Community Lives Consortium

Details of Agency - this gives you a summary about all the vital information about our services.

Community Lives Consortium (known as The Consortium) is a non profit making organisation with charitable status, registered as an Industrial and Provident Society which has charitable status, registration number 26673R.

The Consortium provides support for adults with learning disabilities working in partnership with Social Services and Health Agencies.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of the Consortium is to provide support for people who want to live successful lives in the Community. The Consortium provides services under contract with either the City and County of Swansea or Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.

The local authorities agree an individual care plan with each service user and their representatives. To meet the need and provide services The Consortium will then provide:

A Service Delivery Plan which sets out how The Consortium will meet the needs and aspirations of service users as identified within the individual care plan.

A staff team who are trained to help the person to enjoy their lifestyle and maintain their tenancy. The Consortium does not provide services through persons other than it’s own employees.

Appointeeship and benefit advice services to help people to manage their money.

Psychology Support Services to help people get the most from their life even if they have behaviours which might make it difficult.

Housing Management Services to help people live in the homes they want to. To ensure that people homes are safe and advice is available to ensure people live within the terms of their tenancy agreements.

Support to get the right transport to help people enjoy their life in the community safely.

Contact Details of the Agency

Community Lives Consortium
24, Walter Road
Swansea
SA1 5NN
Telephone No. 01792 646640
Fax No. 01792 476436
Email address:- info@communitylives.co.uk
Web:- www.communitylives.co.uk

Who Manages the Agency?

The Consortium have people who meet to decide on how The Consortium is run. These people are called the Management Committee.

The Management Committee have a responsibility to oversee the management of the Community Lives Consortium.

Members of the committee can meet each year with service users in their own home if they want to. This is an opportunity for them to discuss with service users and staff any concerns or problems they are facing and how the committee might be able to help.

Pictures and more information about each committee member can be found in The Consortium’s ‘Who’s Who’ document. This document can be obtained from any service, our central office or by visiting our web site at: www.communitylives.co.uk

Responsible Person

Under the Care Standards Act 2000, The Welsh Assembly require that to operate as a domiciliary care agency there has to be someone who has overall management responsibility. This person is known as the 'Responsible Person'.

The responsible person for The Consortium is:

Rick Wilson - Chief Executive

Relevant Qualifications and Experience: Rick has a Degree in Sociology & Politics and is a Qualified Social Worker.

Rick has had several years experience of working in services for people with a learning disability in the areas of; supporting people in their own homes; participation and advocacy; developing new housing, day care and resettlement services; training staff; and contracting and commissioning services for a Local Authority.

Since 1995 Rick has worked for the Consortium with responsibility for managing, monitoring and developing it's services to tenants, he has been the Chief Executive since 2001.

Arrangements in the Absence of the Responsible Person

If the Responsible Person is going to be absent from the agency for a period of 28 days or more the following procedure will be followed:

'Written notification provided to the CSSIW, providing notification of expected length of absence, reason for absence, arrangements for covering absence'.

The Consortium have other managers who will provide cover in the absence of the Responsible person, these are:

Christine Brian - Director of Community Services

Relevant Qualifications and Experience:

BA(HONS)Social Science

NVQ assessors D32/D33

NVQ Level 4 Management

16+ years experience in learning disability field ranging from;

Voluntary work, Support Worker, Registered Manager, Performance Manager, Operations Manager & Director of Community Services.

Alice O'Sullivan - Operations Manager

Relevant Qualifications and Experience:

S.en Mental, & CSS (Certificate of Social Services)

5 years nursing experience in mental health 16 years in residential care with older people, 1 year field social worker, 5 years with a Registered Social Landlord, and worked with CLC as Operations Manager since 2002.

Other Managers and Staff of the Agency

The Consortium employ other managers to manage its range of operational services. Please find below details of each manager, their responsibilities and qualifications they already hold or are working towards.

Job Title - Contract Managers

Responsibilities: have overall responsibility for services offered to people in a local area. The Consortium refer to each identified area as a Network. Contract managers will be the Registered Manager under the Domicillary Care arrangements. They will negotiate directly with the Care Management Teams of the local authorities and oversee the contract between The Consortium and purchaser.

Relevant Qualifications:

be held or worked towards:

NVQ Level 4 Care or DipSW or RMNH

NVQ Level 4 Management

NVQ Assessor Award (D32/33 or A1)

Job Title - Team Co-ordinators

Responsibilities: to work with a group of services within a Contract Managers network, they will ensure that there are enough staff available to Service Co-ordinators and that these staff are appropriately trained and assessed as competent.

