A part of Thera’s Vision is that people with a learning disability are responsible for monitoring the support Thera provides. This led to the creation of The Quality Company.
The Quality Company are responsible for quality checking the support provided to people with a learning disability to ensure it meets their needs. They do this through peer led support in which people with lived experience of a learning disability spend time with those supported and feedback on their findings. As well as providing independent quality checking to aid the work of Thera’s Service Quality Directors, The Quality Company also offers its services to external organisations who want to use a lived experience model.
“The Quality Company is incredibly important,” Says Sara Danby, Group Lead Director for Quality and Involvement, formerly Lead Director of The Quality Company, “it means the quality checking is done by someone external to the provider and who, due to their lived experience, has experience of receiving support. It’s an opportunity for them to be open and honest.”
This co-production model, which puts people with a lived experience of a learning disability at the heart of support checking, has a direct impact on the people that we support. Ashley Barker, Quality Assessor, explains:
The people that are supported don’t always want to speak to internal checkers within their providers as they may be worried what will happen if they say something. Without question, it is better for those questions to come from someone like myself as it can provide a level of comfort, safety, and understanding, that otherwise doesn’t exist.
The Quality Company see the benefits of this model and the impact that it has daily and see it as their role to promote this way of working across the sector. They recently hosted a webinar in partnership with Learning Disability England to explain their method and advise on how people can begin their own methods of co-production. Virginia said of the event:
We were delighted to see so much enthusiasm from people on the call who share our commitment to ensuring peer review is a key part of quality assurance. Members of the team spoke really passionately about the work they do and the difference they can make to the lives of other people with learning disabilities. We are grateful to Learning Disability England for giving us this platform and helping us promote what we do at The Quality Company.