Supported Living - During and Beyond the Pandemic
Values and humanity are at the core of the support worker role. Without fuss or fanfare Expanding Horizons support workers carried on with their jobs to ensure people’s lives were protected. Throughout the pandemic our teams have responded with thoughtfulness, creativity and dedication and we are humbled by your resilience and commitment.
In the coming months we will be championing key themes that have emerged as critical to the long-term success of social care:
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME - We must all commit to ensuring a future where people with learning disabilities, enduring mental health issues and complex physical health needs are supported to live in small, shared houses or on their own, rather than in large residential settings. This pandemic has highlighted that people are safer when they live in their own home or share their home with just a few other people of their choice (with a consistent team supporting them).
RECOGNISE AND REWARD - The pay of Support Workers must increase to reflect their highly skilled, complex and diverse roles. Expanding Horizons is already leading the way, committing to pay its employees the ‘Real Living Wage Foundation’ recommended rate of pay which is over 6.5% higher than the national minimum wage. Social Care is fundamentally about relationships, trust, spending time alongside people, being motivated, and making a difference – Support Workers must be recognised and rewarded as key workers.
TESTS AND PPE – The pandemic has taught us all a valuable lesson with regards testing capacity and the availability of PPE. At the beginning of the pandemic there was chaos as health and social care providers scrambled to purchase enough PPE…and testing was almost unheard of! In future Expanding Horizons will work closely with health colleagues to ensure quick access to testing in our residential and Supported Living settings and we will keep at least 6 months stock of PPE – just in case!
TECHNOLOGY – People with a learning disability, enduring mental health issues and complex physical health need WiFi just like anyone else! Expanding Horizons already provides service users with free access to telephones and WIFI, and over the next 12 months we will continue to build on this to ensure people are able to connect.
STAFF BUBBLES - To reduce the likelihood of infection, we will continue to work hard to ensure that staff are working in ‘team bubbles’ as much as possible and that agency staff are only used at times of crisis.