Ask, Listen, Do, (ALD) was introduced by NHS England (2018) as part of a Service Development Improvement Plan (SDIP) for NHS providers to improve experiences and outcomes for children and adults who are autistic and / or have a learning disability.
To enable Mersey Care Foundation Trust to listen, learn from and improve the experiences of children and adults who are autistic and / or have a learning disability, their families and carers, as well as make it easier for people, families and carers to give feedback, raise concerns and complain.
For further information please contact Andy Stevenson by email andy
Further details can be found on the NHS England website:
Below is a summary from NHS England, which demonstrates the key principles in terms of Ask, Listen and Do:
There are four themes behind Ask, Listen, Do:
1. Work in partnership with people
Improving partnership working allows for greater equality, mutual respect and satisfaction, as well as more efficient use of everyone’s time.
Creates a positive, empowering and supportive relationship which embeds co-production, with everyone working together towards the same goals.
2. Communicate in a person-centred way
Good communication helps to put people at ease, helps them feel in control and makes them feel valued.
Includes the provision for clear and accessible information, incorporating reasonable adjustments and avoids the use of jargon.
3. Processes should follow the law and good practice
Saying sorry is an admission that something could have been done better, and we should learn from this to ensure that it is not repeated. It is not an admission of liability.
We should always seek to learn from experiences and improve service delivery, along with understanding developments in the law. It is important to distinguish between a complaint and a safeguarding matter.
4. Leadership and Culture
Leaders have a large effect on the cultures of organisations and systems. They can create the conditions for innovation.
Leaders should lead from the top and empower frontline staff to respond positively to feedback. They should ensure staff are trained and posses the necessary skills and values that allow for a good working environment and the delivery of a quality service.
NHS England provide a list of standards that form the framework for all Mersey Care teams and services to adhere to. A list of those standards under each of the four themes can be found in the attached document.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking of our current learning disability community services and our ASC teams against the ALD standards has proved quite successful at identifying what we do well, and any gaps that we can focus on to match the standards provided within the framework. All teams completed a questionnaire to achieve this. A link to the questionnaire for adult services can be seen in report linked below:
Ask Listen Do Framework and Principles
Service User Engagment Forums
These have been set up across all our Learning disability community teams and ASC services. In addition, we are now running service user forums across our Inpatient wards at Byron ward, Rowan View, Wavertree Bungalow and Aspen Wood. Service users, their family, friends and advocates can provide posiitve feedback and raise concerns during these sessions.
All sessions are held on a regular basis and follow the six question format of Ask, Listen, Do:
Q1 What's working about our service?
Q2 What's not working?
Q3 Have you raised this with us before?
Q4 What could have made it easier?
Q5 How can we make sure your voice is heard?
Q6 How can we plan and improve things together?
The responses can then be escalated as appropriate and passed through to the ALD project team to identify any trends across all of our LD and Autism services with respect to posiitve feedback and concerns.
Listed below are links to resources that can help support services / teams with the application of Ask, Listen, Do.
The service user engagement forums applies to all learning disability community teams, inpatient wards (Byron ward, Rowan View, Wavertree Bungalow and Aspen Wood) and Autistic Spectrum Condition services only.
Service User Engagement Forums
You may wish to advertise the session by using the:
Easy Read Invitation Flyer Template.
During the session, please ask service-users, their family members or carers to complete the:
In Session Recording Form for concerns or positive feedback.
This can be completed individually or as a group, but each concern and positive feedback will need to be recorded in the post-session feedback.
Post session feedback
This will be completed by the meeting facilitator at a later stage when the raised concern has been resolved to showcase the great work that is being done within the team / service.