Caring for someone with multiple disabilities often places an enormous strain on even the most dedicated family. Ironically, the more disabled the individual, the fewer community facilities there are available. Many respite care options and holiday homes exclude people with multiple disabilities on the grounds that they have neither the facilities nor the staff ratio to cope. Some people over 19 years old, the most neglected group, are at home 24 hours a day. The result is that those carers most in need of a break are the least likely to get one. In a family crisis too, there is very little practical support available. Birmingham Multi-Care provides a range of services which are designed for people with learning and physical disabilities or complex needs, and their carers. Our original service was one of home support – care for people to enable them to remain living at home for as long as possible. Domiciliary Care is still our core service and the majority of our staff, about 70 in all, work in this part of the organisation. Services are available to people of all ages who live within the city of Birmingham. Care is provided to enable the family carers to take a break or to enable the person with disabilities to participate in activities within the community. Referral We can be contacted by telephone, by letter, by e-mail or by calling at the office personally. Any professional in the field of learning or physical disabilities can make a referral too. This could be a teacher, a community nurse, a social worker or a health visitor. What happens next? We have a manager and two deputy managers. The deputy manager responsible for the area where you live will come to visit you at home to talk to you in confidence about exactly what help you need. They will also discuss with you how your care will be funded. Assessment The manager will ask you about your son or daughter’s disabilities, about the care they need and about the sort of support you want and when you want that support. An assessment of needs is carried out which will include risk assessments for the service user both in and out of the family home. Then, in discussion with you, an individual service statement will be drawn up which details the precise service our staff will give. This statement will be reviewed annually or more frequently if the service user’s needs change




