with modern technological support aids and systems. Joint funding with the LHB is common for such a scheme.
  • Warden assisted group of flats and/or houses
    This form of housing is a more supportive version of Keyring, offering accommodation and support for up to fifteen people living on the same site or in the same area. As well as an independent living unit, there are also communal facilities such as a lounge and laundry. Residents usually have quite high support needs or wish to live in separate accommodation while still taking advantage
    of communal facilities and a sense of community among tenants. A live-in warden
    supervises the support that tenants require.
    The above models are sometimes referred to as ‘Core and Cluster’.
  • Supported living own tenancy
    This form of housing enables a person to live independently in their own home
    with twenty four hour support provided by a dedicated, consistent, experienced
    staff team. Services include supporting the individual to develop independent living
    skills such as: shopping, household chores, planning and preparing meals, budgeting and paying bills, cooking and cleaning; support to access the local community, help with personal care and maintaining the tenancy.

Life sharing arrangements

There are various ways in which life sharing arrangements can be made. People can offer a place in their own home or elect to move in with a person with a learning disability either on a voluntary basis or with some form of payment.

Generally the advantages of sharing one’s life with others are to have a close personal relationship with particular people to whom one is attached, to have constant, accessible support and, through the sharing person, have access into local community network.

Disadvantages are that life sharing might inhibit a sense of independence and that success will be dependent on compatibility and the quality of the relationship. This means that great care is needed in creating the match between the sharers and argues for a scheme to provide matching and monitoring services.

The following are examples of how life sharing can be arranged:

  • Shared living (formerly known as adult placement)
    Living with a well-matched “host” family or individual provides a shared life within the carers’ own family and with access to their social networks in a local community setting. Shared Lives carers can provide long or short term, full time or part time accommodation, support and care for up to two people. They are part of organised Shared Lives schemes which approve and train carers and monitor arrangements. Shared Lives carers do not employ staff and provide all the care and support themselves.
  • Supported lodging
    This is very similar to Shared Lives (adult placement) in that the individual has a tenancy, licence or lodging in someone’s home. The person can receive support through the person providing lodgings, although this is likely to be less support than might be provided in more formal Shared Lives arrangement.
  • Flat or annex in a family home
    This form of accommodation offers individually created facilities to people who wish to live separately but to have family support nearby.
  • Living with a support tenant
    An individual, a couple or a small group of people, usually with quite low support needs, live in a house or flat with a support tenant.All have their separate accommodation in the home and the support tenant, who usually has another job, gets free accommodation and a small honorarium for delivering whatever support is require.

Housing for Older People

Wherever possible the principle should be to allow people to live in their own homes with
relevant support if they wish to do so. Several of the types of accommodation mentioned above are relevant for older people and will deliver the positive outcomes they do for younger people. Where people’s personal care needs increase with age, the same opportunities for housing, residential carand nursing homes and dementia services for older people should also be available to people with learning disabilities.
One emerging model may be particularly useful in the future:

  • Extra care housing
    Extra care housing provides different types of housing such as self-contained flats or bungalows but with more extensive communal facilities and the opportunity for increasing amounts of care, including domiciliary care and nursing care, to be provided as necessary.

Intentional communities

An intentional community is a distinct community of people with varying levels of learning disabilities who live in community with non-disabled people supporting them, usually
according to a strong communal philosophy based on sharing lives and on work. Intentional communities might be based on a campus or on dispersed housing in the local community or both. They seek to integrate into their local community. They might be rural or urban, large or small according to the wishes and needs of the individuals. Their accommodation arrangements could be regarded as group homes, independent living or shared lives arrangements mentioned above.

The main advantages of an intentional community are an active social and working life
and the strong sense of friendship and company. There tends to be greater consistency in the staff team with consequent benefits to people with learning disabilities. The disadvantages are that some might prefer a quieter or a more independent lifestyle with more privacy and, in some forms, communities can be geographically isolated.

Residential care home

Specialist residential care homes for people with learning disabilities involve a fully integrated package of accommodation and care and require registration under the Care Standards Act 2000. These are becoming less as group home and independent living forms of housing are achieving significant levels of care, for people along with a high degree of autonomy.

An advantage is that residential care homes can provide extensive personal care support and facilities according to the wishes of residents, and can provide appropriately for people with higher support needs. Disadvantages are that registered residential care homes can be larger in size than other accommodation forms, with associated difficulties in maintaining an individualised approach.

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Who handles complaints?

Complaints about the Health Service

Complaints about the Health Service

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board and each of its Trusts and GP Practices have a procedure for dealing with complaints. New Regulations aimed at streamlining the handling of concerns about the Welsh NHS come into force on 1 April
2011. Under the new Putting Things Right arrangements, the NHS in Wales will aim to
“investigate once, investigate well”, ensuring that concerns are dealt with in the right way, the first time round.

