Mystery shopping’ survey rates council’s Adult Social Care services as ‘excellent’

City of York Council’s frontline customer contact teams in adult social care have been rated as being ‘excellent’ overall by an independent survey.

The mystery shopping report has praised access to social care advice, information and services as ‘excellent’, which is the highest available. The rating was only awarded to two of fifteen local authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber area, meaning York is among the best in the region.

The mystery shopping survey was carried out on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humberside Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, with representatives posing as customers contacting the adult social care team.

Between November 2016 and January 2017 the assessment tested telephone, website, face to face, through the main council reception, out of main office hours services to seek advice on a range of issues.

Out of the six channels assessed, three were rated as ‘excellent’ and three assessed as ‘good’. The website, safeguarding access and out of hours services were rated as ‘excellent’ with reception, face to face and telephone services being rated as ‘good’.
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Cars set to chat to each other on Holgate Road

York has been selected by the government’s Department for Transport (DfT) to trial new technology that could revolutionise the way we manage traffic flow and digital technology in vehicles in England.

The DfT announced today that City of York Council (CYC) was successfully awarded a share of £2million funding from the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems grant (CITS) to lead on this special project.

The £300k funding will be used to gather research, intelligence and data in York over a two year period from April.

The aim of the trial is to demonstrate that the new technology will improve traffic flow, congestion, road safety and online connectivity.

The trial in York will focus on the A59 corridor from the Park & Ride site to Holgate Bridge. It will start by using location data collected from vehicles monitored by company INRIX Ltd, which monitors traffic flow across Europe, and are one of the project’s partners to trial better phasing of traffic signals.

In later stages, parts of CYC’s fleet and other vehicles will be fitted with communications to allow them to ‘speak’ to traffic signals along the A59. The trial will also provide the commercial partners in the project from across the country with the opportunity to showcase their products here in York.
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Police desk opens at Acomb Explore library

In our survey last year, 85% of respondents said that the opening of a “police desk” at Acomb Library was a high priority for them.

Well it looks like we’re half way to getting one as the police announced today that regular drop in sessions will be held.

 “Police in Acomb are taking their front counter services into the community with a new service designed to interact with more people”.

New scheme to help Acomb residents stay safe“Keeping safe community drop-in” events will be held at Acomb Explore on a weekly basis to help more members of the public access crime prevention advice and information.

In a new pilot scheme that will run for three months, local people will be able to access crime prevention and personal safety advice, details of how to sign up to the North Yorkshire Community Messaging system to receive alerts about crime and incidents in their area, or simply have a chat.

The scheme will be evaluated after the pilot, and if the results are positive, it could become a permanent service and may be introduced in other parts of York and North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Police’s Citizens in Policing Coordinator Manager, Natasha Almond, said: “Acomb police station office is open to the public on a part-time basis thanks to our Police Support Volunteers, however, the service is underused and people rarely call in.

“So if people aren’t coming to us, we want to take our services to them. We have great support from our volunteers who are willing to provide this service in their own time. My thanks go to them for giving up their time and to Acomb Explore for their enthusiasm and help with this service.”

Fiona Williams, Chief Executive of York Explore, added: “Libraries are safe spaces in communities where everyone is welcome and we are looking forward to working more closely with north Yorkshire police to build a more resilient community”

The “Keeping safe community drop-in” will be running every Friday between 24 February to 19 May 2017 from 11.45am to 1.45pm. Call in and say hello.