Wandsworth LINk Newsletter

Join the Magnificent Seven

Seven people have signed up to be part of the Enter and View team of visitors. More are needed to cover the number of visits that may be required for the programme of visits and reports on premises where health and social care services are being used by Wandsworth residents.

Send in your application by Friday 30th October

Barbara Willerton and the LINk want to attract a diverse group of Wandsworth residents to work for users and patients, connect with them and represent their views. You will need some knowledge of health and care services either from work, volunteering or personal experience. You will get training and support and your out of pocket expenses will be paid.

All successful applicants have to go through a Criminal Records Bureau check and agree to have their names as LINk representatives published.

For more details and downloads see the Newsletter and our website or contact the LINk office at the usual address and phone number.

‘Tokenistic’ Consultations a thing of the past

Chair Jeremy Ambache intends to develop further the processes of involving people in Wandsworth health and social care consultations and make ‘tokenistic’ consultations a thing of the past.

The Newsletter talks about lots of different ways in which the LINk has made its views known in the past and the ways in which it will be contributing in future. You can click through to the full text at the end of this news item.

User Involvement Strategy & Transforming Adult Care

Two big topics are Wandsworth Council’s User Involvement Strategy and the process of transforming Adult Care. Irene Storer an LINk Executive Committee member tells us of what happened when the Council offered her the chance of a Direct Payment. Jenny Weinstein explains what is involved in transforming adult care – more control for users thanks to Personal or Individual budgets is a central message. How this is done may create problems for some users and LINk and the Council are working with a reference group of service users and carers to monitor how the project is being put into practice.

A new project and a new set of initials – IAPT

The newsletter mentions a new multi-million pound project to Improve Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). A LINk person is on the IAPT Board and will be advocating the approach suggested by local networks such as the WCEN and BME networks. For more about these organisations see the newsletter.

Click here to download the LINk Newsletter September/October 2009 (PDF, 755KB)

The full summer newsletter is now available to read here (opens in Adobe PDF).

News in Brief

Jeremy Ambache sets out the four Wandsworth LINk priorities selected out of the 29 suggestions received. Jeremy writes “It was not an easy decision for the Executive. The debate we had at the open meeting was heated and vigorous- but that is good as we had difficult choices to make.”

The four priorities are:

1. Transforming Adult Social Care
2. Health Consultations
3. User and Carer Engagement
4. Hospital Discharge and After Care.

The newsletter also updates you on the consultations on Polyclinics, news about the Springfield Developments and the response made to Adult Services Department of Wandsworth Council on their Service User and Carer Engagement Strategy. A new opportunity to participate has come with an invitation for the LINk to send a representative to the steering group for widening access to psychological therapies.

Welcome to LINkED UP for Spring 2009 – the Voice of the Users of Health and Social Care Services in Wandsworth.

The Wandsworth Local Involvement Network is a membership organisation, open to individuals and organisations in Wandsworth who want to make the local health and social care services better.

In this issue:

• A letter from Jeremy Ambache Chair of the new Executive Committees
  - Priorities
  - Lots of Ways to Get Involved
  – Write for the Newsletter
• News in Brief
  - Day Care for Older People
  - Service Users in the Driving Seat?
  - Local LINk involved in National Dementia Strategy
  - PECMAN – news from the PCT

A Letter from Jeremy Ambache, our new Chair

I was pleased to be elected to take over the Chair of Wandsworth LINk at the first meeting of the new Executive on 16th February and am very encouraged by the broad range of experiences in the user / patient movement that we now have on the committee. We will be able to put that experience to good use on behalf of all Wandsworth people who need health and care services.

A heartfelt thanks from us all to the members of the outgoing Interim Executive for their work in getting this new organisation off the ground. Wandsworth LINk was an early trailblazer and we are learning that while civil servants at the Department of Health can write all the guidance in the world, actually doing the job still holds many challenges. As a member during this time, I saw the Interim Executive facing these challenges and moving the LINk on. Thank you.

A new Executive was put in place after the public meeting in January where 12 names were put forward for the 12 vacancies. For details on who they were, see our news post of 6th January.

