Learning Disability Care
We provide around-the-clock learning disability support for people aged 18+ to enable independence, freedom and choice
Empowering people with Learning Disabilities
There are around 1.5million people in the UK living with learning disabilities which impact their day to day lives in numerous ways. For many people it can mean heavy reliance on family carers and often residential care.
Supporting independence is at the heart of our learning disability care and for many people, having a live-in carer offers freedom, choice and the chance to live in their own home rather than in an institution or in group housing. Our home care learning disability package is a partnership between individuals, carers and families to enable clients to have as much control over their lives as possible.
People are often labelled by their condition i.e. they are autistic or they have Down Syndrome, at Christies Care we provide person-centred care for each individual, not their condition. To this end, we have developed our ‘All About Me’ ‘easy read’ picture based guides to reflect our clients’ wants and needs to ensure they are at the centre of the planning and development of their home care support package.
Learning Disability Care Package
We invest heavily in our learning disability carer training and encourage an understanding of the person behind the disability. Our live-in carers support clients to achieve goals and live a full and purposeful life by:
- Working with other care services to provide positive behavioural support and to learn new concepts.
- Encouraging independence whilst maintaining safety.
- Focusing on the positives, what a client can do, not what they can’t do.
- Providing help to break down barriers and access community services.
Learning Disability Care: Client case study
Proven success – Outstanding results
Sara’s and Neil’s stories below show how successful live-in care can be for our clients with a learning disability.
Neil’s story
Neil has Down’s Syndrome and is 55. Before Neil became our client, he had lived with his mother all his life. Eventually, she developed Alzheimer’s disease and this got so bad that she had to go to a nursing home.
Neil wanted to carry on living in the house he grew up in, so he had carers from Christies Care. We soon learned that he had very few life skills, and very little independence, because his mother had done absolutely everything for him.
Neil’s regular team of carers worked very closely with his social worker, his psychologist, his support worker and the team at his local Mencap to teach him life skills, enabling him to be more independent.
In three years, Neil’s progress has been remarkable. He is learning to cook and his biggest achievement is that he now goes out, alone, on the Underground, whenever he wants, without getting lost.
Neil has direct payments and a support worker visits once a week to check his bills. Currently his care costs are £940 a week.
Sara’s story
Sara’s story is typical. Helen, Sara’s sister, knew that Sara didn’t want to live in an institution, or in ‘group housing’ – especially somewhere far away from her family. Sara should be able to live near her family, in her own home.
Sara needs 24 hour care and because she cannot communicate verbally, she needs carers she knows well who know how to interpret her non-verbal signals. Sara now lives about a mile or so from her sister.
She has her own house and every weekday goes out to the day centre – where the staff know her well, can support her, and she can learn and enjoy herself.
Her care comes from a regular team of Christies Carers who she and her sister Helen, know and like. Sara’s care is commissioned by a local authority and our care cost is £770 a week.
Following the Death by Indifference report into the medical treatment of people with a learning disability, all of Christies Care’s clients with a learning disability have an up-to-date hospital passport. This is a guide created by our client, with the help of their carer to the client’s life – insofar as it will affect their treatment in hospital. Its purpose is to tell medical staff how to avoid distressing their patient, what their likes and dislikes are as well as containing any important medical information.
