And the people said they would never do it!
Staff stories about working in the community after working in institutions

Melanie Chapman and Professor Duncan Mitchell

In the North West the long stay hospitals for people with learning difficulties closed during the 1990s.

This paper will look at the findings from a research project. The research gathered the stories of twenty people who worked in institutions and then moved to work with people with learning difficulties in the community.

People who took part talked about:

• Shame and pride: People often talked about a sense of embarrassment and shame at the conditions in the institutions. However, they also gave examples of good work within the difficult conditions in the institutions.
• Deprivation: There were many stories of very poor conditions in the institutions.
• Staffing and work: Within the institutions there were poor staffing levels and it could be difficult to keep people working in the institutions.
• Power and control: Power within the institutions lay with the nurses and domestics, not the people with learning difficulties.
• Reasons and reactions: There were a number of reasons for closing the institutions and the initial reactions of staff to the closures varied.
• Freedom and support: Moving to the community led to improvements in the lives for many people with learning difficulties. However, things did not always go smoothly and there could be problems for people with learning difficulties and staff working in the community. Many staff welcomed the freedom of working in the community and the improvements they saw in the lives of the people with learning difficulties. However, other staff felt isolated and struggled with the change in role and ways of working. Moving into the community did not necessarily lead to a shift in control to people with learning difficulties or support staff.

This research has provided a record of the experiences of some staff who worked in the institutions and the community. The research can also help services to think about how to introduce change and to consider the possible impact on staff as well as people with learning difficulties.

The presentation will end with final reflections from Professor Duncan Mitchell.

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