“The Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee supported the Wandsworth LINk in their call for the Battersea polyclinic hub to be subject to further consultation.  The Councillors agreed that the new split-site solution was a far cry from the original purpose-built comprehensive centre and that NHS Wandsworth should consult local residents before proceeding.  More details are contained in the attached press release.”

February 22nd 2010

For the first time, it will be possible for an unpaid carer looking after a loved one to build up a full basic State Pension based entirely on National Insurance credits. The Department for Work and Pensions and Carers UK are calling on the 4.7 million carers across the country to find out if they could benefit.

April 2010 will see the introduction of the new Carer’s Credit that will count towards their basic and second State Pension. People may not recognise the help they give unpaid to a disabled, ill or family member as caring but today they are being encouraged to come forward if they are looking after someone for at least twenty hours a week.

Minister of State for Pensions and Ageing Society Angela Eagle said: “We want people to tell us if they, or people they know, are looking after somebody for more than 20 hours a week so they benefit from this change. The State Pension is everyone’s foundation of financial security in later life and therefore, it’s only right that caring for others should be counted towards it.”

The natural focus for most carers is to meet the immediate needs of their loved one rather than on planning their own financial future. Results by the Ipsos MORI survey found less than one in five of the carers (19%) pay regularly into savings and only one in seven felt they had a comfortable amount put aside for the future. It also revealed almost half (46%) the carers it questioned are worried about their financial future and just over a third (36%)have dipped into savings as a result of caring.

Imelda Redmond, Chief Executive of Carers UK said: “We know saving for your retirement years won’t be your priority when you suddenly find yourself caring for a loved one. But there are simple steps you can take to secure your State Pension that will protect your long-term future as you care for others.”

If you are caring for someone for 20 hours or more a week you could get the new Carer’s Credit that will count towards your State Pension. Find out if you qualify by visiting www.direct.gov.uk/pensions or by calling 0800 678 1132.

Patient opinion is an independent website which enables’s service users and carers to share their opinions online. These opinions are then fed back to the service providers and commissioners in order to shape services.

Wandsworth LINk now have a Patient Opinion page dedicated to sharing and publicising these stories and would encourage anyone who wants to share their story to visit this page and the Patient opinion website http://www.patientopinion.org.uk/

Here are some of the things that you can do on Patient Opinion:

• Patients and carers can find out what other people think of local hospitals, hospices and mental health services.
• And lots of people share the story of what happened to them or their family when they were ill.
• Most important of all patients and carers can tell it like it is – patients and carers know what the service was like and come up with lots of great ideas about how it could be better

This is a collaborative event between the National End of Life Care Programme abd NHS London to launch the national E-Learning in End of Life Care for All (e-ELCA)

e- ELCA is an exciting and free on-line resource to help train and educate health and social care staff delivering end of life care. For more information visit the website www.e-elca.org.uk.

REASONS TO ATTEND

• Dr Bee Wee, Senior Clinical Lecturer in palliative Medicine at Oxford University will be presenting on the development of the e-ELCA resource.
• Test drive e-ELCA training modules and hear from the experts.

This is an exciting and essential event suitable for:

• Senior managers and clinician in health and social care organistions.
• Local education leads in health and socila care orgamisations.
• E-Learning leads from across health and social care.
• Those who mentor colleagues whose work involves end of life care.
• Anyone whose work involves caring for those approaching the end of life and would like an early look at what the new resources offers.

to book your free place go to www.eventprouk.com click on EVENT REGISTRATION then input:

username: EP1152 (Please use capital letters)

password: EL250310 (Please note that 0+ zero and use capital letters)

Wandsworth Borough Council & DisabledGo invite you to join them at the Steering Group Meeting

on Tuesday 9th March,   2.30- 3.30 p.m at Wandsworth Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street

Wandsworth, SW18 2PU.

About DisabledGo

DisabledGo has been working in partnership with the Wandsworth Borough Council since 2004 to produce an online access guide to Wandsworth

So that the DisabledGo-Wandsworth guide develops in the way that local people want it to, we invite you to the steering group to give us feedback on the following:

- New venues that you would like to see added

- The new DisabledGo website

- Online steering groups

RSVP INFORMATION

Please RSVP using the attached reply slip as soon as possible with any specific requirements you may have to:

Tom Felton, DisabledGo, Ardent House, Gates Way, Stevenage, SG1 3HG.