We are still only 10 months down the road as the statutory service user / patient / carer organisation in Wandsworth. A continuing and vital part of our development is to get well ‘linked in’ to all the many user and patient groups. If your group has an issue that you feel we need to know about and bring to the attention of the PCT or Wandsworth Council, come to us and we will see how best to add our voice to yours.

Setting our priorities
The Executive has agreed we will try to respond to issues as they arise but also to promote improvement in health and social care on 3 or 4 key priority issues over the next year. We will decide the issues we want to work on if they:

• Have an impact and lead to improved services for users and patients
• are do-able within our resources
• are of general importance with broad applicability for a particular group of users, carers and patients
• cover both health and social care

If you have any views about this please let us know if you can before March 16th. The Executive meeting in April will finalize a work plan for the next year.

Some current issues
I am encouraged by the number of requests for our involvement in the important things that are going on in the health and social care fields in Wandsworth. All these developments are opportunities for us to influence things for the better. Recently, we have been asked to contribute to the current Inspection of Older Peoples Care Services, and also to represent LINk on the South Wandsworth Project Board reviewing Health Services in the South of the Borough. This project is about reconfiguring the way primary care services such as GP surgeries are grouped as well as moving some acute hospital-based services out into primary care facilities as recommended by Lord Darzi in his review of the NHS. The consultation starts in May and we will keep you in touch with developments via the website and LINKed UP.

We are still interested in hearing from you to contribute to the exercise which assesses your local health care provider every year. For more on this see our news post on 10th December last year – ‘Do You Have an Opinion?‘

Get Involved
There are lots of ways that you can be actively involved with LINKs. For example, we need to be able to respond to requests for LINks to be involved in a range of health and care issues. When you joined, you had a chance to tell us on the registration form what your interests were. We may well be contacting you at short notice to help out when the issue is one you have told us you are interested in. If you want to advise us of any new interests, let us know at the contact addresses at the end of the newsletter.

Get Into Print
Another way to contribute is to be a contributor to the Newsletter. Our new Editor Jenny Weinstein wants to hear from you if you want to write and have things to say to the LINks community. Jenny can be contacted through the LINk office – details below.

I look forward to getting to know and working with our members. I’d like to hear from LINks members and from patients, social care users and carers in Wandsworth on any issue in the health and social care fields. You can email me:

Jeremy Ambache
Chair Wandsworth LINk
office@wandsworthlink.org.uk

P.S. Encourage your friends and family to join as members of Wandsworth LINk.

LINKed Up News in Brief

Service user Involvement
A consultation process on a strategy for engaging service users in the proposals for transforming Adult Care Services in Wandsworth has been approved by Wandsworth Council. The proposals are at an early stage and the Director of Adult services, Dawn Warwick is keen for LINK to be involved in further developments.

Day Care for Older People
Wandsworth Council agreed in February to undertake a comprehensive review of Day Care provision for older people in the light of Government Directives to promote independence and choice for older people. A consultation involving all stakeholders will take place over the next 6 months and the LINKS Primary and Social Care sub-group will ensure that the views of older people are taken into account.

Service users in the driving seat?
Users will be in the driving seat – making their own choices and decisions explained Dawn Warwick Director of Adult Services in Wandsworth when she spoke to representatives of the Wandsworth Mental Health Network on the way Adult Services are to be transformed with, for example, one third of eligible service users receiving a direct payment or individual budgets to purchase a personalised package of support to meet needs that they themselves will identify.

Voluntary sector workers and a service user responded to what Dawn had said with their concerns on a range of issues such as the absence of a systematic (not tokenistic) approach to involving users in the new developments, the lack of a community development infrastructure to support the preventive aspect of the strategy and the slow progress in addressing serious problems of inequalities in relation to mental health services for BME communities.

National Dementia Strategy – LINk to be involved locally
A new Government Strategy to improve services for people with dementia and their carers was published in February 2009.

