Consultation on Day Opportunities for Adults with Learning Disabilites
This consultation has now closed - thank you to all those who took part. Any update will be published on this page as soon as it will be available.
The consultation ran for 6 weeks from Wednesday 9 December 2020 to Friday 22 January 2021.
What we consulted on
Background
In July 2020, we officially opened a new supported living service at Linden Road for people with complex autism and or learning disabilities. The facility enables residents to live independently, for longer in a supportive environment, and with access to 24-hour on-site care.
We proposed to develop two new services at Waltheof Gardens for autistic people. These services were developed as part of an extensive co-design process with our stakeholders. Along with plans to make Ermine Road a Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD) specialist service, they will help reduce the need for people who require highly skilled support to travel out of the borough to receive it.
In order to deliver our vision, we anticipated that there may be changes to some people's day opportunities. The proposed changes are set out in the section below. We heard views on the proposals so that we can shape these services now and for the future with the views of our residents in mind.
Draft proposals for changes to Haringey Disability Day Opportunities
Proposal A: Ermine Road Profound and Multiple Learning Disability (PMLD) Service
- Establish a dedicated centre of excellence for people with PMLD
- This centre will enable people with PMLD to access a range of support including maintaining and improving health, learning and 'enterprise' opportunities, sensory stimulation and storytelling, intensive interaction, specialist communication and much more
- Ermine Road has the infrastructure and the staffing team in place to meet this need
- There is a large cohort of people already using Ermine Road who have severe learning and physical/health needs
- Continue developing the service with greater support from health
- Increase the capacity for younger people coming through transitions and for those who are going out of borough at the moment
Proposal B: Decommissioning the Autism Support Service
- Decommission the Autism Support Service at Ermine Road and assess each user on an individual basis to see if they want to continue to be supported by the main Ermine Road Day Service. If they have complex autism and behaviours that can be described as challenging, to offer the new specialist positive behaviour support service at Waltheof Gardens which can better meet their needs (or an alternative day opportunity of the family's choosing)
- This proposal will ensure that the whole of the new Ermine Hub is a safer environment for people with PMLD
- This proposal will ensure that people with complex autism and behaviours that can be described as challenging, will have their needs better met in a service with highly skilled staff providing positive behaviour support at the new Haringey Opportunities Project
- This proposal will increase the amount of in-borough building based support for adults with learning disabilities and autism
Proposal C: Independence pathway
- This proposal is to grow out independence pathway for people who can be more independent. We want to encourage those who attend Ermine Road who have low or moderate support needs to plan alternative, more community-focused support during the day, based on their needs, interests, friendships and life goals
- Haringey is committed to providing more support for people in the community so they are able to live more independent and fulfilling lives. The new Autism Hub #ActuallyHaringey is a part of this offer. We will be developing volunteering and employment opportunities along with other targeted and skill-based support such as travel training and life skills
- We want to commission an independent support planner to help design person-centred day opportunities for people at Ermine Road. They will explore with the individual and their circle of support; employment, volunteering opportunities, making use of community assets, existing friendship groups, attending drop-in sessions at Ermine and Winkfield centres, use of Shared Lives for day support, using direct payments and/or personal budgets, referring people for travel training and other positive outcomes to help support individuals to greater independence
- Support will be recommissioned for this group as whilst they may be quite able and independent, we know this group are also vulnerable in the community
- It is likely able-people who attend Ermine Road now will have changes to their day opportunities following the support planning process
Proposal D: Haringey Opportunities project - Complex Autism and Learning Disability Hub
- The council is opening a new service with Centre 404 that will provide a dedicated positive behavioural support day service within an autism-friendly building. The building's capacity will be 30 users per day, with additional capacity in the community
- The building will provide a safe and dedicated space for service users, and the service will also use and provide support in the community
- Our proposal would mean that several service users currently going out of borough for a day service, and some people with complex needs and autism currently attending the autism service at Ermine road would access this new service at Waltheof Gardens, following a review by a social worker
Proposal E: Out of borough users
We think that a small cohort of people who attend specialist day opportunities out of borough could benefit from the new PMLD service at Ermine Road, or the Haringey Opportunities Project in-borough
- We would like to offer some of these people a place at these new in-borough services depending on the outcome of a social worker review
Consultation events
Due to COVID-19, we couldn't hold face-to-face consultation events, so we held 3 consultation meetings online instead.
People who were unable to attend these meetings or were not online were offered a consultation appointment. Key workers at Ermine Road facilitated 1:1 feedback from their clients where suitable. Advocacy was offered to those who required it.