Quality requirement 8: Personal care and support

Health and social care services work together to provide care and support to enable people with long-term neurological conditions achieve maximum choice about living independently at home. Health and social care services work together to provide care and support to enable people with long-term neurological conditions achieve maximum choice about living independently at home.

The unit provides a number of services to meet the needs of people with profound neuro-disabilities in the community and helps them remain at home. Care provision is streamed and people can move from one service to another, depending on their needs at any given time.

Connections is unique in that it is one of very few projects offering support to people with an acquired brain injury (ABI), even though they may continue to misuse alcohol and other substances. The project aims to promote independent living and social inclusion through provision of emotional support to service users in their relationships with others, the situation in which they are living and in connection with life events and practical support finding and retaining appropriate accommodation, establishing and maintaining relationships with friends and others, and in undertaking a range activities to promote community integration. Workers in the project are always keen to speak to others, and to impart and learn from their experiences.

The service is one of the largest units in the UK providing specialist assessment, treatment, long-term care and respite for people with Huntington’s disease. It has a philosophy of treatment which balances stimulation and relaxation, and provides opportunities for therapy and other leisure activities. Respite services ensure that this support is also available for people who continue to live at home. The service has developed protocols on the dietetic management of Huntington’s disease, and on dental and oral care.

One aim of the team is to enable people to remain living in their own homes. The team runs an independent living bungalow that enables people to develop independent living skills, and they ensure that individuals maximise their own incomes through welfare rights information and by accessing the Independent Living Fund. The team has also been recognised for developing specialist private home care provision for this group of people.

Kent House is part of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust. It has developed a range of resources, including a training manual for rehabilitation support workers.

London Care Connections combines practical, personal care provision with support in maintaining connections with everyday life, using home-based care and support services

The service provides community support for adults with an acquired brain injury and is committed to empowering people and promoting social inclusion. Services include supported housing, outreach support, a ‘move-on’ unit and case management. This is a voluntary agency that works collaboratively with social care and health services, and with the voluntary and independent sectors, to develop services for people with acquired brain injury.

Through the care group, Hampshire Social Services has focused on the development of staff skills to respond to the needs of people with a physical disability, with the introduction of condition-specific training since January 2003. The Hampshire Social Services Learning and Development Team has worked with the care group to commission a series of half-day and whole-day workshops on neurological conditions.