This guide provides an overview of our service provision and how we will support you to maintain independence in your own home. We are always looking to improve our service provision, and consequently your feedback will help us improve in a better way. This guide also contains information about what you can expect from us as a company and our core values.
We aim to provide high quality care and support through a person-led approach in which wellbeing, welfare, care, support and comfort are of paramount importance, and also to promote service users needs, wishes and aspirations.
Our staff will go the extra mile to maintain the privacy, dignity and individuality of all service users. We strongly believe that individuals should be enabled and empowered to exercise their rights and choices, and by working with service users in a supportive and person centred manner, we ensure that their short and long term goals, desires, beliefs and wishes are at the centre of our company direction, policies and procedures.
Staff are aware of and provide for service users mental and physical wellbeing, cultural, psychological, spiritual, emotional and social needs whilst fostering relationships which provides confidence to discuss concerns or make complaints in the knowledge that their views will be taken seriously and acted upon.
Staff will work with service users to formulate their individual activity plans with the aim to promote and encourage social interaction, mental stimulation, self-esteem and fulfilment recognising the core values which are part and parcel to the philosophy of our company.
Service users will be supported and encouraged, their family and friends, and stakeholders will be invited to participate in the formulation and review of their support plans, risk assessments and risk management plans, attend meetings about them and as far as reasonably practicable, be involved in staff recruitment, changes to policies , procedures, practice and service provision.
Individuality
We recognise that individuality allows service users to have a clearer sense of what they need to be happy. It is important to build up individuals, and that practice would increase creativity, innovation, leadership and happiness.
We will encourage service users to do as much as they are able to do, involve them in everyday decisions and give them as much agency as possible in larger decisions about their care and support needs.
Rights
We will support service users maintain their rights by providing them with necessary information to help them make informed decisions about their care and support; promote equality, autonomy, safety and confidentiality; encourage freedom of expression and participation; support to access services and benefits; and respecting service user views and the way they wish to live their lives.
Privacy
Our service users have a right to privacy and we will preserve this by respecting and keeping all information about them confidential; respect their preferences to be alone and undisturbed; discussing their personal issues with appropriate others, in private without violating confidentiality; discuss aspects of their support and care In private; ensuring they receive visitors, make and receive phone calls in private; and getting permission to enter their rooms and waiting for permission to be granted.
Compassion
We actively listen to service users and respond with respect, and by so doing we shape our services that are person centred thereby promoting independence and empowerment including the use of Positive Behaviour Support for service users whose behaviour can be challenging.
Choice
We will encourage and support service users to make choices within all aspects of daily living, offering them the opportunity to select for themselves from a range of alternative options; staff will be aware of each service user’s cognitive and communicative ability and providing methods and equipment to enable effective understanding and communication.
Independence
We will encourage and support service users to maintain their independence by supporting them to make their own decisions, think and act for themselves where capacity allows; allowing service users to take positive risks as part of their risk assessments, and encouraging and allowing service users to undertake reasonable tasks and activities independently.
Dignity
We will maintain dignity by ensuring that all personal care and support is provided in a dignified way; address service users as they preferred to be addressed; promote autonomy by enabling empowerment to make choices and decisions about their lives, forming and building therapeutic working relationships with staff and others and treating everyone with respect at all times.
Fulfilment
Service users will be supported to lead a fulfilled life as they will be supported to meet their short and long term goals, creation of opportunities to maintain relationships with family and friends, maintain and develop their external social activities and recognise their own worth and importance within the community
We have a clear policy and procedure in place to safeguard you from any harm or abuse, and you can whistle blow or make a complaint if you have any concern. Every individual has a right to live their life free from harassment and discrimination as enshrined in the Human Rights Act 1988.
We are committed to ensure that those who use our services are free from harm, abuse or any form of discrimination. Abuse constitutes being shouted at, being hit, receiving threats, pressure, theft of your property or inappropriate contact.
In any circumstance where you receive an experience that you are not happy with or makes you uncomfortable such as those listed above, YOU MUST SPEAK OUT and tell someone. If you do not tell someone it may occur again, it should not have happened again.
Our working relationship will mean that we hold your personal information to enable us work on your behalf as necessary. We are guided by the Data Protection Act 2018 and understand the importance of ensuring that your information is held in the correct manner, kept confidential and secure. All your information will be stored in a locked cabinet or if held electronically will be held under a password protected file and can only be accessed on a need to know basis.
We are registered with the Information Commissioners Office, regulated by the Care Quality Commission and have contractual obligations with your local authority, hence rest assured that we will do our job to keep all your information secure and safe at all times.
You will have unlimited access to all information we keep about you as and when you would like. There may be times when we will have to share your personal information with other relevant agencies in instances of safeguarding you from harm. If this need arise, we will only share the information that is absolutely necessary to achieve the purpose required.
Making plans
At the start of our working relationship with you and relevant others to formulate a support plan, care plan, person centred plan, risk management plan, health action plan and a main folder.
Support Plan
Your support plan tells of your short and long term goals. It tells us what you want to achieve in the short, medium and long term and how you would like us to support you achieve these goals e.g. support to get fit in the gym, access employment, education and or training, finance management skills.
Care plan
This summarises all your needs for care and support and how best to support you so that you maintain a reasonable standard of wellbeing and welfare. This includes personal care needs, health and medical needs, security and safety at home and in the community, personal hygiene need, keeping your home clean and tidy, money management, cultural needs, end of life plan etc.
