Adult Provision

THE KISIMUL GROUP runs homes for adults with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours with more being developed. All of our homes are residential care homes registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection. We also supply 24 hour support and management services via our registered domiciliary care agency.

All the homes are individual and reflect the choices of the residents living there; and all have excellent environments and are chosen specifically to be in small communities which are easily accessible to our young people. For more information, please visit our website www.kisimuladultcare.co.uk.

Continuity and consistency of care

For over thirty years Kisimul School has provided quality care and education to young people with severe learning difficulties who also have some form of behavioural problem. Often pupils are at the school for up to eight years and in recent times it has become difficult to find appropriate placements for them when it is time for them to leave formal education at 19. There are many good care homes available for young adults with severe learning difficulties, but the added complication of behavioural problems often excludes our young adults from being granted a place. An Darach was formed to address this need; to enable our pupils to make a smooth transition from school to adult life. Our first home, An Darach House, was purpose-built in 1998, to provide care to six pupils from Kisimul School.

Top quality care homes

Kisimul Group Ltd is committed to providing the best possible care in the best possible accommodation and surroundings. In 2007 we bought a larger property in North Scarle for the residents of An Darach House, and a second house, An Caladh House, in Washingborough, near the city of Lincoln. An Caladh House will provide up to ten places for young adults aged 19+, most of whom will be Kisimul School leavers. The residents of both houses live happily together and continue to progress and develop skills to enable further independence and integration within the wider community.

Specialised, individual places

Our domiciliary care agency, An Darach Care, was opened in 2004 to provide for the needs of those with the most complex profiles of severe autism, learning difficulties and challenging behaviour: promising young people with hypersensitivities and obsessions which prevent their being able to enjoy an acceptable quality of life in shared accommodation.

Aiming for excellence, always

The An Darach standard means:

Respect for individual needs
Expert care by qualified and experienced staff
High quality living accommodation in beautiful surroundings
A relaxed, homely, supportive atmosphere
Access to special college courses, where appropriate
A comprehensive service provision
A rich life filled with outings and activities

Our philosophy

In all of our homes for young adults, we start from the principle that people with learning disabilities have the same intrinsic rights as anyone else in society, which includes the right to develop and make informed choices about their lives. Residents are encouraged to be a part of their own and the wider community and are supported to reach their full potential.

We use "O'Brien's Five Accomplishments" as a framework for ensuring that our young adults lead a happy and fulfilling life:

Community Presence - the right to be within the community and take part in all it has to offer, using the same facilities as all other members of the community.
Relationships - to have relationships with a range of people - living in a house in the community isn't enough. Our young adults are encouraged to mix with everyone - with disabilities or without, from neighbours and friends to shopkeepers and other service givers.
Choice - an important feature of everyday life is making choices, however small. Our young adults are encouraged and helped to decide, to the extent of their personal level of ability, what to wear, what to eat etc.
Competence - help and encouragement is given to all so that they may develop skills and the competence to take part in useful and meaningful activities, thus leading to greater choice and independence.
Respect - everybody has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be valued in their own right.

Kisimul Group constantly monitors the quality of the service offered to our young adults so that we can reach, maintain and improve upon the standards laid down by regulatory authorities.

Life-long learning

Although all our houses are primarily homes for our residents, a total curriculum approach is adopted. This involves many activities, which together enhance the quality of provision, and help the residents to gain maturity by valuing and supporting them at different times of the day, and in many different circumstances.

All our residents are individuals and are treated as such. Their progression with these skills will inevitably take place at different rates. The staff/resident ratio will ensure carefully planned progression takes place which enables our residents to consolidate existing skills and achievements.

The use of a local College has already been mentioned. However, many skills can be acquired within their own environment by using the ASDAN Towards Independence Award Scheme. ASDAN is used as a tool to developing independence and integration skills. There are now over 40 different ASDAN modules. The below mentioned are just a few of them:

Meal preparation and cooking
Independent Living
Out and About
Using public transport
Coping with people
Recognising signs
Telling the time
World of work
Wider world
Using ICT
Money

ASDAN Towards Independence has been created for people with learning disabilities. There are regular network meetings where the ASDAN co-ordinator takes completed modules to be verified. Residents receive a certificate for each completed unit, no matter what level of support they have required to enable them to complete the module.

Daily life

Individual daily activity plan

The principle advantage behind living in a home in the community has to be the normality of the situation. Our adults will be encouraged to take advantage of the local college courses, and like some of their fellow students, return to their group accommodation at night. Likewise, our residents participate as fully as possible in the day to day running of their home. With the help of support workers they are expected to adhere to a budget, shop, cook and do their share of the house work. This includes both the communal areas and their own rooms.

The residents, together with the support workers, are responsible for utilising their leisure time in the best way possible. Many years of experience have proven that boredom can lead to behavioural problems. Hence the philosophy of our adult homes is to plan daily and evening activities to suit the residents. As mentioned before, contacts with the local college are an important part of the daily routine, but time has to be allowed for the more day to day routines of the home to be achieved.

Independence skills are an important part of every day life for our residents and the ambition of all involved is to enable our residents to maintain, develop and extend skills already acquired within the school setting. Residents new to the group, as a whole will be encouraged to acquaint the staff with the skills that they already have, and like the others develop and perfect new ones.

Management and staff

Our adult homes are satellites to Kisimul Group. Residents, parents and placing authorities can be assured that the high level of care given within the school will be mirrored at our Adult Homes. The homes are run on a day to day basis by a manager who reports directly to the directors.

Individual personal programmes

After assessment individual personal programmes will be developed by the care team headed by the Manager. They are developed to promote the needs of the resident and take into account parents wishes and the requirements of the authorities in charge of placing residents with us. Individual Plans of Care (I.P.Cs) are discussed at reviews and as they are a 'live' document, they are updated as necessary.

Registration

All our homes are registered with Lincolnshire County Council and with the CQC as a Residential Care Home under the Care Standards Act 2000. As a registered Residential Care Home for adults with a Learning Disability it is regularly inspected by the CQC. The accommodation is in all cases equivalent to and in most instances greater than the square metreage recommended for comfortable living.

Delivery of service

Referrals to our adult provision are normally made via the local Social Services or Health Department accountable for the young person's welfare. The principal criteria, before the homes can consider a referral, are that the young person has a diagnosed learning disability. A Care Needs Assessment will then take place to ensure that our houses are the most suitable places to meet a young person's needs. On acceptance, a contract will be drawn up between the placement authority and the home.

None of our houses provide nursing care facilities and are not intended to provide facilities for sensory impairment or profound physical disabilities such as paraplegia. Staff undertake training in Makaton sign language, the PECS communication system and these two systems can be offered to clients with limited or no vocal communication skills. Normally, those clients would be pre-schooled in some form of signing skills. However, if necessary, specialised therapy can be provided and this would be agreed at pre-contract stage.

Only under very exceptional circumstances would any emergency care arrangements be accepted.