Objective 1: Disabled children and young people

Planning for children with disabilities (including learning disabilities) will be led by the new Children’s Services Directorate of Herefordshire Council. The Children’s National Service Framework will provide the basis for this work. Our Partnership Board is already represented on the children’s planning groups, and will continue to be involved in any new arrangements.

Partnership Board Lead – Rose Hunt

Objective 2 : Transition into adult life

Priorities

• To implement the recommendations from the Transitions Care Pathway pilot project.
• To co-ordinate transition planning for young people with disabilities between the different agencies involved.
• For all the agencies to use the Transitions Care Pathway.
• For each young person with a disability moving from children’s to adult services to have a key worker who will co-ordinate their transition plan.
• To ensure that appropriate therapeutic services are available to young people when they leave school.
  

2005/06 Targets

1. To appoint a Transitions Co-ordinator for Herefordshire to begin work on the Transitions Strategy

2. To set up a Transitions Board of senior officers from the Children’s Services Directorate, Adult and Community Services Directorate, Learning and Skills Council and Connexions.

3. To make sure that at least 30% of children and young people with disabilities in transition have a transitions co-ordinator and a robust transitions plan.

Partnership Board Lead – Mike Metcalf

Objective 3 : More choice and control

Priorities

The Choice and Control sub-group of the Learning Disability Partnership Board meets to make sure that people with learning disabilities have as much choice and control over their lives as possible through advocacy and a person-centred approach to planning the services they need.

They need to check that :-

• People with learning disabilities have the same rights as everyone else.
• Advocacy is available for people who want or need it.
• Direct Payments are available to all the people who ask for them and meet the Direct Payment rules ( Direct Payments is money that Social Services can give to disabled people to buy their own services and support).
• There are good plans to make sure services are person-centred (People should plan what they want to do with their lives) .
• People are fully and actively involved in all decisions that affect their lives.

2005/06 Targets

1. In Control project to be undertaken

2. The Bill of Rights to be launched

3. 'Independence, Well-being and Choice’ pack relating to the Green Paper to be completed by groups affiliated to the People’s Union and information gathered fed back to the Partnership Board to inform shaping of future services

4. ‘How do I learn to complain and have my say?’ leaflet to be circulated throughout Herefordshire.

Partnership Board Lead – Mary Ann Thomas

Person-centred Approaches Task-group

Priorities

Government Objective 3.4 – Developing locally agreed protocols and procedures to ensure services are based upon a person-centred approach

The Person-centred Approaches task group of the Learning Disability Partnership Board meets to make sure that there are good plans in place so that people can plan themselves what they do with their lives.

Person-centred plans must be based on 4 main beliefs:

• Having Legal and Civil Rights: “People with learning disabilities are citizens too”
• Supporting Independence: “All this can be done by believing that people with learning disabilities can move on and be independent”
• Having More Choice: “People with learning disabilities have been saying for a long time that we can speak up for ourselves”
• Being Included: “People with learning disabilities can live just as good a life”

(quotes from the National Service Users Advisory Group)

2005/06 Targets

1. To pilot the "Life Books" with a minimum of 6 people.

2. To train one third of staff working in Learning Disability Services in the county in  Person-Centred Awareness, using a one day pack designed and agreed by the group, (approx. 200 people).

3. All case co-ordinators in the Adult Integrated Learning Disability Service will be using the Single Support Needs Assessment, based on a Person- Centred Approach.

Lead Person – Carolyn Green

Objective 4 : Supporting Carers

Priorities

Family carers want for themselves:

• To be valued
• Not to be tied down – always having to be clockwatching
• To be a proper retired person
• To be able to live their own life not only when their son/daughter moves out of the family home when they (the son or daughter) are 40/50 years old
• Consistent, reliable and quality services, including respite
• Effective emergency contingency plans – that will not cause additional distress to anyone
• Accurate information about plans – there are currently too many opportunities for rumours that cause distress
  
  Family carers want for their son/daughter:

• Day services for their son/daughter that are meaningful – not just a way of occupying them
• For their son/daughter to be valued
• For their son/daughter to be happy

Continuation of the Family Carers’ Network

• For accurate information
• As a mechanism for consultation
• For support

It is a fact that family carers of people with learning disabilities care for the longest length of time. They are carers for life, even when their son/daughter moves away from the family home.

An over-riding factor in all the target areas below is that there should be clear and honest communication between agencies, family carers and service users. This will reduce opportunities for confusion and distress caused by inadequate information and rumour.

It also goes without saying that if services for the person with care needs are consistent and reliable that this reduces the burden of care for the carer.

• Contingency Plans : Within one year every older family carer (ie. everyone of 65 and over) should have a contingency plan to cover emergency situations.
• Respite Care Provision : That respite care provision meets the needs of individual families appropriately and is consistent and reliable.
• Day Opportunities : That there is a clear and transparent plan for the provision of day opportunities which takes into account a wide range of needs. The needs and wishes of the service user should of course be paramount but the carer may have needs which can be addressed through the provision.