570,000 people in England have dementia and the number is set to double over the next 30 years. The Government acknowledges that current services are patchy or even non-existent and many people are left to manage on their own causing distress to patients and a huge burden on family and neighbourhood carers.

The new Strategy consists of 17 objectives which include: good quality diagnosis and early intervention for all, improved access to care, support advice and information following diagnosis, improved support for dementia sufferers and their carers living in the community and better standards of care for people with dementia living in care homes and hospitals.

LINK members will be involved in the development and implementation of this strategy in Wandsworth. More information: Living Well with Dementia: A National Dementia Strategy www.dh.gov.uk

PECMAN
Andrew Craig’s latest report from what we have called the ‘engine room’ of health delivery in Wandsworth can be found on the LINk website under Resources – Health & Social Care. If you want to know more about commissioning competencies – how the PCT was approaching this and what an external panel thought of its achievements so far take a look at www.wandsworth-pct.nhs.uk/about/WCC/default.asp (PEC and Board papers are available at www.wandsworth.nhs.uk For further information about Board meetings which are held in public contact Sandra Notridge on 020 8812 7740 or e-mail at sandra.notridge@wpct.nhs.uk )

One general point emerged very clearly from Andrew’s commentary on the meeting – how important it will be for the PCT to work with users of health and social care services to make sure that the changes proposed are understood. They need Wandsworth people to go with them on this journey of change and transformation in the way our health services are to be delivered. The LINk will be on board for the whole trip.

CONTACT US

If you have any enquiries (or news/information) for the Wandsworth LINk please contact us (click here for our contact details).

Welcome to our official newsletter – LINkED UP Issue 2

In this issue:

• Partners in Participation – action and information needed
• More about the LINk sub-groups – views and comments requested on Diabetic Clinics at St Georges Hospital and Patient Transport at that hospital
• Website – what you said you wanted and how the website was improved
• Up and coming public meetings in December and January – your choice to take part in the election for the new Committee.

PARTNERS IN PARTICIPATION – action and information needed
The Interim Executive hosted a day on 10th November with potential LINk partners from the principal health and social care delivery organisations in Wandsworth. The success of the Wandsworth LINk will depend in large part on establishing effective relationships with these bodies that deliver the health and social care services Wandsworth people need.

This was the first meeting and so unsurprisingly, there were more questions than answers. The LINk needs to know who is doing what to avoid duplicating effort and we asked all the commissioners and providers of services to provide us with a list of committees and groups they currently supported and worked with in the areas of health and social care. Can LINk members go to them?

SUB-GROUPS AT WORK
The last newsletter mentioned that we had set up sub-groups to look after and push forward specific aspects of the LINk’s work. What have they been up to?

The Resources and Governance Sub-Group looks after the money and the way the LINk is run, making sure that the Host body that services the LINk Executive Committee is working the way the Committee wants and how the Committee and the sub-groups themselves are using the resources available to them. The topics on their agenda covered how often they met, the budget for the year and how expenses should be reimbursed.

The LINk will work to a Code of Conduct which will be published on the website.

The Secondary Health and Social Care Sub-Group met for the first time on 28th October and set itself its Terms of Reference which make clear that the sub-group’s remint is what happens to you when you go to hospital. The group has already identified six areas where action now could bring the LINk some quick wins. For the full list click here for the Sub-Group meeting minutes.

They include in particular concerns around Diabetic Clinics at St Georges Hospital and the provision of patient transport again at St Georges. The SHSC sub-group will be working with the hospital volunteers and former members of the now disbanded Patients’ Forum to look at the situation and report back. We will also be liaising with Kingston LINk to see if they are looking at this also. The St Georges patients’ group is reviewing transport now and the sub-group is looking forward to seeing what they have to say.

• Your views please
  Please give us any views you have on the two issues above (email us or post a comment on our website and they will be passed on to this group and help decisions about how best the LINk can follow through on these topics.

You can find all the details in the document B4 – Wandsworth LINk Sub-Group Structure (part of September’s meeting agenda files).

