Service Delivery Model

CARIDON FOUNDATION LIFE BEYOND HOUSING

 

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND CARIDON FOUNDATION SERVICE MODEL

 

This document summarises basic information about Caridon Foundation services and organisation. It is intended as a resource for service users, their relatives and health, social care professionals, and partners. The intention is to enable all stakeholders to make an informed choice as to whether our organisation can meet potential service users/tenant needs.

 

It includes material that is a requirement of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It should be read in conjunction with our Service User’s / Tenant Pack, which has a range of useful information both for the tenants/service users and other providers.

 

WHAT WE DO AND WHO WE ARE:

 

The Caridon Foundation was established to provide Tenancy Sustainment and support services for individuals who require additional help to avoid homelessness. A qualified and experienced Housing Manager leads our team backed up by fully-trained Housing Support Officers. A fundamental part of our success in supporting people with varied and complex needs is our multi-disciplinary approach. Housing Support Officers and Service Users work collaboratively to identify support needs, improve skills and confidence and work towards clients making their own choices and taking back full control of their lives. We work with people who have multiple social disadvantages, including people with mental health and substance misuse issues, and those with offending backgrounds. We aim to ensure that people can remain living independently and, after 6-18 months, move into permanent secure accommodation.

 

Investment in staff training (including awareness of Safeguarding, Domestic Violence, Mental Health First Aid, Welfare Reform and Suicide Prevention) means a skilled workforce with all staff have the skills to carry out thorough risk assessments and individualised support plans. We operate a sound framework for confidentiality and information sharing across agencies in line with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).  We regularly monitor and evaluate our practices and the services we provide as well as capturing client data to identify those tenants most at risk of losing their accommodation through rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, poor mental health etc. to target preventative work.

 

SERVICE MODEL AND HONESTY ABOUT OUR SERVICE – LOW and MEDIUM SUPPORT:

 

Caridon Foundation is ‘contracted’ with our local authority partners to provide low-medium support to our client grounds. We have occasionally assessed and taken on service users with medium-high needs. However, they must come in with a structured and negotiated care and support package. Before admission into our service, CF has to be convinced that the range of the support and care package agree with other partners (hospitals/social services) are adequate to enable the service user/tenant to sustain their tenant in a 9 am-6 pm service without a 24-hour service supported by staff. We do not aim to set any of our tenants up to fail in their placement with us. We are therefore honest to our clients about the services we offer and the challenges we face daily in delivering these services. Consequently, we hold ourselves to the highest of moral uprightness and honesty. We are committed to robust quality assurance processes which means that we maintain an ongoing assessment of all our service users, ensure periodic reviews of all support plans and provide at least eight-weekly reports against all areas of the support plan to keep everyone appraised on progress.

 

OUR MISSION:

 

We have sound principles for the way we run our service. Central to these is our belief that the rights of service users are paramount and their wishes and aspirations should inform, shape service model and delivery. Therefore our mission is based on the principle stated below:

 

–              “One-stop solution” to end homelessness and through providing suitable, independent furnished accommodations

–              Family Ethos

–              Remove stigma from social housing

–              Making a difference

 

VISION

 

We believe everyone has the right to a safe, clean and stable furnished home, and we encourage tenants to contribute to their communities in a positive way.” So, we have set out the following as our vision:

 

–              Reducing homelessness

–              Nationwide provider of affordable supported accommodation

–              Re-investing and strengthening communities

–              People first

–              Rebuilding lives and communities

 

The above vision and principles encompass the underlying principle of service delivery by a highly skilled and dedicated staff team.

 

AIM:

 

We aim to equip our clients with the knowledge, skills and ability, to take as fuller control of their lives as possible; thereby enabling them to feel more fulfilled in life and more importantly become independent through the range of opportunities offered to them. These opportunities provided to them by Caridon staff are aimed to equip them to be more independent to be able to move out at some stage to live independently in the community.

CF STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

 

The Purpose which CF has adopted for is strategy is to help people meet their supported housing needs. These aims and objectives are at the heart of everything we do with our clients. Everything else will take its cue from these critical aims and objectives.

 

We aim to ensure that people can remain living independently and, after 6-18 months, move into permanent secure accommodation.

