Dear Leaf Complex Care Community,
As I write this letter to you all, I want to take a moment to reflect on the year, looking at some of the highlights across Leaf Complex Care.
The Leaf Brands Milestones by Offices
Leaf Southeast had its first inspection with CQC and was rated GOOD in all areas. This is an incredible achievement, and we are delighted by the rating. Leaf Southeast has also welcomed some new people to the team throughout the year, strengthening the services and support we offer to clinicians and families we support.
Leaf Exeter have been really busy continuing to support people in the community to live filled lives. They have been able to successfully transition a person we have been supporting out of temporary accommodation into their own home. Again, this has been an incredible achievement since the person had to move every month due to not having a home. Through dedication and working collaboratively with the LA and housing providers, we were able to make this happen.
Leaf Exeter congratulated Emmanuel Akpan-Isie, winning clinician of the year at the Care and Support West Awards. We were thrilled to be able to recognise him and celebrate his contributions to care. Also, Leaf Exeter have been working really closely with the therapy team, including our in-house speech and language therapist, who delivered bespoke training to the clinicians and family so they were all able to communicate effectively with the individual being supported.
Leaf Bristol has celebrated its 5th anniversary this year, and what an incredible milestone that was. The success of Leaf Bristol opened up opportunities to grow and further open another 4 services. We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication, leading to a celebration in the office where we were able to invite clinicians and families we support. We were honoured to have Jacob and his mum with us, who was the first individual that Leaf Bristol supported.
Leaf Bristol has had some office staff changes this year, and I am pleased to inform you all that we have a strong team in place that will continue to provide the highest level of care and support. In the meantime, I was able to join the office team, clinicians, and a person we support on a trip to the zoo. This was a really lovely day being able to see the incredible support that the clinicians provide and also the relationships that have been formed. Leaf Bristol has also been able to support 2 of their individuals into their forever homes.
This year, Leaf Somerset’s journey has just begun. The team have all developed, as well as the growth of families, and the people we support have achieved so much and are continuing to surprise everyone around them. They have the pleasure and privilege to work with our clinicians to collaborate and achieve so much as a team.
Chantelle Lawton, the registered manager for Leaf Somerset, won the “Supported Living Manager of the Year award” at the Care and Support West Awards.
In her own words, she has said,
"It is important to have a clear vision and high hopes for the people we support. A great team that constantly encourages me and one another is what drives me every day. It is a privilege to see opportunities in everyone and watch them grow in the right circumstances. I love seeing the families we support improve in their daily lives. Thank you, CCG, for providing a great platform for us to use our initiative and allowing us to continue improving lives to the best."
Chantelle Lawton, Registered Manager at Leaf Somerset.
Leaf Midlands has been able to buy a property and is in the process of opening the first supported living accommodation. This is a really exciting milestone for Leaf Midlands and CCG. We are hoping that from the success of this service, we will be opening more supported living services in the near future. Leaf Midlands also expanded into a new office space, and we celebrated this achievement and welcomed other brands to the Midlands area. The day was full of celebrations, and a really moving contribution to the day was the moment we heard the soundtrack of a person we support who recorded a song based on his positive experience of the care our clinicians provide.
Leaf Midlands also supported an individual to fulfil a lifelong dream of going to America on holiday. His clinician supported him throughout the trip, which was a huge success.
The Brand's 2023 Reflections
What I would also like to share with you all is that Leaf Brands are currently going through their autism accreditation, and we hope that we will have been awarded this within the next 12 months. We are privileged that Jake Banbury from the Leaf Exeter office also supports this project as an expert by experience.
A huge congratulations to all the team members who have been successful in recent promotions across all the Leaf Brands; we are excited to watch the impact you will continue to make. As the Nominated Individual and Continuous Improvement Lead for CCG, I feel privileged to work with you, and I support your success and future in ensuring that we provide humanised care to complex people in the community and continue to be a great place to work for all.
Also, I would like to share with you all that we have faced some challenges this year; however, with all challenges come opportunities. One of those challenges was that there has been an increased need for accommodation, and I am pleased to inform you all that we are currently working on securing accommodation to be able to provide more support to those in the community who need it. We have started CHD housing and are excited to share further updates with you all soon.
We also have seen an increase in the need to support children. We are currently registered with CQC and not Ofsted (children’s regulator) and are looking to open bespoke children’s homes so we can continue to do the vital work we do in supporting people with complex needs in the community and expanding our support to children. We are working collaboratively with local authorities and Ofsted to ensure that we open the highest standard of children’s services that meet the needs of the children moving into them.
Our Journey Continues on the Road to Excellence
Leaf Complex Care has been on a continuous improvement journey over the last 12 months, including more internal quality monitoring visits, ensuring that standards are upheld, and continuous improvement action plans are in place for all services. Leaf Complex Care has also been working closely with the therapy team to ensure that the people we support get therapeutic input where needed and that bespoke care plans are developed in collaboration with the individual and wider MDT. We have devised and delivered a wide range of bespoke training to the clinician teams to offer the best support.
Our incredible therapy team was also given 2 runner-up awards this year at the Loddon conference for runner-up instructor of the year (Ben Andrews) and runner-up for the best practice award. We are really proud of these awards and continue our relationship with Loddon.
We have used multimedia to enhance the support we provide to the individuals in the services we deliver, bringing care planning into the 21st century and better meeting the needs of the people we support.
I would like to say A HEARTFELT THANK YOU to all clinicians and families supporting the parent and carer support network and parent co-production meetings; it was great to see so many Leaf parents engaged and collaborating in these sessions.
Also, A HUGE THANK YOU to Vanessa Scott, our family care navigator who has implemented these groups.
The Brand's 2024 Plans and Resolutions
We want to be able to support more families across all of our services, as this will also enable more work for the clinicians. We are in a positive position where we have many skilled clinicians to support individuals immediately if needed. We continue to work with several local authorities to meet the needs of the individuals and their families, and we look forward to welcoming new individuals into our services soon.
As we approach 2024, we hope to launch our children’s services regulated by Ofsted to expand the level of support we can provide. You will be seeing updates on this in the near future and the launch of the website. We will also seek to increase our housing offering, working with CHD housing and building relationships with housing providers. We are keen to be able to help more individuals who find themselves without a home or unsuitable accommodation that does not meet their needs.
Our therapy team will also speak at the Loddon Conference in 2024, highlighting our best practices around multimedia advocacy (Ben Andrews) and sharing a paper written on practice leadership by George Rickard. The continuous improvement journey continues in all services. We are keen to embed a culture of continuous improvement throughout all our clinicians, and we are also looking at a digital transformation project led by Adam Baker. The therapy team continues to support the individuals in our services, responding to all referrals within 7 days as they strongly focus on bespoke training and reducing restrictions for those in our care.
I am delighted to share with you all that we are also looking at doing a research paper led by George Rickard in developing practice leadership for reducing restrictive practices. Again, this is something that we are really excited about, and I will be sharing more with you all soon in 2024.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge EVERY ONE OF YOU for your contributions and hard work throughout this year. Your resilience, determination, and commitment have been truly inspiring. Together, we have made a difference in the lives of others and our own lives.
Wishing you and your loved ones a joyous holiday season and a happy new year.
And at the very end, a kind reminder that you can contact us anytime and receive the bespoke complex care people deserve across the UK.
Louise Bray,
Leaf Complex Care Nominated Individual | CCG Continuous Improvement Lead
