York Council seeking “community health champion”

 

ElderlyAs part of work to support residents in their communities and empower people to get involved in healthy activities, the council is inviting residents to apply to be a community health champion.

The Council says that a ” community health champion is a volunteer, who with training and support from the council can help improve the health and wellbeing of their families, communities or workplaces by:

  • Motivating and empowering people to get involved in healthy activities
  • Creating groups to meet local needs
  • Directing people to relevant support and services.

As part of a pilot scheme, community health champions will work closely with City of York Council’s Public Health team and raise awareness of health messages amongst communities, support older people and help to create supportive networks and environments for residents, making a real difference to their lives”.

For more information on this opportunity visit www.york.gov.uk/volunteeringopportunities,call 01904 553377 or email yorwellbeing@york.gov.uk.

Separately local residents groups have been told about another project.

Local Area Coordination

0511-0908-1722-5910_Black_and_White_Cartoon_of_a_man_Helping_His_Elderly_Father_clipart_imageThe Council says that “Local Area Coordination is an internationally recognised evidence-based approach to supporting people as valued citizens in their communities. It enables people to pursue their vision for a good life and to stay safe, strong, connected, healthy and in control.  As well building the skills, knowledge and confidence of people and the community.

Local Area Coordination supports people who may feel vulnerable due to age, frailty, disability or mental health needs.

City of York Council will be taking forward the programme in York and shortly be recruiting  three Local Area Coordinators to work in the following areas: Tang Hall, Westfield and Huntington & New Earswick. The Local Area Coordinators will take time to get to know you, your family/ carer and community.

If you would like to find out more and are interested in getting involved and making Local Area Coordination a success in York please come to one of our informal community awareness raising events shown below”.

  • New Earswick Folk Hall – Monday Feb 6th 4 – 6pm
  • Acomb Explore Library – Thursday Feb 9th 5 – 7pm
  • Tang Hall Community Centre – Friday Feb 10th 4 – 6pm

“It will be fine to drop in but to enable us to plan the sessions please contact Jack Derham on email jack.derham@york.gov.uk to register your planned attendance.

If you have any queries please contact Joe Micheli, Head of Commissioning (Early Intervention, Prevention and Community Development) on 01904 554477 or joe.micheli@york.gov.uk “

At there moment there is little substance to the plans.

There are no fact sheets indicating the scale of the problem, no indication of how success will be judged and no targets.

What precisely the workers will actually do on a day to day basis has also yet to be defined.

However, anything that can be done to combat the isolation felt by vulnerable people in our community is welcome and we hope that the Council will quickly refine and explain their plans

 

 

 

Garden maintenance scheme failure angers York tenants

Path overgrown

Path overgrown

Council tenants entitled to free garden maintenance have been angered by delays in cutting back overgrown vegetation this summer.

The Councils housing department offers  a free gardening service for elderly or disabled council tenants who have no-one else to help, cutting grass five times and hedges twice between April and October (weather permitting).

The scheme has run for many years but periodically it seems to fall behind schedule causing substantial inconvenience for some of its vulnerable clients.

This summer we have seen one example where an elderly tenant, living in the Foxwood area, complained on five occasions that her garden was becoming overgrown and unsafe.

Following an admission to hospital, upon her return home a few weeks later, she found that the access path was overgrown – a potential hazard for the less nimble – while weeds had started to overgrow the windows.

Window engulfed by weeds

Window engulfed by weeds

Local councillors have pledged to follow up individual complaints but it seems that basic contract supervision arrangements – and complaint handling systems – have badly let down several vulnerable residents this summer

NB. The garden maintenance contract was awarded to Oakdale NE Ltd in June 2014.  The two year contract was estimated to be worth £140,000.

Dignity Action Day tomorrow

City of York Council is reinforcing the importance of treating customers receiving care and support services with dignity by supporting Dignity Action Day (Sunday 1 February).