    E: tom.felton@disabledgo.com 

    Tel: 01438 842710 

     Fax: 01438 842717

If you know of anyone who may be interested in hearing more about the service we provide, or would like to attend the meeting please do not hesitate in forwarding this information on

Wandsworth Care Alliance invites you to attend the launch of the new newspaper for people with learning difficulties in Wandsworth.  Come and celebrate our first issue and take away your copy.

The event will be held on Friday 26^th February from 11am-1pm at Trident Business Centre, Tooting.  A buffet lunch will be provided.

For more details, contact Tom Harrison on 020 8516 7785, or email newspaper@wandcareall.org.uk

Thursday 11 March at 1 for 1.30 pm

Anchor Church Centre, Garratt Lane, SW18 4DU

(buses 44 & 270 pass the door)

Older People Strategy after 18months

Wandsworth Older People’s Strategy and Action Plans were launched in October 2008.  In November 2009 the Borough Council reviewed progress after 12 months.   At this Conference older people will have a chance to have their say on how progress has been made in moving towards the vision by 2013

The Convenors of the Action Groups, one for each Dimension, will be present and will describe how they see progress and attenders will have a chance to say whether it is good or not.

Dimensions described in the plan are:-

Health & Healthy Living

Housing & the Home

Neighbourhood

Social Activities, Social Networks and Keeping Busy

Out & About

Income

Information

There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion on what you want to see

Please fill out this form to let us know you’re coming reply form and return to Lillias Gillies, 

Charlotte Despard Ave, London SW11, e-mail:   wopforum@hotmail.com

   Further copies of the Visions for each Dimension will be sent to those replying before 3 March

There will be refreshments from 1 pm and sound enhancement and a palantypist

Transport can be made available for those with difficulty in using public transport

Please phone Lilias Gillies (020 8672 5592)

Dignity Action Day gives everyone the opportunity to contribute to upholding people’s rights to dignity and provide a truly memorable day for people receiving care. Dignity Action Day aims to ensure people in care are treated as individuals, are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives and provide stimulating activities. Dignity Action day asks everybody – members of the public and Health and Social Care staff to give the gift of time. We can all make a difference!

“Dignity in Care must be everybody’s business. I hope people will step up to this challenge and do whatever is in their power to make a difference”
Sir Michael Parkinson, National Dignity Ambassador

Supporting Dignity Action Day will

• Raise awareness of the importance of Dignity in Care
• Provide someone with an extra special day
• Remind society that the dignity of those in your community is not the sole responsibility of health or social care staff- everyone has a role to play
• Remind the public that staff have a right to be treated with dignity and respect too
• Be part of a national celebration and demonstrate solidarity for Dignity in Care

Everyone can get involved- take action now

Dignity Action Day asks health and social care workers to take action in their place of work to promote dignity. It also asks members of the public to do what they can to take action on this day to promote dignity for people in their communities.

• Take a look at the resource packs full of ideas, useful information and support on how you can support Dignity Action Day.
  • Health and Social Care Staff
  • Members of the public
• See what others are doing to give you further inspiration
• Once you have decided what you are going to do please tell us about your pledge or activity to inspire and encourage others to follow.

The Chair of Wandsworth LINk has commented on the article which appeared in yesterday’s Guardian, about Mark Clark’s resignation from Wandsworth LINk.

Roger Appleton wrote:

As the current chair, I don’t wish to comment on why Mark Clark resigned from Wandsworth LINk but I did want to clarify the policy of payment over which he said he resigned.
The policy was not to pay members for attendance at meetings but to reward health and social care service users for individual and specific tasks undertaken.
The NHS and local councils already pay service users for the work they do on service improvement. Wandsworth LINk wished only to adopt a similar approach. 
Many regular service users are disabled or with long-term health conditions which stop them earning a proper wage. Paying them for the time they contribute to health and social care improvement reflects a wish to reduce this problem and value their contribution.
As the article says, this policy has now been dropped by Wandsworth LINk because it was found to be out-of-line with other LINks and difficult to implement.

Wandsworth LINk’s decision to refer NHS Wandsworth’s plans for the Battersea polyclinic hub to the Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee was the subject of an article in the Wandsworth Guardian today. 

For the full articles please see archived edition 04/02/2010 page 5 in http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?refresh=d06W9gP1sL05&PBID=47c1cbbd-4d2d-409e-8458-8703ef40dcda