Rose Trustam supported the Residential Forum. She spent over 40 years practising what she preached. In an extract from Community Living Magazine June 2020, she wrote…

Our relatively recent past

“My history in the North West followed a very positive strategy in Hertfordshire in the late 70’s  where as the Manager of a new 3-unit hostel for adults with learning disabilities of 24 people with the range of need, I was allowed to cancel the cook and heated trolleys, remodel the central kitchen into an activities room and change the residential charges to leave food and clothing allowances with the residents to shop together and cater in their units. What they did in each unit was decided by their group in weekly meetings – no matter how disabled they were.

In the North West we saw a very positive regional strategy – the Model District Service – which engaged its local districts in developing a local community teams, then comprising health specialist staff with learning disability social workers. They identified local services who proposed ‘schemes’ that met their requirements – which were largely that they would pay an average ‘dowry’ per person agreed  as long as people were being resettled unto ‘ordinary housing’ in the community neighbourhoods. If people were resettled into residential care no NHS funding would be forthcoming…..”

Read in full at source: Publisher’s Blog – When will we learn from history? – Community Living