Dignity Action Day is the brainchild of The Dignity in Care campaign, which aims to put dignity and respect at the heart of UK care services.

National Dignity Action Day aims to ensure people who use care services are treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.

Dame Joan Bakewell, Dignity in Care Ambassador said: “Dignity Action Day highlights a more respectful way of behaving towards vulnerable people. The very old and the very young clearly need our respect, but it wouldn’t do any harm to spread the dignity message across the population then we can all benefit.”

The ‘Ten Point Dignity Challenges’ are:
1.Have a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse.
2.Support people with the same respect you would want for yourself or a member of your family.
3.Treat each person as an individual by offering a personalised service.
4.Enable people to maintain the maximum possible level of independence, choice and control .
5.Listen and support people to express their needs and wants.
6.Respect people’s right to privacy.
7.Ensure people feel able to complain without fear of retribution.
8.Engage with family members and carers as care partners.
9.Assist people to maintain confidence and positive self-esteem.
10.Act to alleviate people’s loneliness and isolation.

Meals service for elderly to be restored at Gale Farm Court

Meals at Gale Farm Court will be restarting in January following pressure from residents and new Westfield Councillor Andrew Waller.

Gale Farm Court Affected by meals decision

Gale Farm Court Affected by meals decision

The new service will be supplied via Age UK (formerly Age Concern) with freshly made meals being prepared daily.

The Council announced in September that it was scrapping the lunchtime meal option at its sheltered establishments. The move was heavily criticised for lack of consultation and it later emerged that the cost saving measure had been prompted by criticism of the quality of food provided by the previous contractor.

The Council hoped to save £50,000 by cutting meals services at its elderly persons establishments

Residents had thought that the Council were negotiating with other supplers and were stunned when the decision to scrap the service was made on 3rd September.

Despite appeals the meals stopped on 1st October – leaving residents too little time to appoint another supplier.

The Labour Cabinet member (Cunningham–Cross) refused to reply to Andrew Waller when he wrote, on behalf of residents, to ask for an extension to allow enough time for a new system to be worked out.

Andrew Waller commented

“The new meals have been chosen by the residents, and they are pleased that the Council no longer manages the contract.

 Instead they are now in control and can take problems up directly with John O’Brien who is running the meals system.

It is sad that the Council treat residents of Gale Farm Court (and the other three sheltered homes run by the Council) so badly, and I hope that lessons have been learned for the future.

The Council has admitted to me that the situation was badly handled.”

The  incident has parallels with the muddle over the future of the  Castlegate centre for young people. There the Council was forced to reverse a closure decision earlier in the week and admitted that it had failed to consult properly on options.

Disabled scooter riders seek dropped kerb on Martin Cheeseman Court

Disabled residents living in flats in the Martin Cheeseman Court area have asked the Council to provide a dropped kerb.

Location of proposed dropped kerb

Location of proposed dropped kerb

At present those elderly people, who rely on battery powered scooters to get around, have difficulty getting off the footpath.

Cllr Andrew Waller has been asked to intervene and ensure that a dropped kerb is added to the forward works programme.

More revelations on withdrawal of meals service for elderly

The York Council has admitted-  in a response to a Freedom of Information request – that it did not formally consult on ending the mid day meal service at its sheltered accommodation units.

 

Gale Farm Court Affected by meals decision

Gale Farm Court Affected by meals decision

Instead any discussions centred around the quality of the meal on offer.

The cut was implemented on 1st October.

The Council has also blamed officials for the decision to end the meals service which it is intended will save £50,000 a year.

They say that the Labour Cabinet approved the budget cut but implementation was delegated to council officials.

The FOI response can be read by clicking here

Liberal Democrats are pressing for the meals service to be restored and have pointed to the £30,000 a year being spent on the empty Oliver House home as one source of alternative funding.

If the Liberal Democrats win the Westfield by election it is also likely that the number of £20,000 a year Cabinet posts will be reduced from the present level of eight.

