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Single Assessment Framework version

All services - change

GO Online: Inspection toolkit

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Independence, choice and control

People have a right to their independence and choice and control over the care that they receive. The ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ wants to see evidence regarding how you support them on these matters and that you don’t restrict peoples’ personal preferences.

The following film provides a summary of this area of inspection. It can help you and your teams learn about what will be inspected and what is important to demonstrate to deliver good or outstanding care.

Introducing Independence, choice and control

Duration 02 min 08 sec

Supporting people to have choice and control over their own lives is central to this area of ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ inspection. Your service will need to be able to demonstrate how you enable this to happen, as well as how you support people’s independence.

There should be documented evidence of how you have supported people to make decisions about their living arrangements, their home environment, and the care and treatment they receive. However, much of the focus is likely to be around their independence and social connections.

For many people, the ability to maintain close links with their community will be important to them, so the ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ will want to look at how your service enables that to happen. This will be less about providing one-off activities, and more about the regular ways in which you enable people to retain their independence and meets their social needs.

The ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ may look at how you are using technology and adaptive equipment to support their independence and help people stay connected with those important to them.

During the inspection, the ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ may want to interview people about their experiences and how the service supports them to manage their choice, control, and independence. Managers and staff should be ready to share examples of what has been achieved.

Staff training records, policies and procedures and evidence of various activities and social engagements in the community may be looked at as evidence.

For residential services, the inspection will also look at how you support visiting rights and enable people to keep in close, regular contact with those important to them.

To help you to meet these areas of ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ inspection, GO Online includes related resources, practical examples and recommendations.

Watch the film here:

Recommendations

These recommendations act as a checklist to what the ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ will be looking for. ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ has reviewed hundreds of inspection reports and identified these recommendations as recurring good practice in providers that meet ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ expectations.

The ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ is non-prescriptive, which means they don’t tell you what must be done in order to meet their Quality Statement. These recommendations are not intended to be a definitive list and some recommendations might not be relevant to your service. We hope they help you reflect on what evidence you might wish to share with the ΢΢²ÝÊÓƵ.

Independence, choice and control

  • We can evidence how we involve people in deciding their own independence, choice, and control.
  • We can evidence how our care and support enables people to remain independent and connected with people and activities important to them.
  • We encourage and support people to achieve their personal goals in relation to their own care, treatment, and wellbeing.
  • We involve people in discussions and decisions related to their home and living arrangements.
  • Where there are different views about a person’s care, we ensure our staff try to help understand different perspectives but respect the person’s decision.
  • We empower the people we support to maintain existing and identify/undertake a range of hobbies, activities, and interests to benefit their wellbeing.
  • We encourage the people we support to maintain their links with family, friends, and external organisations (such as clubs and societies) and other networks.
  • We support people to access specialist/adaptive equipment to keep them connected and able to access the community, including wellbeing and healthcare support.
  • We find the right balance between allowing people the freedom to socialise whilst still maintaining their safety.
  • Where appropriate to our service, our staff team understand our people’s preferences and backgrounds to tailor meaningful and fulfilling activities.
  • We ensure all our staff team understand the importance of stimulating the people we support, and that the activities we provide are an important part of motivating and engaging people.
  • We promote a range of activities, including those helping to achieve better health and wellbeing outcomes.
  • Where appropriate to our service, we document people’s engagement in activities and review these to consider new ways and means to increase involvement.
  • Where appropriate to our service, we capture feedback at the end of each activity and review it to inform longer-term improvement.
  • Where appropriate to our service, we draw on the talent across both staff and the people we support to offer a range of different activities.
  • Where appropriate to our service, we ensure all staff involved in activity provision are suitably experienced and trained where needed.
  • Where relevant to our service, we draw on the experience and expertise of activity specialists and national bodies (e.g., National Activity Providers Association).
  • Where relevant to our service, the people we support with dementia can choose from a range of activities to promote wellbeing that are tailored to their preferences. This is in accordance with NICE Quality Standards.
  • Where relevant to our service, the people we support with a learning disability and behaviour that challenges take part in personalised daily activities. This is in accordance with NICE Quality Standards.
  • Where appropriate to our service, we ensure that visiting rights align closely with good or best practice. We can evidence how we support family, friends, and advocates to visit our service.

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