Person centred plan
This is a visual plan that you can formulate yourself however it suits your needs. It may take the form of a life map to trace key moments of your life in time order. It’s a depiction of your life’s occasions, regardless of sorrow or happiness.
Risk management plan
This is formulated to ensure that any identified and assessed risks associated with your condition can be managed accordingly to safeguard you from any harm or abuse.
Health Action plan
We will support you to keep a record of your health appointments whether or not you have additional medical needs. A record of your appointments and their outcomes is very useful to maintain your overall wellbeing.
Main folder
This contains all files containing your personal information from the start of our working relationship with you. It carries information such as your bank statement, benefit letters and other correspondence from other agencies. After this folder is completed, you and your keyworker will work through so we can provide you with the best service.
In order for you to receive the best quality care, a keyworker will be allocated to work closely with you, your family and friends, stakeholders in responding sensitively to your all your needs. Where possible, you will be offered an opportunity to choose your Key Worker. The aim is to provide you with an advocate within the staff team, and to develop a relationship based on trust and mutual respect. The Key Worker will undertake an assessment with you to establish your preferred name, personal circumstances, personal history, and social and medical circumstances, all of which will be entered into your Care Plan. The Key Worker will also assess your psychological and physical capabilities, previous work and hobbies, preferences with regard to activities and food. This will be fed into your personal program of support and/or care devised according to your wishes.
Your Key Worker will be the main point of contact for you and your principal carers/relatives, and will be available to answer any questions, to support your daily care routine and to simply have a chat with you whenever you so wish. They will also arrange for meetings to review your Service User Plan periodically with you and your family or friends, and to measure the progress of your care program.
Obviously not everyone gets on with each other. If you are unhappy with your Key Worker, please bring this to the attention of the Registered Manager. The matter will be resolved sensitively and confidentially, and a new Key Worker will be assigned to you if this is appropriate.
Equal opportunities
At Elegna Care, we recognise our duties and requirements under the Human Rights Act, Equality Act 2010, related codes of practice as well as our contractual and regulatory requirements. We are committed to the highest degree of equality and in the process eliminate unfair discrimination that anyone may encounter. We will impose sanctions on any employee where we feel practice has fallen short of the company requirements.
We are committed to actively listening to all service users and employees and involving them in shaping the operations of our company, and where this is impracticable through a diagnosed impairment, we will work with their wider support network to arrive at best interest decisions. We will not compromise to offering services and resources that are accessible to all regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and nationality.
We look to provide support/care and housing options with our partner landlords that are able to meet the wider market need and accessible to people with physical and/or mental impairments.
We recognize that maintaining a social life, building and forming therapeutic relationships within the community is essential for wellbeing. We will support you to access a wide range of activities in the community that are of interest to you including but not limited to accessing learning or training opportunities, volunteering, employment, gym, computer courses, music, dancing, drama, organizing holidays, and visiting new places. To achieve these, we will support you with money management and learning how to use public transport at first, to enable your independence at a later time.
Our staff are expressly forbidden to act as witnesses to the signature of any documents such as wills and testaments. Neither employees nor the service may be a beneficiary under a Will of any past or present Service User. Gifts to staff are subject to disclosure to the Registered Manager, and may be refused on the basis of conflict of interest.
It is important for you to understand that our staff are here to support you in a professional manner and are not allowed to do certain things e.g. not allowed to be your boyfriend or girlfriend, meet up with you outside working hours or be in your home when they are not working, take your money, wear your clothes, make you feel scared or unhappy.
Should you feel that a staff member has done something that is not right, you MUST tell someone (family, friend, social worker, manager). You will not be in trouble. You can make a complaint by filling out a complaint form that is available in the appropriate format at our service units.
At the start of our working relationship with you, and at regular intervals of time, you will have review meetings with your support team to make sure that the you are happy at your home and the support you are getting is right for you. This will be the opportunity for you to tell people in this meeting what is going well for you, if something is wrong or you do not like something that is happening so that it can be resolved.
What we expect from you
We will expect you to treat our staff and other people using our service with respect as you would expect from them and not to take part in any abuse, bullying or discrimination towards others.
For you to engage and cooperate with support, take part in developing and agreeing your support/care plan and work towards achieving your short term and long term goals with your support team.
For you to be honest about issues affecting you so we can put in place the right support to meet your needs, work collaboratively with outside agencies to keep you safe and well.
What you should expect from us
We will actively support you to lead a fulfilling life within the limits of your abilities and wishes.
We will take interest in the things you have done in the past and discuss your current interests and wishes, particularly those you wish to retain to further develop your skills and pursue your interest with full support from well trained and vetted staff members.
You will be central to formulating your care or support plans, family members, friends or external advocates may also be involved as is considered appropriate. We will endeavor at all times to create a stimulating environment and to focus on maximizing your potential. Our staff will attend to your needs irrespective of how any impairment may be affecting you.
We will deal with any of your concerns or complaints in a timely manner and provide you with an outcome, listen to your opinion, wishes, choices and aspirations and be clear about the services we can and cannot provide you with.
We will treat you politely and with respect and dignity, keep your personal information safe, be flexible with your support and respect your right to privacy.
Feedback
In order to help us continuously improve the services we provide, we will like you, your family friends, neighbors, other agencies, social workers and other professionals to give us feedback by telephone, text messages or face to face by contacting staff or management at any time.
The feedback may include any complaints, concerns about being promised something you asked for and it has not been done, you are unhappy about the way you have been treated or you are happy about the support you are receiving and particularly pleased about something staff have supported you to accomplish.