The Health Service Management Centre (HSMC) will be undertaking a national evaluation of NHS England’s Building the Right Support programme, which aims to develop support services in the community for people with a learning disability and/or autism. 

In 2015, NHS England made a commitment to improving support within the community for people with learning disabilities. This recognised that current care provision was too reliant on inpatient facilities, and set out a vision to provide the right support for individuals to live healthy, safe and rewarding lives within the community.

Following that commitment, the Building the Right Support programme aims to reshape services for people with a learning disability and/or autism with behaviour that challenges to ensure that care is person-centred and provided close to their home. In particular it seeks to support those who have experienced long stays in hospital to live in the community and to prevent others from being admitted in the future.

HSMC will now be undertaking a national evaluation of the Building the Right Support programme, working with ICF, the Strategy Unit and the British Institute of Learning Disabilities.

The evaluation will follow a mixed method action research methodology which seeks to inform the national and local implementation of the programme, provide independent perspective on the extent to which objectives have been met, and identify areas of good practice.

For more information, please contact HSMC Lead Dr Robin Miller - R.S.Miller@bham.ac.uk