 

£68,000 Big Lottery grant makes musical connections with York’s older people

Hundreds of older people in York will be able to take part in a stimulating and inclusive music project thanks to a £68,252 award from the Big Lottery Fund.

City of York Council has been given the two-year grant to roll out the Musical Connections Project – which currently runs in the authority’s seven elderly person’s homes – to residents living in sheltered housing accommodation, together with their local communities.
(more…)

Council still spending £30,000 a year on empty elderly persons home

Call to reallocate money to save mid day meals for elderly

Oliver House York

Oliver House – the former old people’s home in Bishophill – is still standing empty.

It has now been empty for 30 months following the closure of the home in April 2012.

A sale would mean that, not only will the Council no longer be responsible for the £30,000 annual maintenance and rates costs, but a substantial capital receipt of over £500,000 could be expected.

In December 2013, the Council finally decided to put the property on the market. With the recession easing it was expected that the prime site would quickly be snapped up by housing developers.

However we understand that it could be another month before offers are finally invited.

Meanwhile the Councils decision to cease the mid day meal services for residents living in some of its sheltered housing units continues to attract criticism.

The council says that it needs to save £50,000 a year on the service.

It seems that it has a ready solution to its budget problems.

However, prompt action is now needed.

Bid to help senior citizens who are set to lose lunches

Gale Farm Court residents offered hope by Andrew Waller

Gale Farm Court

Gale Farm Court

Andrew Waller has stepped into the controversy surrounding Labours decision to stop lunch time meals at Gale Farm Court.

Andrew is trying to involve local cafes and the library in providing an alternative service.

He comments

“Residents have asked for the quality of their meals to be improved so that there was a greater take-up and costs could be controlled. Some even raised that issue with the council leader in the Community Conversation on 13th February.

Little did they know that by raising dissatisfaction with the quality of their meals that this would result in the council axing the service”

Numbers taking the meals at Gale Farm Court had dwindled due to poor perceived quality and value for money from the current provider, with some residents often getting different food to what they had offered. Some residents have not had a choice to cook for themselves due to their personal circumstances, and this is a huge let down for them.

Meeting together for meals was an effective way to reduce isolation which has been highlighted as a problem in the local area by a number of agencies including the Joseph Rowntree Trust.

Attempts had been made through Acomb Alive! to engage with local Acomb cafes and restaurants to provide alternatives which were more popular – there was a trial on 13th July with a local provider which was well supported by residents.

The expectation was that this was going to be developed to provide a range of meals which better met resident’s demands, with support for local businesses being a mutual support.

Instead there may now be too little time to sort this out which is very disappointing.

A more open process should have been adopted from the beginning and yet again residents are left feeling that decisions are being made behind closed doors forced as a result of the poor spending controls of the current council”.

York Council cuts meals for elderly

Lunch off menu at Gale Farm Court, Barstow House etc

Elderly

The Council is stopping  serving of lunch for residents in its sheltered accommodation units.

Potentially all sheltered units are affected and letters have gone out today to affected tenants.

Although the Council claims to have consulted about the planned withdrawal of the service, in reality most residents thought they were being told about changes to how the meals would be provided.

The termination of the service therefore comes as a shock.

It is partly a legacy of the social care budget scandal that became public earlier in the year.

The Cabinet member with responsibility for the service lost her job at that time but now it seems that vulnerable elderly people are the ones who will suffer.

The social side of the mid day meal is particularly valued by many residents of sheltered accommodation who otherwise can become isolated in their own flats.Behind closed doors logo

The decision appears to have been taken behind closed door. There was no public discussion about the options available to the Council and affected residents.

Earlier in the year concerns were raised about hygiene standards at some care homes in York

Sheltered units with extra care  in York include (click for details)

  1. Barstow House
  2. Gale Farm Court
  3. Glen Lodge
  4. Marjorie Waite Court