 

THE SERVICES THE ORGANISATION PROVIDES:

 

Examples of the support we provide:

 

• Working with individuals to ensure that they receive all the appropriate benefits (CF has secured over £180,000 in unclaimed and backdated benefits for tenants since January 2019);
• Promote living in the most independent setting possible;
• Promote independent supported living for as long as possible;
• Maximise value for money;
• Identifying activities, hobbies, volunteering and employment opportunities in the local area and linking clients in with the appropriate support;
• To provide experienced and committed staff that have the proper expertise and training to provide a holistic service to adults with a range of complex needs
• Assisting people to access essential physical and mental health services;
• Tackle some of the problems faced by vulnerable adults with special needs, rough sleeping or leaving residential care, hostel or hospitals and transferring to supported housing services;
• Assist people to access essential talking therapies and counselling facilities in the community;
• Offer a range of quality housing solutions to homeless and vulnerable people;
• To promote a culture of continual learning within the staff team and foster continual improvement in service delivery;
• Our services focus on helping service users to develop and maintain as much independence and control as possible while experiencing an improvement in their quality of life.
• To establish and maintain active lines of communication and joint working relationships with referring agencies and relevant health and social care teams;
• To operate accordingly within the relevant legislative framework and policy guidance;
• Provide opportunities to choose from the range of recreational, educational and employment opportunities that are available in the community;
• To enable vulnerable adults to develop their confidence and maintain their dignity, by retaining control of the support services they receive;
• Arranging for repairs & servicing of personal equipment etc.
• 24/7 On-call 24hr a day 365 days a year maintenances services;
• Reporting repairs and maintenance issues to the landlord;
• Helping people to become financially resilient, obtain ID (birth certificates/passports), access debt advice etc.

 

NATURE OF SERVICE:

 

We are whole-heartedly committed to providing top quality services by continuous improvement in the level of the support we offer. This is achieved by employing and maintaining a quality workforce as well as the appointment of a dedicated staff training and Managers.  To ensure that we are fit for our purpose, the work of the staff team is consistently monitored and supervised. We examine our operations always to ensure that we are successfully achieving our stated aims and objectives. We, therefore, welcome feedback from all stakeholders (i.e. service users, staff, supported housing professionals, carers, family members and friends) on all aspects of our operation.

 

Needs and Risk Assessments:

 

Before we provide services, we ensure that a potential service user’s needs, preferences and risks are thoroughly assessed. Our aim to ensure that the support that the Caridon Foundation provides, meets the assessed needs of each service use/tenants. We ensure that needs and risks are re-assessed as frequently as necessary and that the support provided has the flexibility to respond to changing needs or requirements. From the outset of the referral process, we seek to consult all relevant parties in the needs and risk assessment process.

 

User Focussed Services:

 

To focus on service users/tenants personal aspirations, we aim to provide support in ways which have positive outcomes for service users/tenants and promote their active participation. To this end, CF operates a charter of rights for people who receive our support services.

 

Charter of Rights:

 

The aim of good quality the CF support services must always be to promote a way of life for service users/tenants which permits them to enjoy, to the highest possible extent, their independence, and rights as individual human beings. The following values underpin our work with service users:

 

Dignity:

 

The right to dignity involves recognising the intrinsic value of people as individuals and the specific nature of each person’s particular needs/ as some of our service users have complex or dual diagnosis our support is focused on recognising their dual needs in terms of how we structure their support and services we offer in return.

 

Privacy:

 

An individual’s right to privacy involves being free from intrusion or unwelcome attention. Although we occasionally conduct property visits as part of our quality assurance framework and to meet requirements for Health and Safety, affected tenants/service users are informed beforehand, reasonable allowance is usually made to minimise unnecessary intrusion.

 

Choice:

 

Consists of the opportunity to select independently from a range of options – we signpost tenants to services that are appropriate to their particular needs, and such services are first discussed with the tenant/service user. We believe that engagement in any service can only succeed if and when the service users are committed to it.

 

Independence:

 

Means having opportunities to think, plan, act and take sensibly calculated risks without continual reference to others. Our service users despite their needs are expected to live in self-contained accommodation in the community – which is supported between 9 am – 6 pm daily, so they are expected to manage on their own and be free to live their lives with minimal interference.

 

Security:

In providing services to vulnerable adults and people with disabilities, there is a delicate balance

to be struck between helping them to experience as much independence as possible and making sure that they are not exposed to unnecessary hazards.

 

Taking care of the security of service users, therefore, means helping to provide an environment and support structure which offers sensible protection from danger and comfort and readily available assistance when required. This should not be interpreted as a demand for a safe or risk-free lifestyle; taking reasonable risks can be interesting, exciting and fun, as well as necessary.

 

Fulfilment:

 

Has been defined as the opportunity to realise personal aspirations and abilities. It recognises and responds to levels of human satisfaction separate from the physical and material. Still, it is difficult to generalise about fulfilment since it deals with precisely those areas of lifestyle where individuals differ from each other.

