Staff workforce.

a) Staff must be able to do the job.

All staff must be trained and checked. References must be taken. Special care must be taken with agency staff. Bad staff must be removed promptly not just moved from one person to another or one service to another.

1) Agency staff were often not good enough or in some areas were actually abusive. They did not know people or how they wanted to be supported.

2) "My house is still my house but sometimes it is not" because of how staff treat people.

3) Better ways of providing cover than temporary agency staff should be found. There should be regular bank staff that come in each year and know the residents well after coming in two or three times, the residents should choose who they want to support them while some members of staff go on holiday.

4) Staff often did not stay long. This caused major problems for people with new untrained ones always starting. Staff need to be encouraged to stay longer by better conditions.

5) Residents should have the right to be on the interview panel and interview and choose who they want as a permanent member of staff in their home

b) Training

1) Staff training should include people with learning difficulties as trainers.