My Report to Council

Posted By: Pauline Maguire
Date Posted: 11/02/2009

Report from the Cabinet member for Older People to the meeting of the Council on the 4th February 2009

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the council the latest developments on various matters relating to the older persons portfolio.

Developments for older people are still progressing through two main strands:
• POPPs – Partnerships for Older Peoples projects
• Initiatives linked to the Council’s strategy for older people


POPPs

The project is entering into the final phase of the pilot and work continues towards POPPS phase 2 model. The project is well established and running effectively and efficiently.

The outreach service is well established and is receiving a steady stream of requests for support on a daily basis. The team visited a total of 434 new members during the quarter October – December 2008. Bringing the membership of POPPS to a total od 2,200.

The time from request to the initial first visit by an outreach worker is approximately two weeks.

Volunteers are still coming forward to support the development of the services and activities developed through POPPS.

The Volunteer Driver scheme has attracted a steady stream of volunteers to both driving and administration. Three volunteer drivers have obtained full time work through their involvement with the scheme.

Volunteers are also supporting the befriending service developed via MIND.

76 new carers have been registered during the quarter. Feedback from carers who have accessed the service has been positive and many have said they would have not managed without the service provided through POPPS.

Transport continues to remain a crucial part of the project. The VDS and flexible transport options have been developed, including the Shopping Link service.

Representatives from the TOPPS now attend the POPPS Board meeting and feed back to the TOPPS members



Feedback from Consultation Event 11 November 2008
On 11 November a consultation event was held with older people at Rochdale Centre of Diversity to discuss and obtain the views of older people around the development of the following:
• A new services directory which will signpost older people to local services
• The name Recycled Teenagers and whether or not the group could come up with a new name for the next round of events planned this year.
• The development of some Adult Care Leaflets
• Intergenerational work

The consultation session was split up into 4 groups with each group having the opportunity to discuss all the issues. We had some excellent feedback from the day. and will be putting these into practice in the development of the service directory and ideas around some intergenerational work. A draft service directory ready by the end of March with a view to printing and distributing copies of the directory soon after this date.

A lively discussion took place around the development of a new name. There were many people who disliked the name but by the same token many people liked the name and felt that we should keep it for future events. No real suggestions were put forward for a new name and the name Recycled Teenagers will be used for all future events.

The Communication team gained some valuable feedback on the development of their future adult care leaflets.

We had some excellent ideas put forward for some intergenerational activities. We will pursue these throughout the year in the development of our intergenerational activities which we have planned for the future.


Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) Focus Group 15 Jan 2009
A focus group was held for older people at Rochdale Town Hall to discuss issues that affect them. Various questions were asked e.g. if older people felt that their quality of life was improving in the borough? If the Council and its partners were working well on matters that affect local people the most? Did they feel that the needs of older people were properly understood?

We had a very lively discussion and gained some very positive feedback from the group who thoroughly enjoyed the session. Some points arising from the session were
- People were concerned about safety issues, harassment, youth issues, crime, drugs, parking on footpaths.
- There were concerns about not being listened to when help was requested e.g. police.
- They felt that it was important that they were pointed in the right direction, for information/advice/follow up action.
- They felt that generally there was a lack of communication with services
- There were issues with transport – Ring and Ride can’t always get through
- They felt that services built up customer expectations which are not being met.
- There were concerns about litter and parts of the borough being dirty.
- There were concerns about post office closures
- There were concerns about how the rehousing system operated by RBH which can place older people at a disadvantage.

The feedback report will be used as part of our CAA assessment.

Intergenerational Conference 14 March 2009
Work is in progress for our intergenerational conference which is to be held at Castlemere Community Centre on 14 March. We will be liaising closely with the centre to ensure the local community are involved in the day. The policy team and communications team will be responsible for advertising the event and distributing leaflets boroughwide. Free transport will be available for anyone over the age of 50 wishing to attend the event. We will liaise with the community centre or Touchstones to take the transport bookings. We are hoping to offer digital photography courses, hire the gym for light exercise classes, hold a creative writing session, and offer craft facilities to engage older and younger people. We will be linking in with children of all ages to promote good community cohesion between people of different ages.

Supporting Age Concern’s Winter Warmth Campaign
Age Concern is holding a winter warmth campaign on 30th Jan in conjunction with Strategic Housing and the Electrical Safety Council. They will also be providing free electric blanket checks for older people. We will be supporting this event and will be helping out with advertising and transport costs to increase the uptake of this event amongst older people who are suffering from fuel poverty.

Supporting Dignity in Care Awards May
We have agreed to sponsor Age Concern in their forthcoming awards evening to Celebrate dignity in care. An awards evening is to be held at Rochdale Town Hall and it is anticipated that a celebrity will be available to present the awards.

Sustainable Activities/Intergenerational Work
We have some exciting things that we are developing. Following on from our Recycled Teenagers events last year we found that older people wanted some of the classes to continue. There is demand for a creative writing workshop in Rochdale. Touchstones have been commissioned to carry out this work which will start in Spring 09. We are also linking in with an exhibition at Touchstones to run a two day photography session at Touchstones and the City Learning College. There was also demand for singing classes in Heywood we are following this up. We have also learned that there is a demand for art and craft sessions in the Pennines Township we are currently looking into this further. We have asked Middleton for any ideas they may have and are still pursing this.

We are also seeking the help of Environmental Management in the development of a possible allotment scheme which could be used as an intergenerational project.

Older Peoples Strategy
A report was sent to the Older Persons Partnership Board in order to look at ways of developing the new strategy and looking at he remit of the older people’s partnership board. Options were presented to the board, who have representatives from the PCT, POPPs, RMBC, Age Concern, and the user carer forum, who all represent their organisations and sit on the board. The intention is that the OPPB will own and drive the strategy forward. Any consultation that has been done recently will be used to inform the strategy as well as conducting some future sessions.

Updating Older Persons Database
We are also in the process of extending our database and links with regards to engaging older people. POPPs are still receiving forms from the recycled teenagers, programmes and we will link in with them to increase our database. It is also important that we link in with older people from the BME community. Visits and links will be made with organisations that have older BME people attending their activities/sessions to encourage and engage them in future consultation/events that are being planned for older people.

Councillor Pauline Maguire