If you are interested in contributing to the work of any of these sub-groups, please contact Simonne Reid (email simonne@wandcareall.org.uk or telephone 020 8696 1709). Many of you indicated a general interest in these issues when you filled out the member questionnaire and this is a chance to join in on a particular piece of work.

NEW! IMPROVED! WEBSITE
Upgrades to the Wandsworth LINk website are complete – we hope you like the end result – more information about the changes and improvements are described here.

Look out for the event calendar which will let you see at a glance upcoming events and meetings.

Also on the website:
The latest report from the Professional Executive Committee (PEC) of Wandsworth Primary Care Trust, and a summary of Careline’s news about social care and health services from around the borough

HEAR ABOUT YOUR LINk – UP & COMING PUBLIC MEETINGS
Come to a meeting on Monday 15 December 2008 between 6 pm and 8 pm at York Gardens Library, Lavender Road, SW11 2UG. At this public meeting, the people who have been running the LINk since it started in June this year will tell you what they have been doing as members of the Interim Executive since they were elected in June this year.

• The Work Done
  The LINk have established working relations with the commissioners and providers of health & social care services in Wandsworth and is reaching out to all the many voluntary organisations and groups that exist in the Borough and are actively involved in health and social care. Changes in health and social care provision are now taking place which will affect many service users and their families and carers.

• Ask Your Questions
  All this will be reported to the December public meeting and there will be plenty of opportunity for LINk members to comment and ask questions and put forward suggestions for the coming year.

The second public meeting will be held on Monday 19 January 2009 between 6 pm and 8 pm at Earlsfield Library, Magdalen Road. This meeting will elect a new Executive Committee to take over from the Interim Executive.

• Stand for Election and Cast Your Vote
  You will be eligible to stand for election if you have signed up as a LINk member by 12 noon on Monday 5 January 2009. That is also the closing date for receipt of nominations for election to the Executive Committee. You do not need a proposer or a seconder – you can nominate yourself and fill in the statement in support of the nomination and declaration of interest. Nomination forms and the election procedures can be viewed on November’s meeting agenda page.

If you need any information or assistance completing the nomination form or with voting arrangements, please ring the office on 0208 696 1709.

Please encourage your friends and neighbours to sign up as members of LINk so they can help improve health and social care services in Wandsworth and please encourage them to attend both these public meetings.

NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK
We want to know what you think of the newsletter – what do you want to see in the future? Also we are very open to deciding the main priorities and directions of our work. What should we be looking at first? Tell us what messages you would like us to carry on your behalf to the powers that be. And if you want us to publish something from you in the Newsletter, either email or write to us, or post a comment at the bottom of the newsletter on our website.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome to our first official newsletter – LINkED UP.

In this issue:

• The Healthcare Commission’s Annual ‘Health Check’ on our local health services?
• What members want from Wandsworth LINk;
• Introducing LINk sub-groups and
• Wandsworth’s Health Profile

THE HEALTHCARE COMMISSION’S ANNUAL ‘HEALTH CHECK’ ON WANDSWORTH
How are our local health services performing in Wandsworth? The answer is just a click away if you want to see what the Healthcare Commission’s annual “health check” has to say about the standards achieved by primary care trusts, hospital and mental health trusts, and private health facilities including hospices, all in and around Wandsworth. This link www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/homepage.cfm will take you to the start page, then just enter your postcode to pull up everything in your area (or type in “Wandsworth” to see the PCT’s results on their own).

Each page has many more “clicks” that take you to more detail and reports that can be easily printed off. The Healthcare Commission’s summary about the PCT said

“Based on our assessment for 2007/08, and for the third year running, Wandsworth Primary Care Trust continued to provide an adequate quality of service to patients. It has been good at managing its finances and has made continued improvements over the last two years. The trust was not one of those chosen to receive an inspection over the summer. In a recent survey of trusts in England, patients rated this organisation as ‘satisfactory’ in terms of their overall experience.”

WHAT MEMBERS WANT FROM WANDSWORTH LINk
Wandsworth LINk currently has 215 members, and should continue to grow steadily. Do you remember completing the registration form when you signed up? In it, we asked questions such as what are you interested in and how do you want to hear from us?

