An Overview of Learning Disability Services in Swansea
The City & County of Swansea Social Services mission statement is
"to meet the social care needs of the most vulnerable members of the community by making the best use of available resources to provide a range of quality services that safeguard and support them in maintaining, as far as possible, an ordinary pattern of life within the community."
Our aim in Learning Disability Services is
"To develop local, integrated services, within a framework of positive consultation and joint planning for people with a learning disability to enable them to develop their maximum potential as individuals and to ensure normal patterns of life within the community".
These reflect the philosophy and principles of the All Wales Strategy (1983) which established the rights of people with a learning disability to normal patterns of life within the community, to be treated as individuals, and to receive additional help and support from the communities in which they live and from professional services in developing their maximum potential.
The more recent document Fulfilling the Promises (2001) builds on these principles, adding that people with a learning disability
"are full citizens equal in status and value to other citizens of the same age, have an equal right to expect a high quality of life, have a right to decide for themselves and to join in all decision-making which affects their lives, with support if necessary and have access to the support of their families and the communities, of which they are a part, and to general and specialist public services to improve their chosen quality of life."
In Swansea, we support these principles in a number of ways:
1. Maximising your potential, improving your quality of life and supporting you in your community.
We have a range of day services across Swansea that helps you to develop your skills so that you have the chance to work and live more independently. We also help you to maintain your physical and emotional health and well-being.
Our day services provide a range of activities from training for work, to education and leisure activities in the community. We also provide a range of therapeutic activities and support in personal care needs.
Our 3 respite homes offer short, meaningful stays for you whilst your parents or carers have a break.
Our residential unit provides emergency accommodation for you in times of difficulty.
If you live at home or independently we may be able to provide ongoing support and help you to develop your skills so you can remain in your home.
For further information please see Service leaflets on this website.
2. Positive Consultation
We seek to consult with service users, parents and carers in a number of different ways. In our services we have Service User Committees which offer the opportunity for service users to comment and feedback on issues affecting the delivery of the service to them. We also have a number of Service Improvement Groups which allows parents, carers and other professionals to be informed on service performance and again to comment and contribute to service developments. Services will also have their own questionnaires which are sent out to service users, parents and carers. When there is a particular issue to discuss we will set up meetings with service users, parents, carers, People First, all supported by Swansea Participation Service. The City and County of Swansea also has a Comments and Complaints. An information leaflet can be found on this website.
3. Join in all decision-making
The greater the ability of a service user to make decisions the more likely the services they receive will meet their needs and wishes.
At a day to day level we aim to ensure an individual is effectively engaged in daily activities and the Service programme (examples include Personal Care, Domestic activities, Leisure activities, Work Skills training). This includes having a clear say in planning an activity, undertaking the activity as independently as possible and being able to say if the activity was useful and liked. Support given is there to help the person participate fully.
Inclusive communication techniques and active support models are used by staff to maximise participation for an individual within day to day activities.
Individual Care Planning process provides an opportunity for service users to determine their own goal plans and individual needs and wishes. This process includes others involved in their lives, parents, carers, care managers, service providers and other professionals and is at the level and pace appropriate for the individual.
Service users, parents and carers can participate in monitoring how effectively and efficiently services are operating through for example service user committees and service planning events.
There is a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary planning group for Learning Disability Services, the membership of which includes places for service user and carer representatives.
The role of an independent organisation, currently Swansea Participation Service, in supporting and developing people's abilities to actively participate in the planning framework is valuable contribution to the whole of the planning arrangement.
Service users and relatives/carers are able to offer a different view and where possible this view considers the wider interests of either service users or relatives/carers.
On some occasions specific focus groups and open meetings are set up with service users, relatives /carers to discuss and feedback on particular issues or policies.
4. Safeguarding you
The City & County of Swansea is committed to the care, support and protection of vulnerable adults and has signed up to the South Wales Policy on the Protection of Vulnerable Adults. Staff have a duty to ensure vulnerable adults are protected from any form of abuse or inappropriate care. Staff are also expected to behave in a way that does not cause distress or injury to any vulnerable adults they have contact with.
You can obtain information on this guidance from the South Wales Adult Protection Forum website - www.swapforum.org