case study:
Choice, Support and Transport (CST)

showing the quality mark in action

CST offers a day time service for people with a learning disability. One of its key features is a reliable, low cost transport service with a regular driver that customers and their families know and trust. The service has 17 customers in total who are supported in very small groups to engage in a wide range of activities. The providers have a culture of requesting regular feedback from their customers and in developing and improving the service they offer based on this feedback. CST believes in valuing all the people affected by the service and as a result they also actively engage with the families of the people they support.

CST was motivated to engage with the Quality Mark pilot because they believed it would help their business by enabling them to add to or improve their existing systems. They valued the opportunity to be involved from the start and to help shape this new process for all micro providers in Oldham. CST felt that the timing of the pilot was very good for their enterprise and that it was “just what they needed”.

As part of the pilot CST worked through the process for both the gold and silver Quality Mark awards, engaging with the Co-ordinator, preparing their staff and systems, completing the paperwork, undertaking the surveys and submitting all the evidence to the Panel.

On reflection Mark and Keith from CST felt that the whole process was really well thought out and enabled them to learn and grow as an organisation. They stated that they “Found the process difficult at times a bit like Yoga – ‘difficult but stretches you’”. They particularly valued the feedback element built into the process and the fact that they were given suggestions for improving how their service operates.

When asked whether engaging with the Quality Mark had resulted in any positive outcomes for their enterprise Mark and Keith shared that it “made them do tasks they had been putting off and were on the back burner”. CST has introduced new feedback forms for customers as a result of the Quality Marking process.

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