 

Diversity:

 

Social care services, not unlike Caridon Foundation Supported Housing Services, are used by people from a wide diversity of ethnic, social and cultural backgrounds. We make particular efforts to reach out to vulnerable people who might have been deterred from approaching organisations which appear not to relate to their individual needs and aspirations. We can demonstrate that we welcome and celebrate the full range of people in the community generally and among the users of services.

 

Confidentiality:

 

CF ensures that the information we hold about tenants is kept confidential at all times following the Data Protection Act 1998. There are exceptions to this rule in extreme cases where personal data relating to a tenant’s mental and/or physical health could be passed on without explicit consent if this is deemed necessary to protect the vital interests of the tenant and/or the safety of others.

 

SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL:

 

We should operate a 5-stage service delivery model across all our service areas, comprising:

• Assessment (An Initial Assessment is conducted following the referral with a more comprehensive (Core) Assessment within 4 weeks of the service commencing)
• Support Planning (An outline? Support Plan is completed from the findings of the Initial Assessment following a referral, with a more comprehensive (Core) Support Plan resulting from the Core Assessment, provided within four weeks of the service commencing)
• Key Working (All tenants are designated a named Key Worker with formal Key Working meetings held on at least an 8-weekly cycle)
• Reporting (Reports setting out progress against each of the agreed Core Support Plan areas, together with other relevant information are provided to involve professionals and others as may be agreed on at least an 8-weekly cycle).
• Review (A formal review of the service and the Core Assessment and Core Support Plan are carried out on at least an annual basis).

 

The Referral Process:

 

The referral process begins with an enquiry, email or letter from a partner local authority. The service will then ask for a referral/assessment forms to be completed giving brief information about the potential tenant and their support needs. The Operations Manager/Housing Support Officer will review these forms after they have been completed by the multi-disciplinary team from our partner local authority.

 

CF Operations Manager will conduct a provisional review is then undertaken to assess whether the service can potentially meet the support needs of the individual being referred. If the service feels they can meet the person’s support needs, a full assessment will then be arranged with the potential tenant and their care team or referral source.

 

The Assessment Process:

 

At this assessment, the following aspects of the service will be discussed with the tenant:

• Current support needs.
• Identified areas of risk.
• What are the things necessary to them as an individual?
• What are they seeking from our service?
• Caridon Foundation will offer a proposed plan of individual support.

 

The Admission Process:

 

If the outcome of the assessment is that the service can meet the support needs of the potential tenant, they will then be invited to visit the property. This will allow them to look around, meet other tenants of the property and ask questions or seek clarification about anything they are unsure of.

 

If the potential tenant likes the service, there is an appropriate vacancy for them and funding for their placement has been approved, a transition support plan is then agreed with the individual and others involved in their care/referral source. The Supported Housing Service will inform the new tenant of all-key aspects, procedures and routines of the property within a day of admission (and a tenant is handed a tenant pack detailing all CF and the tenant’s responsibilities.

 

Before admission, a review plan will be agreed with the potential tenant and their care team and contingency plan confirmed as to what actions will be taken if the placement becomes unsustainable. The placement will be formally reviewed in the sixth week and a decision made on whether support can be continued.

 

Support Plans:

 

For each area of need identified for an individual tenant, a support plan is produced by the key worker / Housing Support Officer and tenant, setting out specific objectives in the identified area and how the tenant hopes to achieve these (using both internal and external resources). This support plan will incorporate the control measures identified through their risk management plan in any related risk areas. All support plans are reviewed during keyworker 1:1 sessions and updated as appropriate on a minimum basis of 4 weekly, or more frequently if needs change.

 

Each tenant has a copy of their support plans and is encouraged to participate as fully as individually possible in the planning process. A tenant or their representative can request a review at any time they feel their support plan is not appropriate.

 

Client Group:

 

On the initial referral services, users must be 18 years and above. They may have one or more of the following disabilities:

 

Mental health problems

 

Very mild sensory impairment, allowing them to operate independently without additional support

 

Very mild learning disabilities – allowing them to operate independently without additional support

 

Community Involvement:

 

• Caridon Foundation support services encourage and support people in their use of community facilities. We help service users develop relationships in the direction of the person’s choice and culture. Service users have the opportunity to use a wide range of facilities.

 

• CF encourages participation in hobbies and leisure interests which are available in the community. Such facilities may involve social or cultural activities both collectively (such as our association and football team in partnership with Crystal Palace Football Club) or pursued as an individual. An effort is made to ensure that such facilities do not compound any sense of stigma or disadvantage.

