Hft provides the very best quality of support and care for people with learning disabilities and their families.  Established 45 years ago, Hft has developed into a progressive organisation pioneering in many areas of research and service provision to help people to live the lives that they desire.

One such area of research and service provision is IT.  Featured in its Annual Review 2008 “Supporting People with Learning Disabilities”, Hft had the following to report on SPARS, its new Information Communications Technology (ICT) based goal planning and recording system, which it has developed in collaboration with DSCallards.

The first phase of the project began in 2006, where it was piloted in five individual houses.  Following feedback, phase two was launched within the Leeds and South Oxfordshire services.

A number of changes were made to improve users’ accessibility to SPARS and the approach required to introduce this major change to other services.  A review also took place to ensure that the IT infrastructure could sustain the increased use of ICT generally within services.

SPARS has now been rolled out to the whole of Hft, with around 700 staff using the system.

The views from staff are very positive about the benefits of goal progress recording and as Hft use SPARS in different living situations, Hft is learning how flexible it has to be to meet the demands of different support needs. 

According to the report, the introduction of SPARS has been very challenging and has involved major commitment to ensure the key components were in place to support the project.  However, on a lighter note, the introduction of SPARS has led to many staff overcoming their fear of computers!

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