I know that trust is what underpins and maintains our culture as an organisation, as colleagues working together as One Team in ubu, and as individuals. Together we strive to deliver genuine care and meaningful support to the vulnerable people we serve who otherwise find themselves relegated to the margins of our society.
Following the recent devasting BBC Panorama investigations which revealed the appalling abuse and horrific management practices at Whorlton Hall and the challenges faced by a failing NHS care system, we recognised that no one can be complacent about responsibility and accountability. We were shocked by the paucity of response from, and excuses made by, organisations charged with monitoring and reporting these kinds of practices and institutionalised and abusive behaviours.
With these scandalous events in mind, we organised workshops our Enabling Support worker teams to talk about what needs to change in our organisation to ensure that we deliver what we say we will. Based on those very direct engagements and being mindful of the Values all ubu members hold with such esteem, we produced a workshop training for our Managers throughout the organisation.
Its purpose was to investigate and analyse how we identify and understand the issues and problems that affect the people we work with. We asked ourselves some fundamental questions in order to achieve a balanced perception of who we are responsible for, what they need and expect from us, as caring and humane supporters, to achieve greater independence and the freedom to be who they should be.
The workshop provided an excellent opportunity to clarify and reiterate why truthfulness and honesty are behaviours that constitute ‘best practice’. It is clear that this naturally results in being able to give the vulnerable people we serve the security that the knowledge that we have consistency in way we plan, prepare and implement the support we are trusted to deliver. Taking responsibility for analysing what the efficacy of the care we provide is and when our contribution has the most effective impact for the needs of those we work with. We looked at assessing where our service makes a difference in eradicating limitations which keep vulnerable people from achieving sustainable outcomes and how we can work proactively to break down barriers to their success.
Our enabling teams and managers are committed to working together, openly, honestly and with a speed that demonstrates the trust we have developed together to provide the best possible support to those we serve and their loved ones.
Our role is always to behave humanely at all times, doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. We believe that these essential attributes are blatantly and obviously missing from some of those providing so-called care to, and security for, some of the most ignored and unappreciated members of our society.
I believe that only by trusting and applying the integrity of the structures and processes that ubu has worked hard, and strives to develop and nurture, can we ensure that the trust given to us is well placed.
Instead of answering in a ‘knee-jerk’, unthinking, emotional reaction when there is a problem to overcome, our approach in ubu is always to respond by listening, hearing and then taking the actions which will remediate and correct whatever limits success and fulfilment for those ubu serves.
We are here for you to be you. Standing up with you.
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