Post by Shadow on Jun 1, 2011 18:41:46 GMT 1
Like most right minded people I am appalled at the behaviour of staff featured on the Panorama documentary last night.
The majority of my working career was as a support worker working with adults with Learning difficulties,in particular those with autism and extreme challenging behaviour-Mr Shads spent over twenty years doing the same until his recent job change.
I cant believe that twenty years down the line such work practice was allowed to continued unchallenged even despite the fact that a member of staff had already raised concerns.
In the eighties the trend was towards community care-shutting down the big institutions-and moving people,some of whom had spent decades locked away,back into the community.Our clients were originally from Darenth Park and Grove Park Hopsitals as well as some from Harperbury.
Wages were relatively good and we received alot of training,regular supervision and worked stRictly to what was then called the five accomplishments
Five Accomplishments of “Normalisation” Community Presence:
The right to take part in community life and to live and spend leisure time with other members of the community.
Relationships:
The right to experience valued relationships with non-disabled people.
Choice:
The right to make choices, both large and small, in one’s life. These include choices about where to live and with whom to live.
Competence:
The right to learn new skill and participate in meaningful activities with whatever assistance is required.
Respect:
The right to be valued and not treated as a second-class citizen.
In the late eighties /early nineties in London the services were given over by the NHS to not for profit Organisations.Wages dropped and so did standards-which is partly why I left my job.And after working for a couple of privately run places things it was interesting to see the differences between them.
Some paid a decent wage,trained their staff well,provided the managerial support required for staff dealing with adults with challenging behaviour because its bloody hard-others left people to it-with utterly disastrous consequences.
At the moment community housing services for people with learning difficulties in the North East is being transfered over-with the same drop in pay,terms and conditions that I saw twenty years back-its all about the money and Im sick to my stomach seeing what is planned for some of the clients up here I have gotten to know well over the years through Mr Shads.
Decent experienced well trained support staff are being forced to apply for any job within the NHS to protect their pay and conditions leaving behind vunerable adults theyve worked with for years to engage with a completely new staff team,smaller budget and a management team that puts the bloody profits first
And who suffers?
Those at the bottom of the chain as bloody usual-nowts changed has it?Just the same old crap with vunerable adults being exploited in the name of care.I'm so angry about this
The majority of my working career was as a support worker working with adults with Learning difficulties,in particular those with autism and extreme challenging behaviour-Mr Shads spent over twenty years doing the same until his recent job change.
I cant believe that twenty years down the line such work practice was allowed to continued unchallenged even despite the fact that a member of staff had already raised concerns.
In the eighties the trend was towards community care-shutting down the big institutions-and moving people,some of whom had spent decades locked away,back into the community.Our clients were originally from Darenth Park and Grove Park Hopsitals as well as some from Harperbury.
Wages were relatively good and we received alot of training,regular supervision and worked stRictly to what was then called the five accomplishments
Five Accomplishments of “Normalisation” Community Presence:
The right to take part in community life and to live and spend leisure time with other members of the community.
Relationships:
The right to experience valued relationships with non-disabled people.
Choice:
The right to make choices, both large and small, in one’s life. These include choices about where to live and with whom to live.
Competence:
The right to learn new skill and participate in meaningful activities with whatever assistance is required.
Respect:
The right to be valued and not treated as a second-class citizen.
In the late eighties /early nineties in London the services were given over by the NHS to not for profit Organisations.Wages dropped and so did standards-which is partly why I left my job.And after working for a couple of privately run places things it was interesting to see the differences between them.
Some paid a decent wage,trained their staff well,provided the managerial support required for staff dealing with adults with challenging behaviour because its bloody hard-others left people to it-with utterly disastrous consequences.
At the moment community housing services for people with learning difficulties in the North East is being transfered over-with the same drop in pay,terms and conditions that I saw twenty years back-its all about the money and Im sick to my stomach seeing what is planned for some of the clients up here I have gotten to know well over the years through Mr Shads.
Decent experienced well trained support staff are being forced to apply for any job within the NHS to protect their pay and conditions leaving behind vunerable adults theyve worked with for years to engage with a completely new staff team,smaller budget and a management team that puts the bloody profits first
And who suffers?
Those at the bottom of the chain as bloody usual-nowts changed has it?Just the same old crap with vunerable adults being exploited in the name of care.I'm so angry about this
.
