Registered Responsible Individual 

The responsible individual, David Morris, has worked as a registered independent Speech and Language Therapist since 1985. He has worked with children and adults who have cerebral palsy and communication problems. He has also provided facilitation and personal care for a 32 year old man who has cerebral palsy and uses a communication aid. They have travelled throughout the UK and to different parts of the world. He has also provided facilitation for others with cerebral palsy. The registered provider has also obtained the degree from the Open University of the Professional Certificate of Management which is the first part of the Open University's MBA. This course covered a wide variety of aspects of Management including finance, marketing and management practises. He has management experience as Product Development Manager for a company providing communication aids for people who cannot speak. He has also set up his own company in 2002 and is responsible for managing its marketing and finance.

 Registered Manager

The registered manager, Anthony Roberrtson, is a 32 year old man who has cerebral palsy himself and uses an electronic communication aid as his main means of communication although he also uses symbols/word boards and non-verbal communication with people who know him well.

For the last 14 years, he has had experience of organising his own facilitators by placing advertisements in the local press, sending out job descriptions and application forms, sorting out those applicants suitable for interview, carrying out the interviews and arranging trial periods for them to work with him. If they proved to be suited to the type of work he required, he would employ them and organise their salary and National Insurance contributions and income tax while, if, for some reason, he became dissatisfied with their work, he had little hesitation in making them redundant giving them the reasons why this action was necessary.

The Registered Manager has also completed one year of a BTec course in business and finance. He is undertaking an NVQ Level 4 in Care and the NVQ Level 4 Registered Manager (adults) to comply with the Standard 37.2ii of the Minimum Care Standards for Care Homes for Adults (18-65). He promotes the notion of independence for people with disabilities through improving their ability to communicate and prepare them for future employment or further education.

As the Registered Manager, he believes he can give the service users the same start that he had in communication and in becoming more independent as well as acting as a good role model.

 Staff

When the bungalow is full with five residents, there will be 10 full-time facilitators providing 1 to 1 support with service users in two shifts. Each shift will last 3 days with three days lasting from 10.00-22.00 and the half day lasting from 10.00-16.00 or 14.00-22.00 on alternate weeks. There will also be part-time staff working from 7.30-10.00. Once a week there will be a bungalow meeting for all staff, residents and the Management team lasting about two hours after which the full-time staff will change over. When required or asked for specifically, the staff will also hold a meeting for themselves to discuss issues affecting them and their performance. Some of the full-time staff will also be asked to sleep-over which will be four nights each in every month.

Prior to starting, there will be five days for induction training of staff covering such topics as the ethos of the establishment, Cerebral Palsy and other causes of physical disability, moving and handling, helping service users with personal care (eg eating, drinking, toileting and washing) and information about Augmentative, Alternative Communication (AAC). During their employment, there will also be an opportunity for at least 50% of the full-time staff to have NVQ training up to at least Level 2 in Care by 2005 or be in the process of being trained to this level or beyond if they so wish. Such training may be overseen by an NVQ assessor with relevant experience and qualifications. The Registered Manager is undertaking an NVQ Level 4 in Care and the NVQ Level 4 Registered Manager (adults) to comply with Standard 37.2ii of the Minimum Care Standards for Care Homes for Adults (18-65). such in-service training as is deemed necessary.

 Organisational Structure

The Centre will have a maximum of five residents at any one time with the staffing levels given above, so the organisational structure will be smaller than in a larger establishment.

 Age Range

The age range of the service users will be between 18-45 years of age and, hopefully, there will be a mixture of males and females.

 Range of Needs

There will be a specific range of needs of those who live at the bungalow. The range of needs include:

people who cannot speak or whose speech is significantly unintelligible and require help from various augmentative communication systems;
people with physical disabilities;
people who require help with personal care either total or partial.

 Nursing

A nurse will visit the bungalow, when necessary, in particular, to give invasive medications such as enemas (unless non-nursing staff are trained) and the maintenance of catheters.

 Criteria for Admission

An assessment and criteria will be drawn up so that it is certain those who will live in the bungalow will have the necessary skills and abilities. However, the following will give a general idea of the criteria which will be in place:

Expressive language: good knowledge of vocabulary of their AAC system and can build some basic phrases and sentences;
Initiate or begin to initiate conversation using any communication means available to them;

 Hobbies, Leisure and Interests

Since the Centre is within a mile of the town centre of March and close to Peterborough, Cambridge and Huntingdon, service users will be able to carry on or develop hobbies, interests and leisure activities by attending football matches, theatre, cinema, church, pubs, restaurants and so on.

If service users have to travel to these bigger towns or cities to carry out these leisure activities, there will always be an adapted vehicle available for the service user and his/her facilitator to go to wherever they need either provided by Chatting Independently or the Fenland Association of Community Transport. There will be a mileage charge.

