Children and young people age 0-19 years with disabilities can receive periods of care which vary in length from two hours to a whole day session, and at a frequency which is determined by need (e.g. 1 day per month; 3 days per fortnight etc.)
Services offered include all aspects of personal care - such as support with bathing, dressing, eating/drinking, mobility and toileting. Specialist tasks such as feeding via gastrostomy sites/nasal gastric tubes and the administration of medications can be undertaken by staff with suitable training from a qualified person, such as the registered paediatric nurses who have signed to say staff have demonstrated competence and where a risk assessment has been put in place. Support workers will not carry out invasive medical tasks - such as catheterisation or the reinsertion of a nasal gastric tube, whereby the skills and expertise of a clinical professional are required.
Where appropriate a package of care may be put together that focuses on expanding a child/young persons’ social experiences, whereby they are taken out and supported in accessing activities such as swimming, youth clubs and bowling for example.
Due to training needs, Shapes staff are unable to support children and young people who have extreme challenging behaviour.
During a child’s last couple of years at school, Shapes can support transition to adult services through attending meetings/assessments or visits with parents.