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transforming care

of local support. These enabled life stories
to be cross-referenced to how the
intrastructure of services and resources
developed.
Life stories highlighted three services
that played a key role in enabling people
to remain local:
l ●Short breaks and crisis support
l ●Family visiting and home support service
l ●A flexible supported living service
providing personalised support teams
for individuals in their own homes.
However, these services alone were
insufficient to keep everyone local.
Additional factors were:
l ●Longstanding and trusted relationships
between people with learning disabilities,
families and staff providing local services
l ●Staff who worked effectively across
boundaries, were confident about Not alone: knowledge of an individual’s local connections played a significant part in motivating
supporting people with complex needs staff to make an effort to keep the person in their home area
and prepared to go the extra mile
l ●Allies in services who saw the person as people remained local. The knowledge of People with Learning Disabilities,
“belonging locally” and worked to and skills needed to deliver effective local National Families Forum and Think Local
implement temporary arrangements support are increasingly widely available. Act Personal/Association of Directors of
until a longer-term solution was found Life stories recorded through this project Social Services /Local Government
l ●Staff able to spend time supporting contribute to this literature. Association as an example of good
families in addition to the person with Jim mansell (DH, 2007b) identified that practice to guide national delivery of the
learning disabilities services providing competent local support Transforming Care Programme.
l ●effective person-centred leadership are successful in a number of ways.
from managers who knew the First, they recognise that people need References and biography
individuals. their support to be well coordinated, so Atkinson D, Walmsley J (2010) History from the
When people experienced critical they tend to work across organisational inside: towards an inclusive history of
periods, life stories revealed how staff and boundaries, trying to build packages of intellectual disability. Scandinavian Journal of
services worked closely with families, care that meet individual needs, rather Disability Research; 2010; 12(4):273–86
Department of Health (2007a) Valuing People
crossing multiple service boundaries to than matching people to existing services. Now: From Progress to Transformation.
develop interim and longer-term local Second, they stick with people in spite London: the Stationery Office
solutions. Oral and documentary sources of the difficulties in meeting their needs. Department of Health (2007b) Services for
indicated that knowledge of an Finally, packages of care are based on People With Learning Disabilities and
individual’s local connections played a thoroughly knowing the individual and Challenging Behaviour or Mental Health
significant part in motivating staff to work their family. Needs: Revised Edition. Mansell Report.
so the person could remain in the area. Findings from the Staying Local project London: DH
In 2018, eight of the life story tellers support this. Ledger S (2012) Staying Local: Support for
had remained local. Support for one While it is encouraging that the majority People with Learning Difficulties from inner
person with complex needs was under of life story tellers in this project stayed London 1971-2007. Unpublished PhD thesis:
funding review and their future uncertain. close to home, the fact that some people milton Keynes: Open University
Lenehan C (2017) These are our Children.
One had moved out of area because their with learning disabilities are at risk of London: Council for Disabled Children
physical health had declined and no local being placed out of area, not through Brown m, James e, Hatton C (2017) A Trade in
resources could meet their needs. personal choice but as a result of service People. Lancaster: Centre for Disability
The project enabled people with responses, is of serious concern. Research
learning disabilities and others closely Investment in the development of local National Institute for Health and Care
involved in their support to share detailed support for all those who want it must be Excellence (2015) Challenging Behaviour and
accounts of how staying local was made justified. The relates to enabling people to Learning Disabilities: Prevention and
possible in practice. maintain relationships with the people Interventions for People with Learning
and places that matter most in their Disabilities whose Behaviour Challenges.
Webs of support lives; it also addresses the ethics of London: NICE. www.nice.org.uk/ng11
Life stories showed the value of people placing children, young people and adults
with learning disabilities, families and staff away from their families and familiar This is the first of a three-part series on
working together to build local webs of environments through no choice of how to ensure people can stay local. In
support that could sustain people, their own. n the next issue, Sue Ledger and Lindy
including those with the most complex l Names and places have been changed Shufflebotham will describe how mobile
needs, in a crisis. to protect confidentiality interviews and journey maps help
Life stories also revealed barriers to l Staying Local by Sue Ledger was chosen people to stay in their communities
belonging that persisted even though by representatives of the National Forum

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 32 No 3 | Spring 2019 13