Quality of Life approach
Quality of Life approach is made up of: Audits - checking people’s quality of life from rights based approach Practice development - changing the way people think and work with people with disabilities
Quality of Life standards Rights based set of standards covering a whole life. Young people through to adult.
What is a Quality of Life audit? A Quality of Life audit is a person centred way of measuring how services and community supports enable people with disabilities to lead an ‘ordinary life’. It is person centred because it follows the person through their life.
An ordinary life We define an ‘ordinary life’ as: being part of the community being employed having access to education which enables you to develop as an individual living in your own home being in a relationship having friends and family around you.
Rights based approach The approach we take in the standards, audit and practice development is not about services. Our approach is about having a LIFE! Based in belief that to lead a full LIFE, a person needs more than paid services. People need families, friends and other natural supports that you find in the community, as well as paid services and supports.
Reshaping services So in walking through people’s lives, we encourage services to change and reshape themselves so they are able to support individuals to lead full lives. Supported living Residential and nursing care Short breaks including residential respite, support in the home and a range of community provision After school clubs, youth clubs and nurseries
Reshaping services Leisure provision Youth and community groups and organizations The impact of direct payments and personal budgets The impact of social work teams both in adult and children’s services Or they are used as a person centred way of measuring the effectiveness of a whole service, for example, a local authority learning disability service.
Over the last 3 years our Quality of Life audit team worked with 1241 young people and adults covering 165 services and community supports.
Audit tools spending time with individuals and ‘walking through’ their life meeting with the person’s family unannounced visits of services and supports interviewing staff teams, managers, Directors, CEO observation of practice checking people’s plans checking strategic documents such as commissioning strategies, business plans for providers
Practice development – getting people to think and work differently ! Challenge events – pledges made for cultural change followed by audit. Idea’s festivals Dragon’s Den Self-authored lives – modelling planning for Quality of Life.
Quality of Life impacts on 3 levels impact on individuals impact on commissioning impact on practice development and cultural change
Impact on individuals
More people being part of their local community People moving to a place they call home More people with profound and multiple learning disabilities using Communication Passports and increased numbers of staff trained in different forms of communication More people gaining paid employment Changes in support staff resulting in individuals getting better person centred support.
Jayne Gallear Labelled as ‘challenging’, red stickered Demonised Isolated from peers and the community Skirted assessment and treatment
Jayne Gallear
Jayne “My communication is respected.” “I’m in my own home, with good staff.” “I’m now treated like a human being.” “I have individual support.” “I have got to the top of the climbing wall.”
No one is too disabled
No one is too complex
No one is too challenging
To lead an ordinary life!
Impact on commissioning and practice development
Changing Our Lives & Sandwell MBC Co-produced Activities Interviewing Audit of existing placements and providers Standards in provider contracts Challenging how we measure quality - Is this good enough? Listening to people. Making sure they have a voice Working with providers to raise quality. Winterbourne Commissioning alternatives.
The Time Machine: How things have changed! Looking back over the past 100 years of how life has changed for someone with a learning disability Co-production Changing Times in learning disability services
Ideas Festival: How we want things to change even more! Taking time to listen and think Challenge to commissioners and providers What should services look like in 2024? Dragon’s Den: What’s the offer? Different needs: Different provider?