‘They went way further than just the extra mile’: What families and guardians said about Lifeways in 2020

Families and guardians of the people Lifeways support across the UK said the best thing about what we provide is our focus on promoting independence and person-centred support.

Over 4 out of 5 family members and guardians who responded to Lifeways’ annual satisfaction survey for 2019-2020 said they felt:

• involved in planning the support of their relative or friend  
• that support meets the identified needs of their relative or friend
• that their relative or friend’s support team is kind, caring and listens to and treats the person they support with dignity and respect
• that their relative or friend is supported to stay healthy and well.

As well as finding Lifeways’ support to promote independence and be centred around the person, families and guardians also said they found our Support Teams to be kind, caring and responsive.

The almost 5,000 people we support live in 1,500 supported living and residential services across England, Scotland, and Wales.

Here’s some highlights of what families and guardians told us:

• “Everything is done in the best interest of my relative. Staff don’t ‘rest on their laurels’ but continually try to improve on what has been achieved.”
• The Support Workers themselves are all wonderful and my son gets on with them all.”
• “Staff are caring, interact well with our daughter and we feel they have her best interest at heart.”
• “They are such a fantastic Support Team. Our son is so very happy. We feel very lucky to have such wonderful people caring for our son.”
• “[The Support Team] are more than devoted and I can't express this strongly enough. They went way further than just the extra mile.

'Very proud'

Commenting on the survey’s findings, Gareth Roberts, Lifeways’ Group Head of Quality, Health and Safety said:

“We engage not only with the people we support but with their families and guardians. By speaking to them, understanding their thoughts and ideas and then measuring our performance, we are presented with a real opportunity for meaningful improvements.  

“There have been lots of changes in our processes last year and this is reflected in the feedback we received from families and loved ones, an achievement we should all be very proud of, given the challenges that 2020 presented everyone within this sector.”

Here's a look at the most common words told to us by families and guardians: