This case study focuses on Cassie, a 69-year-old with learning disabilities who lives in her own self-contained flat with an ‘extra-care’ supported living service provided by Havencare.
In early 2024, Cassie became seriously unwell and spent four months in hospital. When she is unwell, Cassie can find it particularly difficult to express her needs and wishes, making it essential that hospital staff understood how best to communicate with and support her.
Information from the ‘About Me’ section of Cassie’s Multi Me Wiki, based on the PRSB About Me Standard, was shared with hospital staff to help them understand Cassie as an individual and provide care in a way that worked for her.
The challenge
Cassie has liver failure and has been on the transplant list for many years without success. In early 2024, Cassie became seriously unwell and needed to stay in hospital for 4 months.
During this period, her 1-1 personal support from Havencare would attend the hospital for a few hours each day, but the remaining time, she was under the care of the hospital nursing staff. Especially when unwell, Cassie struggles to express her needs and wishes.
The Solution
The PRSB’s About Me Standard includes most important details that a person wants to share with professionals in health and social care. This information might include how best to communicate with the person, how to help them feel at ease or details about how they like to take their medication.
It is intended to be generic and apply to everyone, from those who have complex care and support needs to those who rarely require care and/or support.
Using ‘About Me’ information has been shown to achieve huge benefits for people including supporting them through hospital appointments or other care which might not have been possible or resulted in adverse outcomes without understanding key ways to work with the person.
The Process
Sharing About Me information
Cassie’s support team shared the information from the ‘About Me’ section of her plan (recorded in her Multi Me Wiki) with the hospital staff.
Wikis are simple, accessible, and easy to build personal websites. They can be used to create multimedia person-centred plans that use pictures, words, video and sound to capture the voice, skills, aspirations and needs of the individual.
Improving care for Cassie
Due to the quality of the about me information in her support plan, specifically the “how to communicate with me” section, visual aids were used to support Cassie, alongside her Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) to understand her health procedures.
The hospital staff were also given key information on how to use social stories with Cassie to help her understand important information and decisions.
The results
Sharing Cassie’s ‘About Me’ information, helped her feel much more settled in hospital, reduced her anxiety, and helped the hospital team engage with her positively with kindness and familiarity.
