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Local Engagement round up
Safeguarding Community Reference Group
With Safeguarding week happening the week 20th November, the group is working together in preparation in delivering informative sessions with each day having it’s own theme:
- Monday – Making Safeguarding Personal
- Tuesday – Hidden Harm / curiosity
- Wednesday – Financial abuse
- Thursday – Exploitation
- Friday – Healthy relationships
Other Living Options Engagement
NHS Quality and Equality Impact Assessment (QEIA) Focus groups: This group is meeting to ensure that new and current services are meeting the needs of the most vulnerable communities by being able to understand what their biggest barriers are that is preventing them from being able to access health and care services. Once understood the barriers, the QEIA can help tackle this need, this could include focusing on services within hospitals, community based support or GPs.
Adult Social Care Quality Standards Review Co-production Task Group: This group meets monthly with members including diverse lived experiences that work with Adult Social Care Team at Devon County Council (DCC) to ensure that annual reviews are meeting quality standards. The group has agreed that annual reviews need to centred around :
- Communication - accessible/easy read/what happens next/point of contact/how to ask questions.
- Choice - face to face or remote meeting/different options/awareness of review questions in advance.
- Authentically person centred - being listened to/being heard/meaningful/ feeling safe to have an open discussion.
Commissioning Involvement Group: The group met with DCC’s Digital User Research Team where they spoke about and explored the online experience for customers. Key topics that were discussed with the group included:
- Their experience of seeking help and support from Devon County Council
- How you want to find information about the help and support we offer.
- How you want to be able to apply for help and support.
Some consistent feedback from the session is that the information provided online needs to more accessible and accurate.
Carer Ambassadors (CA)
The CA report was read and gone through with JEF members. Anxiety is remaining high for Carer’s as they are concerned when Carers services will be cut, the lack of access of dentistry for vulnerable people and the health of carers due to lack of consistent support.
Hikmat and BAME involvement
Continuous work in engaging with several communities by organising trips to the including a trip to a religious festival event that happened late June. Hikmat attended the respect festival which was a big success, with over 20 different ethnic communities being represented.
Hikmat are trying to make make ethnic minorities issues heard and keep interest of community concerns a topic of discussion.
Learning Disability Partnership Board (LDPB)
Work is being done with support from Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adult Partnership to plan an event for National Safeguarding Week.
Updates were given on:
Bus Pass – The chair of LDPB is meeting with the Deputy Director of Transport Operations and Environment Waste later this month to discuss this further and they will give an update at the next JEF.
Health and Social Care Group (HSCG) – There has been 3 HSCG meetings since the last JEF, the group has been involved with discussion around Treatment Escalation Plans by meeting with a learning disability liaison nurse and heart doctor, meeting with User Research Manager to discuss ways to contact DCC easier and HSCG members contributed the design a feedback form for someone who has recently had an review.
Learning Disability Friendship Groups
The friendship group continue to meet 6 times every month, they have a strong core of regular members while others try to attend where they can dependent on other commitments or work; however new members are always welcomed to join as this has been a great source of peer support for each other.
Topics that have been discussed at friendship groups include: safety online, health, transport, health checks, supported living, GP liaison nurses and their role, volunteering for People First projects, police engagement with members, being a carer for family member, funding for local community groups.
One of the Friendship Group members were given good support by an LD champion in their GP surgery.
Oliver McGowan Training
Pilot sessions are being set up to run until March 2024. There will be 3 people running the sessions consisting of an experience trainer, an autistic person and someone with a learning disability. Recruitment is still in process for people to be involved.
Healthwatch Devon
JEF members have been asked if they could share their experiences with pharmacies for example getting vaccinations as some concerns with some are closing in Sainsburys and would like to know the impact it is having.
There has been appointed 2 new service coordinators that will be dedicated in engagement.
A report was shared with JEF members that was focused on cost of living, the most reoccurring theme was around primary care access.
Co-production Group
The co-production working group has been busy with various projects including:
- National Co-production Week 3rd-7th July
- House of Lords Report – A “gloriously ordinary life’
- Co-production workshop at SW AHP Massive event at Sandy Park
- Spreading the word of co-production
The co-production working group got highlighted in the House of Lords Report called “A gloriously ordinary life” talking about the working they have been doing in Devon. (Please a brief summary of the report below)
“The council highlights the number of ways they ensure disabled adults, older people and unpaid carers can have their say. Adult Social Care engagement within Devon is coordinated by Devon’s Involvement and Equality Team, based within the adult commissioning part of the council. They work in partnership with Living Options Devon as holders of a contract to provide local engagement activities and undertake some activities themselves. The council also commissions Healthwatch Devon, the local statutory consumer voice organisation and works with the County Council’s independent Equality Reference Group.”
Peer Review Challenge
Introductions were given by the Peer Challenge Team where they gave both professional and lived experiences. DCC Involvement team attendees left the meeting leaving both Peer Challenge Team and JEF members alone where they could discuss freely how they feel DCC’s engagement is and if there were anyways in which it could be improved.