We work alongside staff and those who use our services, and monitor them regularly to ensure that they continue to meet our high standards. In addition we use the following standards and processes to develop and improve them:

Service users' charter of rights

RNID's commitment to our service users is outlined in our service users' charter of rights. Each service that we run has a version of this charter that is tailored to the communication needs of its users, so that it is accessible to them.

Aims and objectives

Each of our services has its own "statement of purpose". This sets out clear parameters that the service will work within to meet the needs of its group of users. These documents are reviewed regularly to make sure that they continue to meet the changing needs of the service users.

Every service's statement of purpose is also produced as a "service user guide". These are written in an accessible format so that users of any service can easily understand what they are entitled to, and what they can expect from it.

Standards of care practice

The Care Standards Act 2000 contains two sets of core standards that apply to all registered services. The National Minimum Standards for Adult Placements (a PDF file) (external link, opens new browser window) and National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People (a PDF file) (external link, opens new browser window) define what should be achieved for service users. We monitor our services against these, using internal and external review processes.

Supporting People Quality Assessment Framework

All of our supported housing services are subject to regular assessments under the Supporting People Quality Assessment Framework (external link, opens new browser window). Each service is reviewed annually, either by a visit from an external assessor or by self assessment.

Statutory inspections

The Care Standards Commission Inspectorate (CSCI) carries out inspections of our registered services twice a year. The service is forewarned about one of these inspections but not the second. During these inspections the CSCI checks our compliance with the National Minimum Care Standards. It then writes a report that is made available to the public on the Care Standards Commission Inspectorate website (external link, opens new browser window).

Visits to registered providers

There is a statutory requirement for a senior manager in RNID's care services team to make an unannounced visit to each of our care homes every month. This is included in Regulation 26 of the Care Standards Act 2000.

We have a standard format for these visits that assesses:

The manager writes a report after each visit and sends a copy to CSCI and to RNID's senior managers.

Service reviews

RNID has made a commitment to review each of our services regularly. These reviews are independent and examine whether each service is achieving its aims and objectives. They don't duplicate the monitoring that is carried out through statutory inspections and our visits to registered providers but they do complement them and include feedback from other sources.

Satisfaction surveys

We ask for feedback about our services from the people who use them, with support from independent advocates if appropriate. We use several methods to gather feedback, including:

The feedback that we get informs our planning and reviews.

Complaints procedure

We believe that service users should easily be able to make a complaint or register a concern, if they wish to do so. We regard complaints as an opportunity to learn, adapt, improve and provide a better service.

We have a clear complaints policy that makes sure that users of our services, and their representatives and carers, are aware of how to complain. This is written in an accessible format for users of each service. We can also explain the complaints procedure at any time and tell users how to refer a complaint to a governing body at any stage.

We also have an internal complaints policy that sets out the standards, responses and timescales that we operate to if we receive a complaint.