NICE: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2019)

Content Warning: The term challenging behaviour is used throughout. Discussions of restraint

This webpage details the preliminary research into the Safe Home Environment Assessment Tool (SHEA) and planning process. The tool was developed by a group of Occupational Therapists as a response the NHS England’s 2015 Transforming Care agenda. Both the agenda and the SHEA were developed to support Autistic people and people with a learning disability to move from inpatient hospitals to community accommodation. The SHEA is a process that includes: A referral-screening tool and The Safe Home Environment Assessment tool. The aim of the SHEA tool is to help identify common risks that may need to be considered in planning accommodation options. This can include hygiene issues, absconding risks and sensory issues which need to be addressed to ensure dignity and independence whilst minimising distress. Through identifying risks early it can enable the design of resilient personalised homes within communities. This in turn may reduce placement breakdown and potential readmission to inpatient support.

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