Meeting Future Needs
Barrie Oldham and Sue Akester look at the Trust's plans to
meet the complex needs of even more people.
Barrie Oldham: A pioneering spirit has always been part of the
Trust and I don't see that changing. We have a clear purpose and vision and
want to help as many people with disabilities as we possibly can, focussing
on those with more complex needs.
Sue Akester: We've always been a very entrepreneurial organisation.
There were opportunities and we took them. That's how we moved into brain injury
and later into autism. But for every opportunity we were given we did a complete
risk analysis - it was very thoroughly investigated.
JBO: Our services are evolving all the time. Our brain injury
service in Goole, for example, is a clear departure from what we've done before.
It's a ward in a hospital where people will come straight from intensive care,
so that rehabilitation can begin even before someone is well enough to leave
hospital. There's no other service like it in the UK. And the plan is to roll
out this model in partnership with NHS Trusts elsewhere.
SA: Growth is also about developing existing services. For instance,
we're in the process of planning a new 88-student school on the site of Heathermount,
our learning centre in Ascot for children with autism.
JBO: I certainly see more growth in our autism services, including
education, specialising in people who have very complex needs and challenge
existing services. We might look to create college-style residential facilities
for 16-25 year olds, for example, where people can have real life working opportunities
with proper training and NVQs.
SA: It might be about growing by sharing expertise too, not just
by developing our own services. In Australia, for example, we're developing
a joint venture with the Royal Rehabilitation Hospital in Sydney, using our
expertise in community based brain injury rehabilitation to help them create
a scheme for 15 people.
JBO: But we'll only respond to opportunities that fit within
our vision of helping people with complex needs and are of the right quality.
Whenever I walk into one of our services I want the ambience to be right - the
quality to be evident. Does it feel like a DT or BIRT service? Is it doing what
it says on the tin?
Barrie Oldham is Chief Executive of The Disabilities Trust,
having joined in 1992 to manage our Daniel Yorath House brain injury service
in Leeds. Sue Akester has been a Trustee since 1997 and is currently Vice Chair.
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