Community support teams for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviours: Results of a national survey

A survey was undertaken of community support teams for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour in England and Wales. It is estimated that such teams currently employ over 450 staff, have running costs in excess of £10 million per annum and serve over 2000 people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. With regard to service aims, the majority of teams emphasise pro-active work and provide: technical support to carers and support staff; a service primarily to adults; a service to those with the most severe challenging behaviour. With regard to organisational context, structures and procedures, the majority of teams are: funded, managed and staffed by NHS Trusts; expressed a general behavioural orientation; reported allocating the largest proportion of their time to working with direct care staff. With regard to impact, teams reported that they served the majority of their clients with some degree of success. More detailed analysis, however, suggested that the majority of cases 'successfully' closed were closed due to such factors as the acceptance of recommendations or the person being referred on to another service or the completion of assessment, rather than reduction in challenging behaviour. Lack of throughput was identified as a source of concern for a number of teams.