Evaluating Recent Changes in Health and Social Care Services for People with Learning Disabilities

This paper examines the recent changes in health and social care services for people with learning disabilities, focusing on the transition from residential to supported living. It outlines a strategy and criteria for measuring these changes, analyzes their impact, and proposes service responses to enhance the effectiveness of the transition. The paper draws on relevant literature and practical examples to illustrate the challenges and opportunities associated with this shift in service delivery.

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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................2
STRATEGY AND CRITERIA FOR MEASURING RECENT CHANGES(P2.1).....................................................3
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF RECENT CHANGES (P2.2)..........................................................................3
THE OVERALL IMPACT OF RECENT CHANGES (P2.3)................................................................................4
PROPOSING SERVICE RESPONSES TO RECENT CHANGES(P2.4)...............................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................6

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INTRODUCTION
It’s been a year for the people with learning disabilities living in supported accommodation and
LAD(local action for disabled) has been working to make it a success this time,and evaluating
the recent changes in health and social care services will be of great help in this case. For that it
has to be needed to devise a strategy and criteria to measure such changes and measure their
overall impact and propose different service responses to make further changes and
improvements so that the organization can work in a harmony in a positive direction.

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STRATEGY AND CRITERIA FOR MEASURING RECENT CHANGES(P2.1)
Transition from residential to supported living is difficult and often resisted. A lot of factors are
needed to be taken into consideration.The criteria for measuring such changes completely
depends upon how smoother the transition is made by meticulous assessment of an
individual’s needs and how the people with learning disabilities ,the people involved and the
organization as a whole are benefited and whether the organization is meeting the national
objectives (White, et al., 2010). Tofulfilthese criteriathe best strategy for measuring the changes
would be the feedbacks and comments from the users of the services as these are the people
who are actually experiencing the change and an inspection on a regular basis for comparing
the changes in the quality of life. The feedback can be in form of a questionnaire including the
main queries about the lifestyle changes in the residential homes with that of the one in
supported accommodation in this one year; the challenges faced by the staff working with the
organization; the quality of work offered by the organization; about the qualification of the staff
that whether they are skilled enough to work with these challenged people; the quality of life
which can be reflected by the behavioural changesand the mental attitudes of the people with
learning disabilities and the staff associated with them (de Heer-Wunderink, et. al., 2012). This
strategy would help to know the views directly from the people on how exactly their lives have
been affected and thus, reducing the possible chances of bias, if any.The efforts done in this
direction enables the organization to measure the changes occurring efficiently.
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF RECENT CHANGES (P2.2)
Any change if implemented gives us either a positive or a negative result depending upon how
favourable the outcomes are. The impact of recent changes on the health and social care
services is measured against the above mentioned criteria. The devised strategy and the criteria
help in the impact measurement of any change instituted. The impact measurement of this
change implemented by LAD is not a quantitative one, here, it is a qualitative phenomenon. The
feedback and comments from the associated people which includes the people with learning

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difficulties and the care taking authorities along with the staff associated with theorganization
helps in making a decision whether the change had a positive or a negative impact. Such
feedbacks and a regular inspection of the condition and working process of the organization
also facilitated the early detection of any flaws in the way of working which ensures the
organization to work on it which affects the level of satisfaction of the employees working for
the organization. With the increased level of satisfaction, there is an improvement in the skill
and the working efficiency of the staff because of the early detection of the challenges faced
and solutions provided by the organization for the same.It is due to this appropriate strategic
planning and implementing of the changes health and social care individualsof LAD now found
theyare able to deal with such challenging people in more effective way (NDTI, 2010).
THE OVERALL IMPACT OF RECENT CHANGES (P2.3)
The overall impact is then evaluated by the surveys conducted and the feedbacks obtained
about the quality of life and lifestyle changes of the people associated,the level of satisfaction
of the staff of the organization and the people with learning difficulties, the challenges that the
organization faced for the implementation of the changes, how the criteria for staff recruitment
and skills of the staff helped and how smooth the transition was made possible. The main
objective of the supported living was providing the people with learning disabilities to have the
choice to be able to have their own residential place and have control over the financial support
they get and also a control over how they live their lives. This approach enabled them to make
choices and gave them the rights and independence over their life and the level of support they
would need without undermining their dignity. This enhanced the quality of life of people with
disabilities thus, making the working of the organization more efficient and indicating that the
proposed change is having an exponential effect on the working of the organization (Care
Quality commission, 2015).

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PROPOSING SERVICE RESPONSES TO RECENT CHANGES(P2.4)
For a proper and harmonious working of the organization not only implementing changes
would suffice but, getting proper service responses is also an essential component of it. As
these responses help in knowing how the changes are affecting the lives of the people who are
linked with the organization. In accordance with the recent changes a number of responses can
be proposed. Timely interviews are conducted to know how the working of organization is
proceeding and to check the difficulties that are been faced. Placement of the suggestion boxes
for each home owner so that the organization could meet the specific needs pertaining to a
person can also be done. Regular feedbacks from the owners and the staff working in order to
make any changes in facilities and skills provided. Conduction of debate sessions so as to know
the pros and cons of the changes would help in making effective and efficient decisions and it
would also help in meeting the funding requirements. A proper record management system
using newer technologies would help the staff in carrying out proper management of the
admissions and discharge based upon the improvements in the people with learning difficulties
and also reduction in waiting times can be achieved (Linskell& Hill, 2010). Compiling all such
approaches and providing a healthy working environment, the working efficiency of the
organization can be improved which will result in a successful change and growth of the
organization.

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REFERENCES
 Care Quality commission, CQC (2015) Housing with care Guidance on regulated activities
for providers of supported living and extra care housing (online) available at
http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/20151023_provider_guidance-
housing_with_care.pdf last accessed on 11/03/2018
 deHeer-Wunderink, C., Visser, E., Caro-Nienhuis, A., Sytema, S., &Wiersma, D. (2012).
Supported housing and supported independent living in the Netherlands, with a
comparison with England. Community mental health journal, 48(3), 321-327.
 Linskell, J., & Hill, J. (2010). The role of smart home technology in enhancing supported
living for people with complex needs and challenging behaviour. Journal of Assistive
Technologies, 4(4), 24-35.
 NDTI (2010) Supported Living – Making the Move Developing Supported Living options
for people with learning disabilities (online) available at
https://www.ndti.org.uk/uploads/files/Supported_Living_-
_Making_the_Move,_May_2010.pdf last accessed on 15/03/2018
 White, G. W., Lloyd Simpson, J., Gonda, C., Ravesloot, C., & Coble, Z. (2010). Moving
from independence to interdependence: A conceptual model for better understanding
community participation of centers for independent living consumers. Journal of
Disability Policy Studies, 20(4), 233-240.