Touring a Day Program: 12 Things to Watch

Book it wrong on purpose

Ask for a tour at 11am on an ordinary Wednesday, not at 8.30am before people arrive and not at 3pm as things wind down. Every service can look good in an empty room. What you want to see is the middle of a normal day with the usual number of people in the building and the usual staff on shift.

If a provider will only show you an empty space, or only outside program hours, that is your first piece of information. There can be good reasons, including participants' privacy, and a provider should be able to explain the reason rather than just declining.

The twelve things

1. What are people actually doing right now? Not what the timetable says. Look at the room and count how many people are engaged in something and how many are sitting with nothing happening.
2. Where are the staff standing? Alongside participants, or together near the office? Staff clustered at the edges of a room is the single most reliable tell in the building.
3. Does anyone greet the participants by name as they pass? Including the ones who cannot answer.
4. What is the actual ratio, today, in that room? Ask, and then count for yourself. Funded ratio and rostered ratio are not always the same number.
5. How much of the week happens outside the building? A day program that never leaves the room is a room, not a programme.
6. What happens at lunch? Whether people eat together, whether anyone needs mealtime support, and whether that support is delivered discreetly.
7. Are there mealtime management plans, and who follows them? If someone has swallowing risks, the plan should be known to the staff on the floor, not filed in an office.
8. How is behaviour handled? Ask what happened the last time someone became distressed, and listen for whether the answer describes understanding the trigger or just managing the person.
9. What does the toilet look like? Space, hoist availability, privacy, and whether it is clean at 11am rather than at 8am.
10. What is the staff turnover? Ask how many of the workers in the room today were there twelve months ago. It is a fair question and the answer is usually honest.
11. How do they tell families what happened today? An app, a book, a phone call, or nothing. Then ask to see a real example with the names removed.
12. What is the plan for this person specifically? Not the programme brochure. What would a Tuesday look like for your son or daughter, given what you have told them.

Two questions that get past the sales voice

Ask what kind of participant this programme is not right for. A provider who says everyone is welcome is either not thinking or not telling you. A good answer names a support profile they are not set up for, and that honesty is worth more than a brochure.

Then ask what has changed in the last year because of family feedback. If the answer is specific, feedback goes somewhere. If it is a general statement about valuing input, it does not.

After the tour

Write your notes in the car before you drive off, while the room is still fresh. Rate the twelve items roughly, then note the one thing that made you uneasy, because that is the item you will talk yourself out of by the evening and it is usually the one that matters.

Visit twice if you are seriously considering a place, and make the second visit a different day of the week. Programmes vary enormously between the Monday staff and the Thursday staff.

Our article on what a day actually looks like is a useful benchmark for what you should be seeing, and our day program page sets out how ours is structured. If you are comparing several providers rather than one, the questions in our provider comparison checklist cover the contractual side that a tour will not show you.