Relevant Qualifications to be held or work towards:

NVQ Level 4 Care or DipSW or RMNH

NVQ Level 4 Management

NVQ Assessor Award (D32/33 or A1)

Job Title - Service Co-ordinators

Responsibilities: have responsibility for ensuring that the services delivered to small groups of service users (usually living together) are met effectively. They will ensure that service delivery plans are in place and meet the needs for each service user and that services are being delivered effectively by support staff.

Relevant Qualifications:

be held or worked towards:

NVQ Level 3 Promoting Independence or Care

NVQ Assessor Award (D32/33 or A1)

Job Title - Support Co-ordinators

                          Responsibilities: to work with a small number of service users who they know well.  As a keyworker they are responsible for producing and reviewing support plans with the service users and guiding other support staff to meet the service users' needs and wishes in the most effective way.              

Relevant Qualifications:

be held or worked towards:

NVQ Level 3 Health and Social Care (or equivalent)

Job Title - Housing Support Co-ordinators

Responsibilities: work with a larger group of service users, they ensure that the service user’s housing support needs are being effectively met. This will ensure that the service user remains safe and secure in his or her own home.

Relevant Qualifications:

be held or worked towards:

Level 3 Certificate in Supported Housing or

Level 3 Housing

Job Title - Support Staff

Responsibility: work within each service and directly deliver the support to each service user as identified within each of their Service Delivery Plans.

Relevant Qualifications:

be held or worked towards:

NVQ Level 2/3 Care

Central Office Staff

The Consortium employ a number of managers and staff whose job it is to provide professional support services to our frontline managers and staff and the many services we offer. These staff are based at our central office in Swansea.
Further information about each of the people who work at our central office can be found in The Consortium’s ‘Who’s Who’ document.
This document can be obtained from any service, our central office or by visiting our web site at: www.communitylives.co.uk

Arrangements to Cover Staff Sickness or other Absence

The Consortium acknowledge how important it is for service users to have people who they know and trust support them. When staff are either ill or going to be absent for a length of time The Consortium have procedures and policy in place to ensure continuity is maintained.
Team Co-ordinators will first attempt to cover sickness and other absence by using staff who already work with service users, as listed within the service user guide.
Where these staff are not available regular casual staff will be used, who should already be known to the service users and also listed in the service user guide.
In extreme circumstances staff will be used from other services either from within the network or wider agency.
For full details our policy ‘Rota Management’ should be referred to.
The Consortium does not employ staff from outside of the agency to provide support services. (domiciliary care regulation 4, schedule 1.18)

Arrangements for Cancellation of Support Staff by either Service User or Agency:

The Consortium will only cancel support staff under exceptional circumstances and never if the absence of support places a service user at critical or substantial risk.
If support staff have to be cancelled The Consortium will give at least 24 hours notice unless in emergency situations. The Consortium also request that service users provide 24 hours notice if they have to cancel support staff.

Staff Rota and Timesheet Procedures

The Consortium delegates the responsibility of ensuring staff support is provided at the correct quantity, frequency and ratio to Team Co-ordinators.
The Team Co-ordinators will produce weekly staff rotas at least 4 weeks in advance. Where possible service users will have these rotas made available to them in an accessible format.
Team Co-ordinators will complete a monthly timesheet at the end of each month to show the individual hours worked by each staff member and any time off they may have had either through sickness, annual leave or other reason.
For full details our policy ‘Rota Management’ should be referred to.
Service Users will not be expected to sign any timesheet system to confirm staff attendance. Timesheets will be authorised by the designated manager.

Circumstances in which the Agency may Cease to Provide Services

The usual reason for the Consortium to cease to provide a service is when this service is no longer agreed by the Local Authority. This occurs when the person's Individual Care Plan no longer requires this support to be delivered. The individual and their supporters will be involved by the Local Authority and the Consortium in this Individual Care Plan discussion and any assessments of need that take place as part of it.
The Consortium may also in very exceptional situations cease to provide a service if we feel that there is a significant risk to the safety of service users, staff or the public, this however will only take place as a result of careful discussion with service users, their supporters and local authority officers as part of the Individual Care Planning process and the Contract Management arrangements.

