The Justice for LB Toolkit has been co-produced with groups across Lancashire. It is a resource kit aimed at giving professionals the tools to help those with learning difficulties become more involved with their care assessments. It also provides important information and guidelines about working with people who have learning disabilities, communication or cognitive issues.

Our Justice for LB Toolkit was created from feedback from those who have benefited from our support, those with learning difficulties and those who have undergone care assessments.

What is Justice for LB?

Connor Sparrowhawk, aka 'LB,' was a young man who had a preventable death whilst in an assessment unit (managed by Southern Health NHS Trust) on 4th July 2013. The Justice for LB campaign is about raising the awareness of the need for professionals to ensure they take an holistic approach to assessments. Looking at the whole person rather than just an issue and using the support networks around them for comprehensive and person centred assessments. This will hopefully avoid future unnecessary deaths like Connors.

The Toolkit

The Toolkit is a co-production piece that gives professionals a whole range of tools to use during a Care Assessment. It also links to various interactive Easy Read documents produced by Advocacy Focus to support assessments and to enable people who may have trouble communicating become more involved in decisions around their care.

In the Toolkit you will also find a brief overview of the Easy Reads available through Advocacy Focus, we have also outlined these below and provided you with the links to download each Easy Read document.

Communication profile

This is aimed at those who don’t already have a suitable communication profile for other people to understand. This booklet is useful for people across the learning disability community but also for anyone who may be experiencing related issues such as brain injuries or Dementia.

Face Assessment

This is a simplified version of the Social Care Assessment of Need (Face 7 Overview), designed to make the assessment more accessible and enabling for those with difficulties. It doesn’t replace other versions of this but offers a different approach to people wanting to be part of their assessment.

My House My Rules

The My House My Rules Easy Read was created from feedback from our focus groups and may be useful to someone who has visiting carers. It looks at how people want to live in their own home and what support they might need. This gives people their own written copy of their wishes and needs to easily refer back to. 

Cutting Other Peoples' Control in my Life

This is about informing people of the type of restrictions, enabling them to think of their own restrictions and whether these are suitable for them. It empowers people to question the restrictions placed upon them and helps them to question them to create improvements in their care.

Wellbeing and Getting Out and About

This Easy Read informs people about the Wellbeing Principle and how this can determine a need that has to be lawfully met; it also helps people to get out into the community and link areas of wellbeing to those activities. It is interactive so encourages the reader to think about their own activities and how vital they are to their wellbeing.

Mental Capacity Assessment

Helps to explain what a Mental Capacity Assessment is and why it is happening. It is aimed at people who are going through an assessment and would benefit from understanding why it is happening. It also covers the decision and as a result would tie into Reducing Restrictions.

Where I Want to Live

Gives an overview of the different places you can live and how they may be different. It is aimed at people who are thinking of moving and  gives people an opportunity to consider what they might need or want from the place and area they are moving to.

Communication Toolkits

We also have two Communication Toolkits as part of our Justice for LB Toolkit. These can be used to help communicate with people who have communication difficulties, using symbols rather than photographs to meet a wider audience.

We Value Your Feedback

If you would like to give us feedback on our Toolkit or any of our Easy Read documents then please feel free to do so. We value the importance of user feedback to ensure we consistently create documents that are fit for purpose and benefit the service user. Please email [email protected] should you wish to submit your suggestions or feedback.