Question from Community Care – People with learning difficulties/disabilities join the inspectors

People with learning difficulties/disabilities join the inspectors

By Frances Hasler and Nigel Smith

* The Commission for Social Care Inspection is involving people as experts by experience. What can other organisations do to involve people who use our services in improving the quality of those services? (GUIDE TIME FOR DISCUSSION: 20 minutes)

* People with learning difficulties could see that there was a difference between their quality of life and the quality of life of some of the people they visited. Some of the people they visited were not supported to make their own choices. How can we change this, to make sure everyone has a good quality of life? (10 minutes to discuss the barriers to achieving choice, followed by 20 minutes to find solutions to them.)

* Experts by experience commented that the national minimum standards were not as high as the standards written by People First. What improvements in the standards would help to make them more person-centred? (This could be a quick exercise to generate ideas or a more guided discussion; allow an hour for a full discussion.)

All three topics can be debated with groups of people who use services.