'Nothing about me, without me' – the mantra driving support at Lifeways

A mantra which puts people at the beating heart of the support they receive is driving improvements at the UK’s biggest supported living provider. 

Lifeways has truly embraced the concept of “nothing about me, without me” – our guiding principle to ensure that all the people we support are engaged with and included in everything about them, in all aspects of their support. 

Several years ago, our expert support teams have created a network of Lifeways Quality Checkers, made up of people we support throughout the country, to look at the support we provide in their own homes.

And it’s already paying off. 

John is supported by Lifeways and has become a Quality Checker in Liverpool. He provided crucial feedback to improve the way we audit quality. 

John said: “I am very happy to be a Quality Checker. I like the independence it gives me, I really like the role and I enjoy it a lot.” 

He is one of around 200 Quality Checkers who assess what we do and how we do it to make sure Lifeways is truly meeting the needs of the people we support. 

Gareth Roberts, Director of Quality at Lifeways, said: “I had the pleasure of spending time with John – he is a man with a lot of great ideas. 

“He gave me a good grilling and had loads of brilliant suggestions. He’s already come up with some fantastic ways we can make our Co-produced Quality Checker Assessment Tool even more accessible and simpler, reducing the size of the assessment into mini-assessments and also reviewing the questions we ask.” 

Like all Quality Checker proposals, John’s suggestions will now be escalated to the Lifeways Quality Checker Committee for approval. 

Gareth added: “I can’t wait to see what improvements we can make and the impact this has – it’s a great example of Lifeways being a person-centred organisation that wants to keep people at the heart of what we do.” 

John’s experience as a Quality Checker has also sparked an interest in other areas of care and support and he’s keen to get involved with the Lifeways Health Committee and the new England Charter for Involvement.