Improving Supported Living Services Across Hertfordshire
Background
In setting up a new contractual framework for external Supported Living providers, Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) asked us to engage with service users so that their voices could help influence future guidelines.
The Service User Feedback on Supported Living Services within Hertfordshire Report combines learnings from the people we spoke to and recommendations to ensure providers commissioned for these services focus on the needs of people using their service.
What are Supported Living Services
Supported Living is a term that describes a range of services that enable people who have support needs to live as independently as possible in their local community.
Supported Living can look very different for different people. Individuals have varying needs and receive a wide range of support.
What We Did
The focus of our questions and engagement during eight sessions with 43 service users, was to find out how people wanted to be supported, the level of choice they wanted, and the main factors that influenced those choices.
The individuals we spoke to were aged between 22 -65 years old and both men and women were represented. We also engaged with some service users with, and without, their support workers so they felt they could speak freely.
What We Found
Generally, people felt they were not always listened to and they did not have enough choice or involvement in exactly how they were supported.
- A number of participants said they would like to be more involved in decisions and the running of the service and the organisations providing support should create opportunities for this.
- People wanted more choice and control about where they lived. Important factors for accommodation were – being close to family, walking distance to shops and public transport, as well as getting along with other residents in shared facilities
- People wanted support to be consistent and flexible – continuity of staff and routines, and consistency of care
- Being involved in decisions was important, but not always possible. People felt meetings between service users and support workers were crucial, as well as house meetings for residents in shared accommodation
- Information sharing - most participants were happy to share information with new providers if that would benefit or help them e.g. their disability and support needs.
What Should Happen Now?
Based on our findings, we recommended that Hertfordshire County Council:
- Include standards in the Framework detailing what providers should do to ensure choice, opportunity and involvement for their service users, as well as hold them to account if this is not happening.
- Develop a model led by the service user voice and the findings within this report, so service users feel listened to.
- Commission services that ensure service users are empowered to live as independently as possible and consider the council’s role in facilitating this.
- Commission a range of Support Living services that reflect the kind of services people want, not just their support needs.
- To feedback to all participants what has changed as a result of their involvement in this project.
The findings in this report and the feedback given by the people who participated in this engagement have been used to help us set out clear requirements for new Supported Living Services that will better meet the needs of people in future.
We have created a new Service Specification that Providers will need to demonstrate they can meet when they apply to join the new Supported Living Framework. This sets out the key requirements for any new service and we will monitor providers against these requirements to make sure they are supporting people in the way that they want and need.
Read the full report and the service's responses to our recommendations here
If you require this report in another format, please get in touch.