Anyone who has a complaint about NHS services is asked to contact the Complaints Officer at the Practice or Trust and that person will be happy to investigate the circumstances
of the complaint and try to resolve it fairly and amicably with you. This is known as Local
Resolution.

If you remain dissatisfied after this, then you can ask the Complaints Officer to refer your
complaint for an Independent Review (Stage II). This will be carefully considered by a Convenor, although there is no automatic right to have such a Review.

More details are available in the booklet “Complaints…Listening…Acting…Improving”
which you can obtain from the Practice/Trust.

If your grievance continues beyond this stage, then you can ask the Public Services
Ombudsman to investigate.

His address is:

Public Services Ombudsman For Wales
1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed CF35 5LJ
Tel: 01656 641 150 0845 601 0987
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk

If you prefer, you can ask the Local Health Board to do so.
If you need help with conveying your concern, contact the ABM University Health Board or the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board Community Health Council (CHC). Your local CHC provides a free and independent advocacy service, which is able to help patients or the people acting for them to raise a concern.

The CHC will offer advice and support, including putting you in touch with specialist advocacy services if you need them.

ABM Community Health Council
Water Street Business Centre
Water Street
Aberavon
Port Talbot SA12 6LF
Tel: 01639 892271

Board of Welsh Community Health Councils
Tel: 029 2023 5558
Web: www.communityhealthcouncils.org.uk

You can contact the concerns team at Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board

Tel: 01639 683363/683316
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Community Health Council
Cathy Moss, Advocate
Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Advocacy Team
Third Floor Park House
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff CF10 3AF
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.wales.nhs.uk

Writing a letter to:
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board
Mr Paul Roberts, Chief Executive
1 Talbot Gateway
Baglan Energy Park
Port Talbot SA12 7BR

More information on what to do if you are concerned over the quality of healthcare your relative is offered can be found here.

Complaints about Voluntary Organisations

Complaints about Voluntary Organisations

Most complaints regarding a charity should be addressed to the trustees and dealt with
by them under the charity’s own internal complaints procedures. However, there are
a limited number of circumstances where a complaint would fall under the Charities Commission’s jurisdiction, and when it does, they will only take it forward where they are provided with evidence that there is a serious risk to the charity, its beneficiaries or assets. If, someone believes that their complaint is one that falls within their criteria, they should complete the online form (not contact a particular individual within the Commission).

An organisation is a charity in law if it has wholly charitable objects and operates for the public benefit. The Commission registers charities with an annual income over £5000. The Commission does not therefore confer charitable status (an organisation either is a charity or isn’t) and so cannot take it away. If an organisation is a charity, it remains a charity forever and it is the trustees’ responsibility to run it accordingly and in line with charity law.

For further information contact:

Charity Commission
Wales Office
8th Floor Clarence House
Clarence Place
Newport NP19 7AA
Tel: 01663 225505
Contact centre: 0870 333 0123
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.charity-commission.gov.uk

Consumer Focus Wales

Consumer Focus Wales

Consumer Focus is the new statutory organisation campaigning for a fair deal for consumers in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland.

Consumer Focus was created through the merger of three consumer organisations; energywatch, Postwatch and the National Consumer Council (including the Welsh and Scottish Consumer Councils). The new approach allows for more joined-up consumer advocacy, with a single organisation speaking with a powerful voice and able to more readily bring cross-sector expertise to issues of concern.

Consumer Focus has strong new legislative powers. These include the right to investigate
any consumer complaint if they are of wider interest, the right to open up information from
providers, the power to conduct research and the ability to make an official super-complaint about failing services. Consumer Focus is resourced to use these powers and campaign on the issues that matter most to consumers.

For further information contact:

Consumer Focus Wales
Portcullis House
21 Cowbridge Road East
Cardiff CF11 9SR
Tel: 029 2078 7100
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.consumerfocus.org.uk

Hospital admissions- making sure staff know your child and how to complain!

Hospital admissions- making sure staff know your child and how to complain!

Too many people with a learning disability enjoy second rate healthcare and services- in the past many have been let down by the system and the 1000 lives project was established to help avoid any more unnecessary suffering. Health professionals and families have developed better ways of working that all agencies are now expected to adhere to. These aim to ensure that staff and others have a better understanding of an individuals' needs. likes and dislikes and are better equipped to support their recovery.

The Welsh Government have supported NHS trusts across Wales to develop the 1000 Lives  guide that aims to  improve general hospital care of patients who have a learning disability

Amongst the many practical tips within the guidance is the 'Traffic Light' approach. This is a snapshot of simple information that gives a clear picture of what is important to a person. Apart from essential information on health issues and medication the documentation allows you to inform any care provider things that are unique and important to your relative, this can include routines, things that cause distress or anxiety and the best ways to communicate and care for an individual.