 

• Service users are supported to use services offered by external services in the community. These may include counselling, advocacy, befriending or family mediation.

 

• The keyworker / Support Officers take responsibility for signposting service users to appropriate services. Service users are also given a choice to pursue employment and educational opportunities in order to build their confidence and respect in themselves and the wider community.

 

• Service users have the right to opt-out of any activity if they change their mind. All staff respects such right.

Caridon Foundation values each service user as an individual and recognises their potential and human rights by the way our services are provided to them. The following principles are fundamental to our organisation’s work with our service users.

 

Relationships with Staff:

 

Service users receive a full commitment from support workers, to help and support them to develop and maintain a more independent lifestyle. Service users receive full consideration and respect by all supported housing staff members and are treated as full and equal adult citizens. Service users are supported to participate in regular meetings with their key worker to review their support plans and to ensure present needs are met. We also take into account future aspirations and any unmet needs.

 

Possessions and Privacy:

 

Service users have the right to personal privacy and autonomy in relation to their studio flats. Service users should feel able to entertain personal visitors, families, and friends, without the interference or intrusion of staff, as long as they abide by the CF rules relating to such matters. Service user’s possessions must be respected and not used by others without permission.

 

Meals:

 

Service users prepare their meals in their accommodation without any involvement of CF support staff. However, CF is in partnership with Tesco, fare share and other food supply agencies and therefore receive free food weekly. Service users are entitled to avail themselves of these food items via their respective housing support officers.

 

Service User Consultation:

 

CF considers ‘participation’ to be a vital part of a service user’s inclusion in decision making. Service users are encouraged to become empowered by taking advantage of consultation and support mechanisms in place. For instance, meetings with managers or supervisors, advocacy support and/or assistance from external agencies.

All staff members know where the Policies and Procedures are kept within the office for reference. Our regular interactions with our tenants can and do sometimes encourage us to effect changes in policies and procedures for the improvement of service delivery.

 

The geographical area covered:

 

The Caridon Foundation provide Supported Housing in London and South-East, for vulnerable adults with tailored provision to sustain tenancies and work towards independent living and integrating fully into the community. Our West and North West London Office is based at Kilburn High Road, London and caters for the seven West London Boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent and Harrow. We recently started a floating support service covering the seven West London Boroughs. Our Essex office is based in Harlow, servicing the Essex County Councils.

 

Operations Manager:

 

Bo Ejoh-Steer has worked for over ten years in the field of health and social care. She has extensive experience of working in the statutory and voluntary sector, planning and developing community services for vulnerable people with a variety of needs. These have included probation, supporting people services and supported housing.

 

The organisation’s Support Workers:

 

We recognise that for most service users, the most important people in our organisation are the Support Workers with whom service users will have regular contact. We take great care in recruiting, training and supervising our staff. AT CF a culture of professionalism is fostered in the organisation, hence all staff work towards personal and career development. Our team have over the last six month undertaken a serious of training ranging from welfare training to mental health crisis management of clients.

 

During staff 1-1 supervision, service reviews, emergency incident reviews and staff meetings, and based on the exigencies of the service, we assist staff to identify their training needs and provide the resources to enable them to meet these. Hence team are supported to undertake Social & Health Care training as long as they meet the CF criteria (such as length of service, performance, etc. Our staff have a wide range of qualifications and have undergone extensive training. Below is a sample of the range of studies and training that the team has undertaken or are currently taking.

 

QUALIFICATIONS & TRAINING UNDERTAKEN:

 

• BSc
• Studies
• First Aid
• BSC (Hon.) Social Work Mental Health Awareness
• Mental Capacity Act Safeguarding
• Poor Performance Management
• Crisis Management
• Health & Social Care/Auxiliary Nursing NVQ Level 2 Mental Health Care
• Equal Opportunities and Diversity Medication handling
• Mental Health Manual handling
• Substance misuse
• Community Care & Support GNVQ

 

Complaints and Compliments:

 

Caridon Foundation welcomes feedback on its services, especially from service users, support staff, management and health or social care professionals. Whether these are compliments, complaints or suggestions, we view these as useful indicators to assist us in improving our services or working relationships. Service users or their representative should feel free to let the Support Workers working with them know any comments they wish to make. If they prefer to take up the matter with someone else in the organisation or if they feel their complaint is not being taken seriously or acted on, they can ask to be put in touch with a manager.

