Social Services Department Volume 26 December 2005

Partnerships for Older People Projects (POPPs)

We are delighted to have been selected as one of 19 pilot authorities for POPP, an initiative being led by the Department of Health to enable the setting up of an innovative range of pilot projects to support Older People. We have been given Ł1.76 million over 2 years to develop schemes under the title of "Enabling Independence During Changing Times". All the schemes have been identified by older people in Wigan as important to helping them maintain their well being and independence.

Through the borough's Over 50s Forum, older people have helped Wigan Council identify a range of proposals, including:

'Changing times’ support service (with trained volunteers) providing advice, information, advocacy and practical help;
Counselling service;
Encouraging older people to become involved and active, for example by volunteering;
Gardening and 'handyperson' home maintenance scheme;
Sheltered housing improvements to aid independent living and wellbeing;
Home assessments carried out by trained home assessors linked to health and social care teams aimed at improving living at home and identifying/resolving risk factors;
Crime prevention awareness and support;
Support for older people and carers from ethnic minorities;
Promoting physical activity for older people; and
Carers rapid response support scheme.

The funds will be made available next March. In the meantime we will be recruiting a Project Co-ordinator and supporting the setting up of the projects which are mainly in the Voluntary Sector. Dorothy Latham is leading on the POPP schemes in the interim until the Co-ordinator is in post.

The POPP grant gives us a great opportunity to demonstrate that investing in preventative services can prolong people's independence and save funding on acute and institutional services.

For further information please contact:

Louise Sutton, Assistant Director (Older People) 01942 827798, Dorothy Latham, Team Co-ordinator 01942 705981 or Bridget Whittell, Performance & Planning Officer (Adults) on 01942 827360.

Excellent Prospects for Wigan!

For the second year running the Commission for Social Care Inspection has rated the Council's Social Care Services for Adults 'serving most people well and with excellent prospects for improvement'. The inspectorate has awarded 2 stars out of a possible 3.

Adult Services were particularly praised for services to Older People, where there was 'strong performance to further extend the balance of care and choice'. In learning disability services there was said to have been 'major strides to resettle and support more people in their own homes..'.

Further work was said to be needed to reduce emergency hospital admissions, build up community mental health service provision and help more people from welfare into work.

Director of Adult Services, Bernard Walker, commented: 'we're really pleased again that the Commission has praised social care services in Wigan and expressed faith in our ability to go on and do even better next year. It is good to know that the Commission recognises that our performance has improved again, even against an already high baseline.'

'Whilst we are proud of the quality of services we are also particularly pleased that we scored highest in the cost and efficiency standard. We are not complacent, though. We know we still have much to do, but the Inspectorate is saying we are on the right track in our plans to do that.'

Cabinet Portfolio holder for Adult Services, Councillor Kevin Anderson, added 'As a Council, with our partners, we want to show that we have a real commitment to vulnerable people and can deliver to meet their needs. Obviously we are pleased with the result which owes so much to the hard work of the range of staff involved in delivering a service to those thousands of vulnerable people who really need them. Well done to all of them'.

Steve Peddie

Assistant Director (Performance And Delivery) 01942 827854

Name Change

The Senior Management Team have confirmed that the Social Services Department will change its name to, Department of Adult Services. This will reflect the departments role with the move of children’s services to Education. It is intended the new title will come into force from 1 January 2006.

Joe Blott.

Deputy Director Adult Services.

Social Care Modern Apprentice Cadets

A group of Social Care Modern Apprentice Cadets, together with their colleagues, took part in a prestigious award ceremony at the JJB Stadium at Robin Park. The ceremony, hosted by Manchester City College was a celebration of success for all social care staff in the council and private and voluntary sector who had achieved their NVQs in social care or social care management. The ceremony also marked the success of the first group of cadets to gain their NVQ level 2 and 3 in Health and Social Care.

