Deputy Minister's Response to the Residential Programs Persons with a Developmental Disability Audit

Ministry For Children And Families

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• Publié par: Itto
• Nombre de lectures: 9
• Langue: English

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Deputy Minister's Response

February 10, 2000

Re: ResidentialPrograms- Persons with a Developmental Disability Audit Report

Thank you for the final audit report of the Residential Programs - Persons with a Developmental Disability (your file number 39117), provided with the memorandum dated September 27, 1999.

Following my review of the report I would like to provide the following comments. Asreferenced in the report, the findings and recommendations were based on file reviews (1997 and earlier), interviews and a review of ministry processes that were in place over two years ago.At that time, the ministry had been in existence for less than one year and was still in its early period of transition.

Since the audit was conducted, the Ministry for Children and Families has increased the number of residential beds for persons with developmental disabilities by approximately 20 percent from approximately 4,300 in1995/96 to over 5,200 beds at present to serve this client group.

The findings of the audit are consistent with feedback we have received from staff in the ministry’s Community Living Services to Adult program stream, which has in large measure guided the changes made to the program since the field work for the audit was completed.The recommendations and suggestions made by the Internal Audit Branch are helpful to the ministry and confirm the directions of varied initiatives to address them, some already in progress and others in the planning stages.

The audit report identifies the excellent work of Community Living Services staff in assessing the needs of clients, as well as providing individualised and inclusive planning and placement processes for adults with developmental disabilities. Theministry has continued to strengthen this fundamental service approach as a core component in service delivery.This service component has, as identified in the audit report, reduced stress on the clients and their families and prevented placement breakdown.

To help ensure the quality of Community Living Services, the ministry has established a Provincial Community Living Council that provides advice and expertise to the ministry on policies, programs, practices and principles for services for adults with developmental disabilities and children with special needs. Eachof the ministry’s 11 regions also have a Regional Community Living Council that provide advice to regional management for the planning,

development and implementation of regional community living services.The ministry also utilizes the Province Monitoring Group, an independent external team to monitor its residential and training and support services for adults with developmental disabilities.

In addition, the Advocate for Service Quality, which reports directly to the Minister, who is responsible for working with self-advocates, families, ministry staff and service providers helps to ensure that adults with developmental disabilities receive quality services from the ministry, other ministries and service agencies.

The ministry has already implemented a number of improvements in this area and plans to continue to implement a number of key initiatives to address the audit’s recommendations. •The ministry recognised the need to strengthen its service approaches in other areas such as training of staff and service providers; service and contract monitoring; and supports to ensure optimal quality of care for individuals in residential services. •As you are aware, the Contract Reform Initiative continues to be a ministry priority that is currently underway to improve and maintain consistent contracting practices and the quality of services throughout the province. This includes the development of performance/outcome based contract language and the accreditation of service agencies.Staff from your Branch continues to be involved with this initiative. •Management Information System enhancements are integrally linked to the reporting of service outputs and outcomes, further assisting the ministry to measure the effectiveness of the services and the efficiencies of the varied service models applied in the service stream.At the time of the audit, the ministry had just begun the development of the Resource and Payment (RAP) information system. The RAP system introduced in late 1997, assists ministry staff with managing available resources for clients, contracts and payments and is integrated with the Intake and Client Service System which identifies clients’ needs. Theministry has implemented changes to the RAP information system and will continue to review additional changes in the future to improve the reporting in this area. •In relation to the identified need for skill development of staff and caregivers, the Multi-Lateral Task Force on Training, with representatives from employer and employee groups, advocates, government, colleges and universities, was initiated at the time the fieldwork for this audit was being conducted.It has provided a framework for the development of competencies in this service sector. Also,the Ministry has, in partnership with the Family Care Association, developed training materials to support family caregivers’ needs. •One of the ministry’s 15 key priorities, “Renewing and Sustaining Adult Community Living Services” provides for a forum to work with people in the community living sector to ensure the provision of services can be sustained

within current allocations.The ministry has established the Provincial Community Living Council and regional community living councils through which service issues and solutions can be jointly identified. •As well, the ministry is revising and updating a number of policies which guide community living services for adults including those related to service planning and monitoring mechanisms.The audit recommendations calling for the development of guidelines, enhancements to practice and processes in recruitment and monitoring will be addressed with these initiatives.

Please convey my appreciation to your staff for their assistance on this audit.

Deputy Minister Ministry for Children and Families