  • Things you should know
  • Things You Must Know
  • Things that matter to me

Raising a concern about Health Services

Putting Things Right

The NHS in Wales aims to provide the very best care and treatment and it is important that we welcome comments and learn from people’s experiences, good or bad. The vast majority of people are happy with the service they receive.
 
Sometimes though, things might not go as well as expected. When that happens, we need to look at what went wrong so we can try to make it better. 
This information applies to you if:
  • You are not happy with care or treatment provided by or for the NHS in Wales
  • Or If you have any other concerns you think we should know about.

It tells you about the arrangements that will be in place from 1 April 2011 for looking into concerns.

 

What is a concern?

A concern is when you feel unhappy about any service provided by the NHS. By telling us about your concern, we can apologise to you, investigate and try to put things right. We will also learn lessons and improve services where they need to be better.

There are some things that we cannot deal with under the arrangements, such as:

  • Private healthcare or treatment (including private dental treatment)
  • A complaint which was made and investigated under the arrangements that were in place before 1 April 2011.

  

Who should I talk to about my concern?

If you feel able to do so, the best place to start is by talking to the staff who were involved with your care and treatment. They can try to sort out your concern immediately. If this doesn’t help or if you do not want to speak to staff who provided the service, then you can contact a member of the concerns team. 

For concerns about health services, you will need to contact your Local Health Board or the relevant NHS Trust.

If you have a concern about services that you have received from your General Practitioner (GP), Dentist, Pharmacist or Optician you should normally ask the practice to look into it for you, but if you prefer, you can ask your Local Health Board to do so.

You can contact the concerns team by:

  • Phoning
  • Emailing
  • Writing a letter
  • Faxing
  • Texting

If you need help to tell us about your concern, please let us know, or contact your local Community Health Council (CHC). Your local CHC provides a free and independent advocacy service, which is able to help patients or the people acting for them to raise a concern. The CHC will offer advice and support, including putting you in touch 
with specialist advocacy services if you need them. Your local CHC can be found below:

  

Who can raise a concern?

If this is something that has happened to you, you can raise the concern yourself. If you prefer, a carer, friend, relative or your local CHC can represent you, but you will be asked to agree to this.

How soon should I tell someone about my concern?

It is best to talk to someone about your concern as soon as possible after the problem happened but you can take up to 12 months to let us know. If a longer time has passed but there are good reasons for the delay, tell us anyway, as we may still be able to deal with your concern.

  

What happens next?

We will:

  • Let you know that we have received your concern within 2 working days (weekends and bank holidays not included);
  • At the same time, ask you if you have any particular needs that we should be aware of in dealing with your concern
  • Also ask you how much you want to be involved and get your consent to accessing your health records, if this is needed
  • Investigate your concern
  • As part of the investigation, decide with you whether we need to get specialist advice (such as a clinical opinion) or other independent help with sorting out your concern
  • Let you know what we have found and what we are going to do about it
  • In most cases, let you have a final reply within 30 working days of the date when we first received your concern (weekends and bank holidays not included). If we can’t reply to you in that time, we will give you the reasons why and let you know when you can expect a reply.

Some cases might need further investigation under the Redress arrangements. Redress is a range of actions that can be taken to resolve a concern where the organisation might have been at fault in causing some harm. It can include a written apology and explanation of what happened, an offer of treatment/rehabilitation to help relieve the problem and/or financial compensation. If Redress may apply to your concern, we will let you know what this means in more detail.

  

What you should do if you are still unhappy

If your concern has been looked at by us and you are still not happy with our response, you can contact the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.

  • Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
  • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman considers complaints from the
public against government departments, a range of public bodies in the UK, and the NHS in England, that have not acted properly or fairly, or have provided a poor service.

The Ombudsman regularly looks at complaints about benefits (Department of Work and
Pensions) and hospital treatment (NHS).

The Ombudsman usually only take on a complaint after the organisation, practice or trust involved has had a chance to respond so that they have an opportunity to put things right. However, if you are still unhappy you can bring your complaint to the Ombudsman. If the
complaint concerns a government organisation, it will need to be referred to the Ombudsman by an MP.

To find out who your local MP is,

visit www.findyourmp.parliament.uk
or contact the
House of Commons Information office on 020 7219 4272.

Complaints about the NHS do not have to be referred by an MP.

You can find a copy of the complaint form on the Ombudsman’s website, or you can request one via their enquiry line. The details for these are listed below.

When a complaint is received, a written acknowledgement of this will be sent within two working days. A reference number will also be issued which should be quoted in all future contact. The Ombudsman will keep you regularly informed of the progress they are making in considering your complaint.

For further information contact:

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London SW1P 4QP.
Tel: 0345 015 4033
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.ombudsman.org.uk

Public Service Ombudsman for Wales

Public Service Ombudsman for Wales

If you are still dissatisfied you can contact the Public Service Ombudsman for Wales:

The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
1 Ffordd Yr Hen Gae
Pencoed CF35 5LJ
Tel: 01656 641199
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web: www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk

 

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