The department launched its Modern Apprentice Cadet Scheme in Social Care 2 years ago. The scheme, aimed at young people between the ages of 16-22, aims to introduce people to social care and the wide range of work done by the Department's Provider Services.

The modern apprentice cadets worked 4 days a week in their placements and attended college one day a week. They worked with a wide range of service users - people with physical disabilities, mental health problems, learning disabilities, dementia etc, in a wide range of settings.

The scheme is well supported by managers within the services as they are getting well-trained and confident staff from the start; the cadets have an opportunity to try out a variety of work situations before they apply for permanent jobs, and service users are also directly involved in the training and development of the cadets. All of the cadets from the first group now work for the Adult Provider Division.

Julie Jeffers

Service Manager (Adult Provision)

The Saying Hello Project

The project is a dynamic and innovative collaboration between local volunteers, Age Concern Wigan Borough and The University of Salford. The project represents an exciting opportunity for members of the local community to share their stories and have an impact upon the development of services and resources which can benefit older people.

The 'Saying Hello' project aims to identify and promote strategies for coping with, and reducing social isolation and loneliness amongst older people in the borough. This research is groundbreaking, as it has been designed to enable the active involvement of older people throughout all stages of the research process. Consultation and partnership activities with older people include an Older People's Reference group to guide research throughout the life of the project, a series of focus groups, a research training programme and research team made up of older volunteers.

Our research team want to hear from people (aged over 50) who:

know what it is like to experience loneliness and have found ways of coping with it;
do not feel lonely or isolated but have a view; and
would like to share ways of coping with loneliness or potential loneliness.

We want to get as many people involved in our project as possible. We are currently pursuing an awareness raising campaign to encourage people to join us. This is an exciting opportunity to bring local people together - be part of it! Please help us in making this project a success!

For more details about the Saying Hello project, please contact:

Fiona Greenwood

Salford Centre for Social Work Research

School of Community, Health Sciences and Social Care

The University of Salford

Salford

M5 4WT

http://www.imr.salford.ac.uk/social%20work/projects/saying_hello.shtml

Tel: 0161 295 2862

Fax: 0161 295 2378

Email: c.f.greenwood@salford.ac.uk

Young Apprenticeship Programme, Business Administration 14 - 16 year olds,

September 2005 - June 2007

This is an exciting new two-year programme supported by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and the Department for Education and Skills (DFES). It is aimed at capable and motivated pupils who would like the chance to experience work place life, in a supported way, and who will benefit from building a strong foundation before moving on to an Apprenticeship at 16, if that's what suits them.

The Department is working in partnership with ProCo. NW Ltd and ten young apprentices are due to take up their one-day placement, early November 2005. Since September they have been on an induction programme at ProCo. to prepare them for their placement.

The young people will be released from school for one and a half days per week, for the half-day session they will attend ProCo NW Ltd training facilities in Wigan. This session will focus on delivering the underpinning knowledge or Technical Certificate. The full day will be a day of work experience each week. So far we've placed young people in Transport, SAS Orchards, Employment Services, Disability Resource Centre, Aspull, Ince OP, Management Support, Contracts, Staff Development and Human Resources Teams.

Once in the workplace the young people will gain valuable insight as well as learning the skills they need for their course. The placements will give them opportunities to develop skills and knowledge relevant to their vocational studies, shadow and observe other employees, or gain hands on experience, perhaps undertaking project work. This will support their learning and help them to make informed career choices later on.

The Young Apprenticeship Scheme is another important part of our recruitment strategy and aims to ensure that young people have a chance to explore career pathways into the Social Care Sector. Let's hope when the time comes, they choose a career in social care - they could be part of our future workforce!

If you would like to find out more about the scheme, please contact myself or Sheila Gallagher, 01942 833484 (Scheme Managers).

ProCo. NW Ltd Contacts:

Ann Woodall,- Admin and Services Manager

Joanne Secombe, Course Tutor

Tel: 01942 488500.

Anne Westhead

Service Manager, Human Resources

Tel: 01942 827869