 Service Users and Operation of The Bungalow

Since one of the main aims of The Bungalow is to promote the notion of independence, the service users will be encouraged to take as big a role in running The Bungalow as is possible. Thus, they will organise and prepare their own meals as well as the cleaning of their bedrooms and the public rooms. Even if the service users can not physically carry out these activities themselves, they will learn to direct their facilitators to carry out the activity.

It will also be easier with just a maximum of five people to consult with them on a regular basis about issues or concerns with giving them a hand with running The Bungalow.

 Fire Precautions and Emergency Procedures

All internal doors for bedrooms, lounge and office are fire proofed and all smoke alarms/heat detectors are linked to each other running off the mains with battery backup to British Standard. 2 water extinguishers and 1 powder extinguisher in the kitchen are kept serviced and there is also a fire blanket for use in the kitchen. Three staff are trained in First Aid and all are trained in life saving techniques such as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. All bedrooms are fitted with emergency buttons which can be used either manually or by using a switch although some service users may bring their own. A list of emergency numbers will be kept on the office wall and in the living room in The Bungalow.

 Attendance of Religious Services

There are different religious denominations represented in March which service users can attend at any time. However, if there is a denomination or religion which is not represented in the town itself, the service user and his/her facilitator will be able to use a vehicle to travel to one of the bigger towns or cities nearby to attend the religious service of his/her choice.

 Arrangements for Contact with Relatives, Friends and Representatives

Service users will be able to meet their relatives, friends or representative whenever they would like. However, it would be helpful if relatives or friends could contact the Bungalow to inform the service user when they will be arriving so that arrangements can be made around training and/or therapy times. There will be a separate room for meetings or they can meet in the service user's own bedroom.

 Dealing with Complaints

The following procedure for dealing with complaints is proposed:

1. Initially, the resident will be encouraged to bring any problem or complaint to the weekly Bungalow Meeting, where, in discussion with all residents, staff and Management team present, it is hoped the problem or complaint will be resolved. If it is not resolved after the meeting, the resident is encouraged to speak to his/her 1 to 1 facilitator to try to sort out the complaint.
2. If the complaint can not be resolved by the facilitator, it is either discussed verbally with the Manager or put in writing and taken to the Manager where it is discussed and, hopefully, resolved.
3. Failing this, the complaint will be discussed by the Management.
4. All complaints will receive a response within 28 days of the initial complaint being made.
5. All details of the complaints or issues raised made by service users and of any investigation, action taken and outcomes will be recorded and checked at least every 3 months.
6. Residents will not be victimised for bringing complaints.

 Reviews of Care Plans

There will be an annual review meeting for each service user to discuss their care plan and progress with their family or representatives. It may also be that the Care Plan will evolve as the service user learns new skills and develops new abilities.

However, such changes as are made will be discussed with the service users' family or representatives.

 Number and size of Rooms

The Bungalow has the following rooms with their respective sizes:

Reception Hall
Kitchen 3.28m x 2.69m*
Dining room 3.35m x 3.20m*
Lounge 7.24m x 4.11m
Second hallway
Bedroom 1 3.76m x 3.66m
Bedroom 2 4.01m x 3.48m
Bedroom 3 3.45m x 3.m
Bathroom with WC 2.03m x 2.27m
Cloakroom with WC (proposed for staff use)
Accessible shower room 1.74m x 2.0m
Bedroom 4 5.10m x 2.53m
Bedroom 5 5.03m x 2.6m
Office 4.26 x 2.28

*The wall between the kitchen and the dining room has been knocked through to make this a more open area.

 Details of Therapies

The therapies which will be available to the Service Users will be:

Assistive Technology Training
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Independent Living Skills

 Assistive Technology Training is overseen everyday by David Morris, a registered speech and language therapist specialised in Neurology, the use of AAC and in making computers accessible for people with physical disabilities. These sessions take various forms depending on the existing skills of the resident and a personalised programme is created:

1. Assessing either for an AAC system or the best means of accessing the AAC device or a computer including the use of switches or headpointing.
2. 1 to 1 sessions where a person may just be learning their new system, means of accessing or finding the vocabulary.
3. Encouraging continually the use of an AAC system either to back up different forms of communication or as the main means of communication.
4. Encouraging the use of the system in the real world.

 Privacy and Dignity of Service Users

The service users' bedrooms will be lockable as will bathroom doors. Service users can also decide how much time they want to spend with their 1:1 facilitator. All staff will be asked to knock on the service users' doors before entering a room. During their training, the staff will be given a list of "do's" and "dont's" with people who use AAC and have a physical disability.