• 98% say that they want the newsletter as an email.

We will be sending LINkED UP out about a week after each of the meetings of the LINk Executive Committee so that you can keep right up to date with what is happening and have a chance to comment on discussions while they are fresh.

How do members want to be involved with Wandsworth LINk? (They could choose more than one answer):

• 95% answered “receive regular information about LINks work e.g. Newsletter”
• 76% answered “Attend events to find out about health and social care issues”
• 63% answered “Take part in consultations, polls, workshops or focus groups”
• 33% answered “Receive training to become an authorised person to take part in official visits and inspections to health and social care premises”
• 15% answered “Become a volunteer for LINk (e.g. Helping with LINk administration in the LINk offices, staff support meetings, newsletter publishing)”

The LINkED UP newsletter will keep you informed about all of these activities, and this first issue will take its cue from what you said and introduce you to the work we have completed so far and have planned.

So if you want to let us know if there are things you want the LINk to look into or want to participate, then get in touch with the LINk team - we give the contact details at the end of the newsletter.

THE GOAL OF WANDSWORTH LINk
A Word from Stefan Kuchar – the Chairman of the Interim Executive of the Wandsworth LINk

“Since the first meeting on 17th June this year which put in place the Interim Executive, we have been looking at making the Wandsworth LINk – one of the first in the country to get going – the sort of body that really can make a difference in the quality of health and social care services. We need to
know how best to work on the Executive itself and with all those bodies that make up the networks of organisations whose views and experiences we will be drawing to take to the powers that be to get change and improvements for users.

This is the purpose of the Local Involvement Network – a network of organisations and people in Wandsworth who will take the views and experiences of patients and care services users to go to the bodies who provide your health and social care services and ask “can this be made better?”.

We have met on four more occasions since the first meeting in June and you can see the detail of what was covered at each of these meetings by going to our website – www.wandsworthlink.org.uk/. The meeting agenda and minutes are found under the ‘Resources’ section on the page LINk Meeting Minutes.

INTRODUCING SUB-GROUPS
I want to draw your attention to one particular development which will give you a chance to offer your help and participation in specific areas of the LINk’s work – the creation of 4 sub-groups.

• Resources and Governnance – how we run ourselves and look after the money and other resources
• Communication and Participation – to set up truly two-way communication and get people to engage and participate with our work
• Primary Health and Social Care – to look at the issues arising from the care you get outside of hospital
• Secondary Health and Social Care – to look at what happens in hospitals and the Mental Health Care Trust and carry forward the work done by the Patient Participation Forums that were in existence before the LINk was set up.”

You can find all the details in the document B4 – Wandsworth LINk Sub-Group Structure (this file is also found on the website with the September meeting agenda files). If you are interested in contributing to the work of any of these sub-groups, please contact Simonne Reid or telephone 020 8696 1709).

WANDSWORTH HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PROFILES
For those of you who really want to get into the facts and figures of health and social care, take a look at
Wandsworth’s 2008 Health Profile (this link opens in Adobe PDF). We have already mentioned the Healthcare Commission ratings for this year. The organisation that looks at the social care side put out a report on Wandsworth in October last year which you can see at http://www.csci.org.uk/care_provider/councils/star_ratings/wandsworth.aspx . Wandsworth got a two star – promising – rating. You can see the Council’s reaction here.

More news and information about health and social care services can be found on our website under the ‘Resources’ section of the website. The most recent updates are Andrew Craig’s reports from the Professional Executive Committee (PEC) of Wandsworth Primary Care Trust (the PCT) which commissions all health services in the borough.

NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK
We want to know what you think of the newsletter – what do you want to see in the future? Also we are very open to deciding the main priorities and directions of our work. What should we be looking at first? Tell us what messages you would like us to carry on your behalf to the powers that be. And if you want us to publish something from you in the Newsletter, either email or write to us, or post feedback via the website here.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Best wishes
Jason Edgington and Simonne Reid

The Wandsworth LINk Host Team