It is vital that any proposals to support carers are in line with the objectives of the Carers Strategy. If the above targets are met they will go a long way to meeting the needs of family carers in ways which have also been identified in the Carers’ Strategy, namely:

• Carers have the means to make choices and have more control over their lives – provision of information and advice in the right format at the right time
• Better supported carers will be able to make better lives for the people for whom they care – services meet carers identified needs
• Carers need help to maintain their own health, both physically and emotionally – access to a range of services which support their health and well-being

2005/06 Targets

The Family Carers Network (FCN) are drawing up pro formas to measure progress on these targets and report on the perceived outcomes in a year.

1. Contingency Plans:

(a) To find out how many older family carers are known to the Department.

(b) To find carers of people who don’t access services by doing press releases for local papers asking them to contact the FCN.

(c) To find out what people want as contingency plans. This would depend on the level of need of the carer and service user - “critical”, “substantial” or “moderate”. The FCN will work out a monitoring questionnaire to be completed with carers identified in (a) & (b) above.

2. Respite care provision:

(a) Family carers will see the ‘expressions of interest’ from prospective service providers and visit places already run by these providers. It is envisaged that the Involving People Team will be approached to facilitate this process.

ACT The FCN will produce a list of questions to ask at the visits and will check out the availability of the Involving People Team to offer support.

(b) Once the new Service Providers are in place the FCN will start to monitor any changes to service provision. This will be done by comparing the current situation, the issues and concerns and the new situation, any new issues and concerns.

ACT The FCN will use the information in the Respite Care Review Report and a telephone questionnaire to current carers whose dependants use respite care facilities and will contact these people again to assess if their needs are being met under the new service providers.

3. Day opportunities :

This could be monitored through the carer representatives on the Fulfilling Lives sub-group. The FCN will discuss how to integrate the carers’ perspective into the work of the Group.

.

NB. Again ensure that questions and answers can be fed into the Carers’ Programme Board Agenda

Partnership Board Leads – Rose Hunt and Mary Watts

Objective 5 : Good Health

Priorities

1. Health facilitation

To achieve a one to one health facilitator for everyone.

2. General Practitioners

To ensure that everyone with learning disabilities is registered with their local GP.

3. Health Action Plans

To have good plans so that everyone with learning disabilities can have a Health Action Plan by June 2005.

• The Health Sub Group has identified people with learning disabilities who have profound and multiple disabilities as a priority group for Health Action Plans. A pilot project is about to begin to link Health Action Plans to Person Centred Planning for this group.
• One priority group are people with learning disabilities who live in residential care homes and who should be offered an annual health check. The Senior Nurse Practitioner with the CLDT is training staff to act as Health Facilitators for this group.

4. Primary Care Trusts and Partnership Boards

To make sure that people with learning disabilities are part of local health plans for primary care and hospitals in the Local Delivery Plan of the Primary Care Trust.

2005/06 Targets

1. Ensure that everyone with a learning disability is registered with their GP using an appropriate Read Code.

2. Ensure that everyone in the priority group (people with profound and multiple disabilities) is offered a health assessment and Health Action Plan.

3. Ensure that all health promotion material issued to Primary Health Care practitioners is available in an accessible format.

Partnership Board Lead – Billy McAlinden

Objective 6 : Housing

Priorities

The Valuing People objective for housing was to enable people with learning disabilities and their families to have greater choice and control over where they live. The Herefordshire Learning Disability Housing Plan 2003-2006 identified the following objectives for development, and work has been going on under each of these:-

• Increase the opportunities for supported living arrangements

• Reduce the proportion of people living in residential care

• Meet the needs of people living with older carers
• Ensure the accommodation needs of young people are fed into the planning system
• Provide information and advice for service users and their families
• Ensure the quality of services is monitored and addressed where needed

2005/06 Targets

1. An updated housing needs analysis to inform the Learning Disability Housing Plan and shared objectives with Strategic Housing Services.

2. All people with learning disabilities have the opportunity to register their housing and support needs and this information to be used to inform future development.

3. To pursue either a specialist independent housing agency or work with commissioning at strategic housing to ensure that advice services for people with learning disabilities and carers are resourced to provide good quality (using national good practice guidance) housing advice and guidance.

Partnership Board Lead – Tanya Kirby

Objective 7: Fulfilling Lives

Priorities

The Fulfilling Lives sub group of the Learning Disability Partnership Board meets to make sure that people with learning disabilities are enabled to lead full and purposeful lives within their community and to develop a range of friendships, activities and relationships.

This needs to be achieved by using the Valuing People key themes of Rights, Choice, Inclusion and Independence.

Day Opportunities should enable people to have:

• More control in the their lives
• Live and work in their local communities
• Develop friendships
• Be treated with dignity and respect
• Learn new skills

Also the needs of carers should be taken into account.

