Debra Moore, Director

Debra Moore

After training as a nurse in 1983, Debra has enjoyed a long and varied career in health and social care in both the public and independent sector. In her 30+ years in the sector she has operationally managed a range of provision including assessment and treatment, respite, care homes, day services and community teams and was at the forefront of helping people to move from long stay institutions to take their rightful place in society.

This passion for ensuring that people, and particularly those whose needs are labelled complex or challenging, are enabled to live an ‘ordinary’ life remained with her and greatly influenced her choice of roles in the following decades.

With a Masters Degree in Advanced Practice in Learning Disability Nursing, she was one of the first Consultant Nurses in the UK working within the National High Secure Service for Learning Disabilities (Rampton). She combined this role with a government appointment as Nursing Advisor at the Department of Health and a member of the Ministerial Task Force for Learning Disabilities. Debra then moved on to policy implementation working for the DH Valuing People Team as both a regional advisor and then as Joint National Programme Lead for Learning Disabilities with a national lead role for health issues.

In 2008 she founded Debra Moore Associates (DMA) providing consultancy and training and within this role she was commissioned by a range of agencies such as CQC, DH, the NHS and the Criminal Justice System. She has developed a range of tools and training including the popular Confirm and Challenge Model and Self Assessment tools for Specialist Learning Disability Inpatient Services and Community Learning Disability Teams.

In 2011 in response to the Winterbourne View Scandal, Debra was commissioned to undertake an external review of the culture and safety of Castlebeck’s services. Debra was subsequently invited to undertake an appointment within the organisation as an Executive Director responsible for nursing, clinical and training provision and a specific remit for patient safety and governance.

The NHSE Assuring Transformation Programme has provided a fresh impetus for Debra to return to her passion of ensuring people get the right care and support to remain in their own communities and the refresh of Debra Moore Associates, with new fellow directors, provides a vehicle for her to support commissioners and providers to make this happen. This work includes a range of programmes, tools and interventions to support the Care & Treatment Reviews (CTR’s), Quality Assurance for Best Care Now and the Health Equality Framework (HEF).

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Dave Atkinson, Director

DaveAtkinson

Dave qualified as a learning disability nurse in 1991 and worked across wide ranging hospital and community settings. As a Consultant Nurse the NHS, with a clinical specialism in meeting the needs of people with a learning disability who present with distressed and risky behaviours, he also managed large teams of allied health professionals and specialist nurses; led the development of governance systems; developed wide ranging integrated care pathways; and supported service turnaround and modernisation initiatives.

Since 2012, Dave has provided expert consultancy services to a range of NHS and independent sector providers, as well as national agencies including the Department of Health, the Royal College of Nursing, the Care Quality Commission, NHS England and National Health Education Scotland. He has undertaken numerous independent investigations and service reviews across the UK, contributed to improvement and whole service turnaround programmes, and chaired countless complex Care and Treatment Reviews.

Whilst working with the Department of Health, Dave led a number of national policy initiatives concerning the reduction of restrictive interventions across health and social care and has remained actively involved in this area, including serving as a Trustee of the Restraint Reduction Network.

Dave was one of the co-authors of the critically acclaimed Health Equalities Framework (HEF) and continues to support initiatives focused on reducing the health inequalities experienced by marginalised populations.  Whilst working for NHS England, Dave led the development of national learning disability improvement standards and a large-scale national benchmarking programme to assist trusts in meeting the improvement standards.

Dave is a keen supporter of initiatives which strengthen nursing leadership and the development of the learning disability nursing profession. He continues to publish on a range of topics and regularly presents at conferences.

Dave’s approach to consultancy and service improvement typically includes a rigorous focus on evidence and data informed improvement. He applies systems thinking to understand relationships between policy and local context, services’ structures and processes and the outcomes they deliver to people who use services. He readily draws on the high level expertise of a range of associates and colleagues, incuding people with lived experience of using services and campaigning for improvement to services.

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Jenny Anderton, Director

Jenny AndertonJenny started her career in1980 as a residential social worker with people with learning disabilities in Stockport MBC. Over the next 26 years Jenny continued her career in four local Authorities, social services department, Stockport, Manchester, Bolton and finally as the Assistant Executive Director of Social services in Barnsley. In that 26 years Jenny provided leadership and management to a wide variety of teams, across Social care and in the latter years Health. Jenny worked as part of the team who resettled over 150 people from long stay hospitals in the North West to community living. This was a great time, being part of team who helped improved people’s quality of life and managing a group of staff who were passionate about what they were doing and always went the extra mile to make dreams become a reality.

As the Assistant Director of Social Services in Barnsley, Jenny was responsible for managing one of the first integrated services across social care and health, along with a pooled budget and the brief to resettle people from an NHS campus. This experience was both challenging and rewarding and taught Jenny a great deal about how to manage expectations, people, staff, clinicians and work in a co-production way with families.

In 2006 Jenny joined the Department of health as part of the Valuing people team and was instrumental in making the Valuing People strategy a reality for people in Yorkshire and Humber. The greatest achievement for Jenny during this time was the development of the Joint Health and Social Care Framework and self assessment tool (SAF). The framework enabled localities, with key stakeholders that included people and families, to measure their progress against a framework of quality outcomes. This framework went on to be adopted across the country and is still used today to provide national information and benchmarks.

On leaving the DOH, Jenny spent time in the strategic health authority and as a Health and social Care Consultant and has and continues too; work with a number of providers, social services departments, CCG’s, NHS England, and LGA. The projects included reviews of learning disability services, development of strategies, service redesign, part of turnaround teams and working with people and families to make sure their voice and influence helped changed and developed services. These are the people that know what “Good “looks like and Jenny believes they should always be listened too and included.

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Rebecca Hill, Director

Rebecca Hill

Rebecca is an award winning communication and project lead professional with almost 20 years’ marketing experience within specialist health and social care settings. Rebecca has worked within the directorate of Nursing, Quality and Governance for providers of residential and hospital support for adults with learning disabilities and now a provider of schools and homes which support children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural problems.

She has worked together with inclusive communication groups and other inclusive organisations. She specialises in reviewing literature for families and carers as well as for adults and young people who have no words or very few. Rebecca brings organisational leadership and support to the user involvement agenda and accessible information work stream making a marked difference to the engagement of both adults and young people and their families.

Event coordinator for DMA she has led on the Strengthening the Commitment conferences, RCN and NHS England events as well as other educational events and training for the DMA team. She has presented at BILD conferences herself on the use of checking tools she has created, which allow people to feedback on the quality of their own support, care and learning.  As Business Manager for DMA Solutions Ltd, she liaises with professionals and coordinates the Clinical Support offer from our experts.

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