How Person Centred Software is helping people with learning disabilities navigate through their health and social care journey

Goal-oriented care

A learning disability can affect everyone differently. No two people are the same; each person is unique and has a different way of dealing with their condition.  

Learning disability providers can improve the living experience of those with a learning disability by adapting their care to suit their needs.  

Person-centred care planning is vital to ensuring that each individual is supported and treated correctly. Just because someone has a learning disability, it does not mean they are incapable of being involved in decisions that affect their lives. Regardless of a person's diagnosis, everyone should be treated with respect and have the same opportunities as others to lead full and active lives. 

People with learning disabilities often feel excluded when making decisions about their lives; therefore, it's important for learning disability providers to help them do things for themselves.  

The reablement approach helps and supports people to do things for themselves and continue to live as they wish. It enables people to do ordinary things like dressing, cooking, washing, shopping independently, socialising with others, etc.  

Reablement focuses on allowing people to build or regain their confidence, abilities, and the necessary skills to live as independently as possible.  

To achieve effective reablement in a social care setting, the main focus for learning disability providers should be setting goals, tracking outcomes and achieving those outcomes. These goals and outcomes should have meaning to the individual, enhancing wellbeing, autonomy, independence and choice while ensuring that physical and mental health needs are met and that the individual has a seamless journey navigating through health and social care services. 

To ensure physical and mental health needs are met, it's important that measurable goals are set for each resident receiving care and that learning disability providers can keep track of the progress each resident is making and track and deliver on the outcomes.   

For someone receiving care, the goal might be to walk every day for half an hour, join in on more activities at the care home, or acquire a new skill. (It's important to remember that no one's goals are the same. After all, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses). 

The infographic shows a typical month in the life of an individual with a learning disability navigating through their health and social care journey.  

The individual working through each goal on the infographic above and achieving outcomes, such as meeting with a careers advisor at the job centre and securing a part-time job at the library, are all things that lead to positive changes in their life. 

Although having a learning disability is a lifelong condition, individuals can acquire new skills and build confidence to embrace new opportunities with the right support, leading to a more positive, happier, healthier and more meaningful life.  

Person Centred Software's Digital Social Care Record system helps people with learning disabilities navigate through their health and social care journey with its Goal Tracking and Outcomes feature, helping learning disability care providers support residents with their goals and keep track of the progress towards meeting them.   

The Goal Tracking and Outcomes dashboard delivers an overview of all the goals set for each resident within the home and several charts to track trends and analyse how each resident's goals are performing, along with the outcome.  

Person Centred Software's Goal Tracking and Outcomes feature enables learning disability care providers to: 

• Create any number of goals for each resident, along with the actions that need to be taken to achieve those goals.   

• Track progress and trends of activities over a long or short period to support and help guide residents to complete their goals.  
• Show how often you would like or would not like a resident to do a particular activity or behaviour.  
• Encourage family members to contribute to a goal by adding progress notes via the Relatives Gateway portal. 

Click here to learn more about Person Centred Software’s Digital Social Care Record System and its features.