Dimensions Essex and Suffolk Domiciliary Care Office

The service has been developed and designed in line with the principles and values that underpin Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. This ensures that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes. The principles reflect the need for people with learning disabilities and/or autism to live meaningful lives that include control, choice, and independence. People using the service receive planned and co-ordinated person-centred support that is appropriate and inclusive for them.

The service applied the principles and values of Registering the Right Support and other best practice guidance. These ensure that people who use the service can live as full a life as possible and achieve the best possible outcomes that include control, choice and independence. The outcomes for people using the service reflected the principles and values of Registering the Right Support by promoting choice and control, independence and inclusion. The introduction of 'Active Support' a model of care developed in conjunction with the University of Kent and The Behaviour Foundation provided support to people which focused on them having as many opportunities as possible to gain new skills and become more independent.

Sufficient numbers of staff were employed and adjusted when needed to meet people's complex needs. The recruitment, induction and training processes in place ensured staff had the right skills and experience and were suitable to work with people who used the service.

Systems were in place to ensure people's medicines were managed safely, including working towards reducing people's psychotropic medicines. These are medicines that affect the mind, emotions, and behaviour. The organisation had implemented campaigns designed to improve outcomes for people using the service. 'I'm with Sam' promoted awareness of dealing with and tackling hate crimes against people with a learning disability and autism, and 'My GP and me campaign' was designed to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities or autism when visiting their GP.

People using the service were cared for by staff that knew them well. People had access to food and drink of their choice and were supported to live a healthy lifestyle. Staff worked well with other professionals to ensure continuity of care and support to people when moving between services. People's privacy, dignity and independence was promoted and respected. People's communication needs had been assessed and were meeting the requirements of the Accessible Information Standards. This set of standards sets out the specific, approach for providers of health and social care to meet the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

Work was in progress to develop end of life care plans to ensure people's wishes will be considered at such time, and ensure they experience a pain free and comfortable death.

Staff were aware of the vison and values of the company, and intuitively applied these in their day to day roles ensuring person received person centred care. People, their relatives and staff were involved in the service, and feedback was used to improve the service provided.

Systems were in place to assess the quality of the service and ensure risks and regulatory requirements were being understood and managed. Where things had gone wrong, the registered manager took quick and appropriate action to put things right. Systems were in place to learn from incidents and improvements made. The provider had a range of ways to engage with people and their families to ensure they were involved in how the service was ran. This included annual regional events and involving people who used the service as 'quality checkers' to have oversight of the services provided, and involving them in the recruitment of staff.