Personalised approach could be blueprint for UK social care

Report reveals a positive link between moving people with severe learning difficulties from institutional to community care

A major new report, commissioned jointly by Sutton council and Sutton and Merton Primary Care trust (PCT) has revealed that moving people with severe learning disabilities from institutional to community care vastly improves their quality of life. The report was commissioned in the wake of the Healthcare Commission’s investigation into the care of patients at Orchard Hill Hospital in Carshalton in 2007, which concluded that care was ‘institutionally abusive’. The research has shown that there are significant benefits to personalised care, including greater freedom and dignity, as well as financial savings. It looked at the experiences of 39 former residents of Orchard Hill who moved into the community, and found the key to success was a model of supported living based on individual need.

The report concluded: “It is clear from the Quality of Life audit data that the resettlement has brought about an appreciable improvement in quality of life for the 39 residents in their new supported accommodation and care home compared with Orchard Hill. This is the major finding of this research and should be considered in relation to the costs of the resettlement which compare more than favourably with costs elsewhere and for other forms of provision. It is also a person-centred approach to resettlement where each individual’s needs have been fully assessed and met.”