Your Voice Your Connections

Your voice your connections General Meeting 11th March 2010 Minutes

1. Chairman’s Welcome

Geoff Forgie welcomed everyone to the meeting, which was the best attended (48 present) to date. In particular he welcomed our guest speaker Jenny Pitts and new Steering Group member Ruby Hartshorn.

He also welcomed Emma Suddaby. Emma is a journalist who was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis 15 years ago at the age of 22, a year after she had married. Since then she has undergone endless operations, and now has 2 replacement hips, 2 replacement knees, 2 replacement elbows, plus extensively repaired hands and wrists. Unfortunately her marriage suffered and ended. Among her recent achievements Emma has qualified as a pilot, and has been runner-up in Shropshire Woman of the Year. She writes a weekly column for The Shropshire Star, and is a freelance columnist. Her motto has been “Don’t take no for an answer. There is always a way of achieving your dreams no matter what the obstacle. ”. Geoff was delighted that Emma has agreed to be patron of Shropshire Disability Network.

Geoff asked the meeting if there were any objections to taking photographs for the new website, and there were none.

Geoff asked if all who had been given a membership form could complete it before the end of the Meeting.

2. Apologies

56 people had registered for the meeting, and 35 had apologised, and requested minutes.

3. Minutes of General Meeting 10th December 2009

Minutes of the Meeting on 10th December had been included in the Meeting Pack for attendees. The minutes were adopted as a true record.

4. Matters Arising

There were none that are not covered later in the Agenda. 5. Website & Newsletter

Geoff updated the Meeting as follows:-

I am delighted to report we continue to make excellent progress with the website but must confess to being over optimistic in believing we could have it ready by this meeting. We Have been ambitious from the word go in wanting the website to become the place for disability information in Shropshire.

The site is in part modelled on the disability page in Direct.gov, which organises its information under the main channels in life:

Advice, Advocacy and Benefits Education and Training Employment Financial support Health and support Everyday life & Leisure Motoring and Transport Travel and Holidays Rights and Obligations

We also connect you easily to Home, About us, Newsletter, Events, Blogs and Forums.

The Home, About us and links to other organisations all freely accessible by the public. To see our Newsletter, Events page, Blogs or Forum we invite you to Register with your name and email address.

Our vision for the Network is that by 2025 disabled people in Shropshire will have the same opportunities, choices and responsibilities as non-disabled people to be treated with respect and included as equal members of society.

Every one of the web categories above will have an impact on the vision as will every individual or organisation who registers on the website. There will be no charge for individuals, but we are considering making a small charge to organisations to facilitate sending newsletters out where required and generally sustaining activity aimed at fulfilling our vision.

We are planning a PR campaign to coincide with the launch now expected at the end of April/early May. There will be a number of press release and radio interviews. We are also producing 1200 membership leaflets, which will be distributed to doctor’s surgeries and libraries throughout the county,

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Sally Barrett, our Newsletter Editor, talked through the website design and layout which was projected on screen. The presentation included the following :-

. A look at the Home Page, which includes links to . News . Coverage of events . Notice of upcoming consultations (National & local) on disability . every organisation we can think of who offer services to disabled people and their carers . A Members Area which will include o Newsletters o Minutes from SDN meetings o Reports from other Meetings, e.g. Physical Disability & Learning Disability Partnership Boards, and Regional Disability Network. o Blog o Discussion Forum o Carers Area . Ability to change the font size and colour of the screens . How to access full News details, the Newsletters themselves, the Blog and Forum, by registering as a member on-line . The membership registration page itself . How to view information about Disability organisations. First click will take you to a synopsis of what the organisation does, and offers. Second click will take you to that organization’s own website.

The current plan is for a live launch of the website by the end of April. We hoped it would be sooner, but we are taking care to ensure that, when it is launched, it will provide the best possible value to users.

The website address will be

www.shropshire-disability.net

(note the hyphen, which is there to make the address more clearly readable), but we are setting it up so that is someone types in any one of several variants of this, it will find the right site.

The question was asked about how soon other organizations could put links up between them and SDN. The answer was to keep in touch with our Webmaster, Alison Smith. Key contact addresses are:-

Webmaster (Alison Smith): [email protected]

Newsletter (Sally Barrett): [email protected]

Membership: (Val Lewis): [email protected]

The Blog will be run by Alison, who will introduce topics, which any registered member can then contribute to.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Tom Memery our new Treasurer introduced himself, and thanked his predecessor Jim Roberts, who had handed over the books in very good order. Tom gave the current balance. He invited any people at the meeting or who reads the minutes to get in touch if they have any ideas about how to raise funds to sustain the Disability Network in the future. They can contact any member of the Funding Sub-Group, namely

Tom Memery [email protected]

Dave Hewetson [email protected]

Geoff Forgie [email protected]

7. Any Other Business

i. Lisa Darkin of the Community Council of Shropshire introduced herself, and talked about the Shropshire Infrastructure Partnership, which has been set up to help voluntary organizations with funding governance, recruitment of volunteers, and other help and advice. Upcoming events include

March 22nd Road Show, using the Youth Service Bus. All groups are invited to come along. Phone 01743 237881 to find out more.