 

If a service user wishes their dissatisfaction to be dealt with more formally, they should take the steps outlined in the CF complaints procedure. For your convenience, there are the compliments and complaints forms at the front and back of the ‘Tenant Packs’. This should be completed shortly after you have moved into your studio flat and handed in an envelope to the Support Worker, or you can post it directly to our offices.

 

If anyone feels that Caridon Foundation has not dealt with a complaint to their satisfaction, they have the right to complain to a senior manager at Caridon, or to the partner local authority (Details of which can be given to you by your supported housing officer).

 

Revisions of this Document:

 

CF reviews all of its policy and procedure documents from time to time and is always seeking improvements. We, therefore, welcome any comments on the contents of this Statement of Purpose/ Service Model Document. (September 2019).

 

Accommodation:

 

Caridon Foundation Supported Housing Service recognises that prospective tenants should have the opportunity to choose a home, which suits their needs. To facilitate that choice, we do the following:

 

• Provide detailed information on the service by publishing a tenant/service user guide.
• Give each tenant a License Agreement specifying the terms of his or her tenancy.
• Ensure that every prospective tenant has his or her needs thoroughly assessed before a decision on admission is taken.
• Demonstrate to every person about to be offered a tenancy that we are confident we can meet his or her needs as assessed.

 

Equal Opportunities:

 

The Caridon Foundation abides by equal opportunities legislation and company policy and does not discriminate in any way on the basis of race, religions, gender, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or age in relation to staff and tenants/service users. A copy of CF’s current Equal Opportunities Policy is available on request from the Operations Manager.

 

Environment:

 

• The physical environment of each property is designed for the tenants’ convenience and comfort:

CF is responsible for any reasonable repair and maintenance of your property.

• The buildings and grounds are maintained in a safe condition.
• Individual tenants take responsibility for their own bedroom with the appropriate support.

Fire Precautions, Associated Emergency Procedures and Safe Working Practices:

 

All tenants are made aware of the action to be taken in the event of a fire or other emergency. The service conforms to all guidance on promoting and protecting the health, safety and welfare of the tenants and staff (this includes occasional room visit as part of Health & Safety).

 

Tenant Responsibilities:

 

Cleaning:

 

Tenants are responsible for the cleaning of their own bedrooms / en-suite bathrooms with appropriate support. Staff will undertake a weekly health and safety check with each tenant of their bedroom and any other private areas on a minimum of a monthly basis as agreed in their support plan.

 

For communal areas such as kitchens and shared bathrooms, all people in that property will share the cleaning. Tenants in a shared house are expected to devise a rota for these cleaning tasks.

 

Cooking & Shopping:

 

Tenants are responsible, for their own shopping and cooking. Tenants will then visit local shops to purchase the items they need.

 

House Rules:

 

To ensure the safety and comfort of all of our tenants, we have created and agreed with them a set of

house rules for each of the properties. Tenants are responsible for complying with these rules.

 

Repairs:

 

Tenants are made aware of admission that they should report any maintenance issues to the staff team as soon as possible. Staff will then follow the Caridon maintenance procedure.

 

General wear and tear of communal areas are the responsibility of CF. However, tenants will be responsible for payment for any damage or breakages that have been caused by them. This is a condition of their licence agreement.

 

Security:

 

Tenants must take responsibility for the safety and security of themselves, their belongings, their home, ensuring that the doors to their own rooms are secured when left unattended and the external doors are properly secured when leaving or entering the property.

 

Policies and Procedures:

 

All aspects of running and managing our service are recorded in a comprehensive set of policy documents. These policies ensure we meet the statutory requirements for running a Supported Housing Service and are reviewed regularly to ensure they are kept up to date. Copies of our policy manuals are held at CF Head Quarters.

 

 

If there is any information not included in the Statement of Purpose and Service Model that you require related to The Caridon Foundation, please do not hesitate to contact the Operations Manager.

 

Designation:

The Caridon Foundation Ltd

Caridon House

Head Office- correspondence address only

1 Laud Street

Surrey CRO 1ST

 

• Referrals or Enquiries: Bo Ejoh Steer (Operations Manager) and Jane White (Team Leader, Croydon).Tel:   02038974720 Email:   bo@caridonfoundation.org

 

• Referrals or Enquiries: Sophie Allen (Team Leader) West and North West London.

Tel: 02072666511 / 513

Email:  sophia@caridonfoundation.org

 

• Referrals or Enquiries: Owain Jackson (Team Leader) Harlow and Essex Counties.

Mobile: 07387448220

Email: owainj@caridonfoundation.org