The Consortium’s Policy on Managing Aggression

The Consortium is committed to non aversive interventions with service users who may exhibit aggressive or violent behaviour so as to maintain the dignity of the service user and the relationship between service user and staff.
The Consortium does not believe in;

• Using pain as a method of control
• Any restraints that involves holding a person on the floor
• Punitive based approaches
• Restricting people’s freedom unless there is a legal reason

Procedures/Policies in Place to Safeguard Service Users and Staff from Abuse

The Consortium provides support to many adults who are considered vulnerable adults. It is therefore important that we have clear policies and procedures in place to safeguard the people we support.
The Consortium have policies in place to ensure staff are aware of their duties in relation to ensuring service users are safe from abuse either from themselves or the people they work with. The policies make it clear that each staff member has a duty to report any instances of actual or suspected abuse and provides clear guidelines for reporting.
The Consortium operates a complaints and compliments procedure and provides this in an accessible format and audio CD, for service users or their representatives to make a complaint or compliment about their service.

Procedures/Policies in Place to Safeguard Service Users and Staff in their Service

It is the policy of The Consortium to seek to provide a safe and healthy home and work place for its employees and service users. To that end it is committed to removing hazards as and when they arise.
The Consortium provides adequate procedures and training for those hazards which by their nature cannot be completely guarded against. This will help to reduce the possibility of hazards occurring.
However, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, recognising that this is such an important area, lays down certain duties on all employees working at every level within The Consortium. The duties are to take care of their own safety and that of other workers and to co-operate with the Consortium and its officers to enable it to carry out its own responsibilities.

Procedures/Policies in Place to Safeguard Service Users Property

The Consortium provides policies and procedures about how our staff and managers supports service users to manage their own monies and property.
The Consortium and its staff work to ensure that in supporting service users to manage their money, our practice is safe and accountable to minimise the risk of financial abuse and exploitation.
We will also endeavour to work in partnership with our service users and the other people in their lives who support them, making our practice transparent and open to scrutiny.

Procedures/Policies in Place for Providing Assistance with or Administrating of Medication

The Consortium has policies and procedures to ensure that service users who require support to either self medicate or additional support from Consortium staff are supported safely.
The Consortium believes that service users retain, administer and control their own medication where appropriate or play as active a role as possible in maintaining responsibility for their own medication.
Where service users can-not maintain responsibility for their own medication, that staff are safeguarded by following the procedures as laid out within policy. Medication will only be used in an appropriate way for each individual service user. Medication will be obtained, administered, stored safely and reviewed regularly.

Arrangements for Service Users to Express their Views about their Service

Service Users meetings are held and recorded on a bi-monthly basis where each has the opportunity to make suggestions in the running of their home or suggest new activities they may like to try and be involved in, this includes choosing new menus or if they are worrying about anything or unhappy they are able to chat about it.

At the quarterly monitoring visits service users are offered the opportunity to speak to the Contract Manager and voice any concerns or compliment the service provided, this is then recorded on the monitoring schedule.

Annual Life Plan, monthly, quarterly and six monthly review meetings, are held with the service user and their representatives, these meetings are another opportunity where the service user is able to have a say in the running of their Home.

Service Users also have access to the Tenant Participation Officer, whom they can consult when necessary.

Complaints and Compliments Procedure

Each service user will be provided with an accessible complaints and compliments procedure which is also available on CD, this gives clear, concise information on what to do if you have a complaint about the service you receive.

There are a range of people to whom you can refer your complaint or compliment, i.e. the service co-ordinator of your service, the Contract Manager, directly to the Director of the Consortium, your Care Manager, CSSIW etc. The telephone numbers for all the above can be found in the Complaints and Compliments Procedure.

Agency Charges

The Consortium provides services under a contract from the Local Authority thus any charges service users are required to pay are agreed by the Local Authority commissioning the support.
Service Users are required to pay a charge for their personal care by the Local Authority, when receiving personal care service users will be financially assessed by the Local Authority who will set a charge for the service.

The Consortium may also to provide additional support to service users beyond that funded by the Local Authority, it maybe that the local authority do not see some activities as a priority need for the person, however the person and their supporters wish to pay for this support. The Consortium will charge the individual directly for these services at an hourly rate. This will be agreed as part of the service users individual care plan.

The Consortium may also arrange transport for an individual or group of service users. Arrangements will be agreed with service users and documented in an Individual Transport Plan. This plan will agree the charges or contribution a service user will make to the transport that they use. The charges or contributions that are agreed at a level to represent a maximum of 75% of the individual's Disabled Living Allowance Mobility benefit.

Where the Consortium is providing Housing Related Support to service users who are tenants they may also need help ensure that their rent is paid, the Consortium will also ensure that the service user understands how their rent has been calculated and any charges that they are paying for services that are being provided by the Landlord. The Consortium will support the person to claim the cost of their rent from Housing Benefit where they are eligible for this.

All charges that the service user has to pay either to the Consortium or other agencies to maintain their life in the Community are set out in their Personal Financial Support Plan which is there to help the service user and their supporters to successfully manage their financial life.