The Fulfilling Lives sub group is concentrating on the Modernisation of Day Opportunities and wants to ensure that:

• New services are as good or better than those in place
• People with learning disabilities and carers are involved in planning
• Services are not taken away without assessment being offered
• Services are not only offered to meet crisis but should also seek to provide a preventative role
• People are enabled to remain in their local communities
• A range and variety of choice is pursued in each locality
• Recognise that some services may need to be outside each locality
• Services are open to all who live in the locality on the basis of individual choice
• Access to local public facilities is developed
• Opportunities are fully inclusive of those with profound and multiple disability
• There is a commitment to develop person centred plans and approaches
• Partnerships between social services and other agencies are developed to ensure stability of services

2005/06 Targets

1. To ensure that the draft strategy for the Modern-isation of Day Opportunities is completed in conjunction with the Fulfilling Lives Group.

2. To agree the rules of how the Fulfilling Lives group will work with the Change Manager.

3. To complete the mapping of services exercise.

4. To ensure that users are given the opportunity to contribute to the draft strategy using the Stakeholder Day.

Partnership Board Lead – Jo Crane

Objective 8: Employment

Priorities

• To support the All-Set Consortium to co-ordinate the work of all the agencies in Herefordshire who provide training and employment support for people with disabilities and special needs (including people with learning disabilities).

• For All-Set to develop services which increase the number of people with learning disabilities entering employment.

2005/06 Targets

1. To re-establish the All-Set Consortium as the group to lead employment developments for people with learning disabilities.

2. To increase the percentage of people with learning disabilities who are known to the Council who are in paid work to 18% by July 2006.

3. To appoint an Employment Champion for the Partnership Board.

Partnership Board Lead – Mike Metcalf

Objective 9 : Quality

Priorities

The Quality Sub-group of the Learning Disability Partnership Board meets to make sure that the services offered by Health, Social Services and other organisations are good enough.

They need to check that:

• People with learning disabilities and their families become happier with the services they receive as time goes on (for example day opportunities, respite).
• People from different backgrounds and cultures get the same quality service.
• In Herefordshire we have a good way of checking that services from Social Care and Health are good.
• We get best value from the services that Social Care and Health buy.
• People with learning disabilities, their carers and staff have good information to keep them safe.

The Quality Sub-group has made a plan of how we will do this over the next 12 months.

2005/06 Targets

1. Set up a Quality Network Consortium for Herefordshire by identifying partners in a wide range of agencies with the aim of setting consistent quality standards throughout Herefordshire.

2. To carry out a Quality Network review using “My Life” (BILD’s outcomes-based approach to Quality Assurance).

3. Use the outcomes of the review to identify and acknowledge where improvements in services are needed to ensure relevant outcomes for individuals and to influence commissioning.

Partnership Board Leads – Rose Hunt and Mary Ann Thomas

High Support Needs task group

Priorities

• All plans must include people with high support needs
• Increased speech therapy & communication time

Communication is a fundamental facet of life. People with high support needs very often have unique communication methods requiring individual support and means to express what they want. Communication methods need to be addressed before person centred planning can begin.

• Increased physiotherapy time

Loss of mobility skills is increasing because of a lack of expert advice.

2005/06 Targets

1. To find out how many people with high support needs have a communication profile and set a target to increase this by the end of 2006.

2. To find out how many people with high support needs have had a physiotherapy assessment and set a target to increase this by the end of 2006.

(The people with high support needs task group will draw up an action plan to measure the above outcomes at their 13 July meeting.)

Partnership Board Lead – Rose Hunt

Objective 10 : Workforce and Planning

[The priorities and targets will be added after the Workforce Development Officer for the Council is in post]

Objective 11 : Partnership Working

Priorities

Government Objective 11: To promote holistic services for people with learning disabilities through effective partnership working between all relevant local agencies in the commissioning and delivery of services.

In Herefordshire we have established a Partnership Working Sub Group of the Partnership Board. It is our role to make sure Objective 11 of Valuing People is met. We believe the Partnership Board can only effectively lead on the work of Valuing People if it is truly a working partnership of committed people representing all agencies and people who care about improving the lives of people with a learning disability in Herefordshire. As a group our terms of reference are:

• To keep checking how the Partnership Board is working.
• To advise on the how the Partnership Board and its sub groups should work.
• To make regular reports and suggestions to the Partnership Board on how to improve the efficiency and accessibility of the work.
• To work with the editors of News & Views to make sure everyone knows what is happening.
• To make sure that the work of the Partnership Board fits in with the work of the Herefordshire Partnership and other important planning groups.

2005/06 Targets

1. To organise the Valuing People Stakeholder Day in October 2005, to consult on the Partnership Strategy and to ensure that the results of the day are incorporated into the work of the Board.

2. To ensure proper support for user involvement in the work of the Partnership Board. We believe this will only be achieved through firstly proper investment in the time needed to do this and secondly through the People’s Union developing as an independent organisation. By March 2006.

3. Devise rolling programme of topics for discussion by the Board over the next 12 months, to enable the Board members to actively engage in the work of the sub groups. By September 2005.

Partnership Board Lead – Fiona Ritchie