Knowledge & Nosh – These will be a series of free breakfast meetings at The Lord Hill Hotel, on Wednesdays. Next few meetings will give advice on 1) recruiting volunteers 2) monitoring & evaluation 3) JSA barring and vetting.

ii. Progress against 2010 Targets

Launch Newsletter & Website

Already covered

Raise Profile of Network & Website

With the help of Zen Communications, a PR agency, we will be launching a publicity campaign around the launch.

We still require someone to fill the role of Publicity Officer.

Membership to exceed 1,000 (including 750 disabled)

This is an ambitious target. Our 2009 target was 100 members, and we only just made it.

Progress Development of the Network

a) Identify Fund-raising Manager. This is still required. We have set up a sub-group of Tom Memery, Dave Hewetson, and Geoff Forgie to look at funding requirements for long-term sustainability.

b) Secure Core Funding for 2010 / 2011. Nothing to report.

c) Develop Business Plan. We have made good progress, working from a model brought forward by Tom Memery to produce a Business Plan, which reflects our Vision and our Values throughout all its elements.

d) Prepare for Charity Status. We are currently working to establish Charity status. Once this us achieved we will explore Social Enterprise status,

e) Develop Programme of Events. Nothing currently planned.

f) Programme of Inspirational Speakers. Speakers lined up for the rest of year are

10th June - Jools Payne, a rheumatoid arthritis sufferer

9th September – Sally Edwards, a dance organizer

9th December – Dominic Campbell (Enable by Design)

8. Guest Speakers – From Shropshire Council

Jenny Pitts – My Life My Choice Programme Team

Subject:- The Transformation of Social Care

Jenny explained that reviews of Social Care had asked – is the current system fit for purpose in 2010? People’s expectations have changed. Nowadays, for instance, about 80% of us tailor holidays to our own specific needs. Wouldn’t it make sense to tailor Social Care to the personal needs of individuals? Various surveys have concluded that the system in place was not good enough.

The focus under the new system is on what is the best outcome for an individual. Customers for Social Care will complete a self-assessment form, which is not always done now, with professional-led assessments. From this, and indicative cost / budget can be calculated for the level of care needed.

The Customer of Social Care will be the person who needs the care now, and not the Council, as it was previously. The person will be in control, and can determine whether to receive care funding directly, or via a Brokered Fund (e.g. a Care organization), or via a Care Managed Fund (i.e. the Council will do it for you).

Jenny gave a couple of examples of people who have personalized their Care provision. 1) Ruby, a lady at a Worcestershire workshop, previously had a personal budget of £60 per week, which was spent on various support workers visiting at different times to do things. When her actual needs were assessed, it turned out she really just needed help with cleaning at specific times. The new cost was £35 per week, but she was happier. 2) Andrew, a young man with special needs, has a passion for trains. His new personal budget pays for him one day per week to have a train journey, and this has greatly improved his quality of life.

The Council is monitoring the uptake of Personal Budgets, which is expected to grow significantly.

Jenny mentioned www.shop4support.com, which is a Social Enterprise that is like an Amazon for buying Social care. Some Councils are currently working with this. Shropshire Council is doing a feasibility study, and the Board will make a decision in May whether or not to move forward with it.

She also mentioned www.in-control.org.uk (the hyphen is important) which is the website of In Control, a charity that grew out of a project set up in 2003 to find a new way of organizing the social care system. Shropshire Council are linked into this. She mentioned that 2 coaches were being run from Shropshire to Liverpool for In Control’s major annual event – this year at Liverpool on 16th March. (Over 2,000 people attended apparently).

Jenny showed two short personal case study videos, about people whose quality of life has improved as a result of personalizing their care support. She then took questions.

Questions:

Q. Were personal budgets being implemented in Powys? A. Not as far as I know.

Q. Are personal budgets means tested? A. Yes. It’s called a Fair Access to Care screening.

Q. I haven’t qualified for certain care support in the past. Might I qualify under the new system? A. You wouldn’t qualify just because we’ve moved to a new system. But you should seek a re-assessment anyway under the new system.

Q. Is it the case that Health & Social Care don’t always work closely together, and could this be an obstacle to implementation? A. That may sometimes be the case, but we’re working hard in Shropshire to ensure this doesn’t happen. We are investing in the Voluntary Sector, and aim to launch the new system in June.

Q. Under the new scheme, a customer may accept specific personal helpers (p.a.’s) whether or not they are qualified. Who is going to inspect / vet the p.a.’s under the new system? A. Whether the p.a.’s are working inside or outside of bona fide Care Agencies, it is expected that they will be subject to Criminal Record Bureau checks where appropriate.

9. Next Meeting

The next General Meeting will be held on Thursday 10th June 2010 at the Mereside Community Centre, Sutton Farm, Shrewsbury. This will also be our AGM. The Guest Speaker will be Jools Payne., of The Jools Payne Partnership Ltd Subject "I’m Strong….I Just Can’t Turn the Tap On" Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferer, Jools Payne, has to manage her condition with the demands of running a busy boutique PR agency and three equally demanding teenagers. “Life’s a challenge,” she says. “but it’s how we meet those challenges that defines us.” In this lively, interactive session, Jools will take a romp through the strategies she employs to beat the debilitating disease