ABSTRACT
Managers' awareness of the complexities of staff support within dispersed housing networks was not simply put in place. While staff supervision or job consultation is very important, it is far from being the only form of support which staff need or which managers can, or should, offer. Networks of staffed housing have replaced hospitals and hostels as the standard type of long-term support for people with learning disabilities. Considerable work was done by the managers and staff on developing a system of standards for internally auditing the quality of the service. The critical point for staff - from the organisation's perspective - is their probationary period during which their ability to do the job is initially assessed. The reorganisation of the service involved one key change in 1994 which had largely unexpected outcomes for the development of the staff teams.
