‘A life not a service’ is a much used phrase. At the heart of all our work at Paradigm is the belief that community, a sense of belonging, reciprocal relationships are fundamental to a good ordinary life for us ALL.
Good to see this report from the Care Quality Commission. NOW is the time to stop all referrals to Assessment and Treatment Units and focus on supporting people as highlight here.
This report celebrates successful community support. It includes eight stories of people who have previously been placed in hospital settings, often called Assessment and Treatment Units. All are now thriving in community services across England. There is no single model of care and support that explains this success. Each story is different. However, common threads emerge, which echo recommendations and findings in the supporting literature:
- Services must be bespoke and truly person-centred. This entails understanding and acting on what a person wants and needs. Generally, this involves recruiting and training specialist staff teams.
- Agencies should work in partnership. In particular providers should collaborate with clinical and health professionals, and community teams, including occupational and speech and language therapists. This must happen during service planning and once a service commences.
- Appropriate housing and environments are a prerequisite. This might mean specially building property, or considerable adaption of an existing property.
- When people are labelled as having ‘challenging behaviour’ – which includes self-harm and physical or verbal aggression – this should be understood as communication of distress or need. This understanding often comes through a formal adoption of the Positive Behaviour Support approach.
- Family involvement in all aspects of service planning and delivery increases the chance of a good outcome. This usually involves creating support close to the person’s family home.
Link for full report: Home for Good
The Easy Read report is here: Home for Good – easy read v3 (1)