HFT secures Big Lottery funding for person-centred planning project
Howard Lake | 3 April 2006 | Newswire
National charity for people with learning disabilities, HFT, has been awarded £425,473 from the Big Lottery Fund to support a regional PCP (Person Centred Planning) project.
The two year project aims to provide opportunities which will ensure people with learning disabilities who use HFT’s services are supported to communicate their dreams and aspirations.
HFT will achieve this by combining the benefits of ICT and PCP into an accessible and manageable system that will enhance the lives of people with learning disabilities. The main objectives are to increase their control and sense of ownership of their lives and to ingrain PCP planning within HFT’s core values and vision. Six new members of staff will be recruited to deliver the project.
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The project features an innovative evaluation tool designed for PCP which is accessible by service users through a new computerised care recording system. The new system is being piloted and will be extended to all HFT’s services and the PCP module is currently under trial. HFT is now evaluating how to make this accessible to service users as well as staff, using graphics, sounds and symbols so that they too can check their progress towards their goals. Service users will be involved in this development as part of an Advisory Group to ensure that their views are incorporated.
Regional PCP Coordinators will train HFT staff on the new monitoring system and on the development of PCPs with service users focusing on developing multimedia Life Stories and supporting ICT. The aim is to enable service users to see the progress that they make towards their goals as well as to define future changes they wish to make in their lives. This will enhance and develop their self-esteem and lead to greater confidence to achieve future goals.
A management structure will be established based on regular monitoring of progress towards individuals’ goals, the introduction of senior regional posts to ensure these changes happen and an emphasis on PCP approaches with all organisations and individuals with whom HFT is in contact.
“We are delighted to receive this funding from the Big Lottery which will enable HFT to initiate the Regional PCP Development Project”, commented Jackie Tait, HFT regional director and project director.
The intended outcomes and long-term changes that will result from the project are an increase in the amount of control that adults with learning disabilities have within their lives and improved decision making and communication skills. This will enable them to participate more in their local community.
Initially the work will focus on people with learning disabilities at HFT but in Year two of the project training will be available to other organisations to enable them to benefit their own service users too.
The person centred approach has already demonstrated the desire and ambition for many people with learning disabilities to live more independently, be part of their local community and take more control of their own lives. This project will extend these opportunities for more people, including those not supported by HFT, and will make HFT a more responsive, accountable and person centred organisation.”
Sir Clive Booth, chair of the Big Lottery Fund said: “We are delighted to award this lottery funding to HFT. This grant shows how creative projects, with the help of lottery funding, can considerably help improve the lives of people with learning difficulties, who are often hugely disadvantaged in society.”
ENDS
Issue Date: 3 April 2006
For further information please contact:
Irena Babic, Tel/Fax: 01275 343547
email: ir***@bl********.uk
or
Jackie Tait, HFT, Tel: 0161 727 8132
email: ja*********@hf*.uk
Notes to editors
HFT
HFT is a registered national charity for adults with a learning disability. Previously known as The Home Farm Trust the charity was re-branded and adopted the more modern name HFT which maintains its links with the past whilst emphasising its development and progression into the future.
HFT provides services for over 1,000 people in supported living, registered care homes, advocacy, supported employment and day services. HFT also provides a support service for thousands of carers of people with a learning disability, and runs a National Family Carer Network (NFCN) which links groups and organisations that provide support for family carers of adults with a learning disability.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.