Chief Executive Officer’s ReportMay - June 2011
Compass Disability Services Core Activities
I feel I must start this report with Disability Somerset as it consumed the whole organisation in the lead up to the event on the 19th May. What a success the event was, which can only be put down to the professionalism and commitment of the organising staff and those who supported on the day. Both visitors and exhibitors feedback has been very favourable and although the event made a loss against budget this was only in the area of staff time and I had always been aware that this maybe the case in the first year. Michelle and Steven will be producing a full event evaluation which will enable us to make a decision on continuing it in the future.
The second biggest event of the period in terms of publicity and promotion was my attendance at “The Hardest Hit” rally in London on the 11th May organised to raise awareness and pressure the government on the implementation of changes that will affect disabled people. During the event I was in contact with Greg in the office who was regularly updating Twitter and Facebook on the events of the day.
I have met with other voluntary sector organisations to explore working together in more detail. In the first instance I have met with the two carer’s organisations in the county, this was a very positive meeting and Rachel and I will be producing a paper and proposal to come to the board in the near future. I have also been working with four other CEO’s from large voluntary sector organisations in Somerset, again to look at working closer together in response to Somerset County Council’s (SCC) Active Lives work programme, I will bring a proposal to the board in the near future regarding this work.
Service Development
We have had some positive meetings with contractors during this period mainly regarding the Hub which will be updated further below and our work with NHS Somerset regarding Personal Health Budgets. NHS Somerset have been very complimentary about the work we have undertaken and are looking at other possible areas to extend the project with our involvement.
We have spent a lot of time in this period tidying up systems and procedures within the development department whilst we waited for full confirmation of the Transition Fund. Now that we have the first payment of the Transition Fund in the bank we have been able to develop a work plan for the project that will give us key milestones for activity over the next year.
The development of our Health and Social Care Network website is well underway. The working title for this project and its web address will be “Care Matters with the strap line “discussing care matters because care matters”. We are looking to launch the site in July.
Our brokerage website which will be called Compass Know How (Giving you the know how in a personalised world) is also well under construction.
Forthcoming Activity
As mentioned above there will be a flurry of work connected with the Transition Fund over the forthcoming months and we are also keeping ourselves aware of some other potential big funding opportunities that we know are in the pipeline. We are entering the holiday period but we are aware of the potential onslaught of tendering opportunities that will present themselves at the beginning of September.
We are continuing to work with Wiltshire Council on the development of their new service specification for 2012 and will also be meeting with the Wiltshire Centre for Independent Living to discuss our positions with regards to the forthcoming tender.
Funding & Tendering
Alison Millet has confirmed that they have set aside 25k from Adult Social Care Learning & Development monies for the Hub group.
The first half of the funding from the Transition Fund approx 62K has been received.
An Application has been made to the Health & Social Care Volunteering Fund for £40,702 to recruit a volunteer coordinator and build an online volunteering website/database. Potential volunteers would undertake a skills audit and general information survey online to find out what volunteers would like to offer, how much time they give and when. This information would then be fed into an online database. Disabled people would be able to access the online database to see if there is anything that would match their requirements or where there maybe mutual social interests. Applicants will be informed of the outcome in August.
Quality Management
All of the newly introduced systems, including the Version Control Log, Internal Audit process and Complaints and Negative Feedback systems are starting to bed in.
The Version Control log needs to be reviewed, governance documents need adding and it needs to be crossed checked with the internal Audit Log to ensure that all relevant documents are diarised for auditing.
The Finance department in particular have found it hard to keep on top of their auditing responsibilities due to the pressures of their ever increasing banking service and payroll commitments. It is hoped that the employment of a Finance Apprentice will ease these pressures and enable the department to maintain the quality control systems
Michelle’s time has been substantially limited by Disability Somerset; however concentration on maintaining the momentum of our quality systems is a priority over the next period.
Complaints and Compliments
5 negative feedback reports have been made in this period, 1 relating to an exhibitor who did not hear about Disability Somerset until the last minute, 2 relating to tax queries from payroll users, 1 relating to confusion over banking service statements and 1 relating to the comfort of the Mendip room. 1 complaint was also received that required investigation as Somerset Care and repair complained that SCC and Ridgeway claimed that they were no longer in business at the Sedgemoor Disability Forum. All of the above have been actioned appropriately.
Project Reports
Compass Equality Network (CEN)
We have recently received information from NHS Somerset that the funding that we thought would be available for this year’s Equality Forum may now not be forthcoming. Richard and Nat are presently in discussion with NHS Somerset regarding this.
Nat attended the NHS Somerset Equality and Diversity Steering group meeting on 24 May in Yeovil where we mostly discussed the new Equality Delivery System and transition period that the NHS find themselves in. Nat is due to attend the NHS Somerset Patient and Public Involvement and Communications Steering Group meeting at the end of June; our attendance at these meetings may need to be reviewed if the funding for the Equality Forum is not going to materialise (attendance at the meetings was included in the contract).
Compass Disability Network – Somerset (CDNS)
Sedgemoor District Council (SDC) Disability Forum (SDC funded)
The most recent meeting of this group took place on 8th June at Victoria Park Community Centre in Bridgwater. A discussion took place surrounding the plans for a new swimming pool and new Tesco store in Bridgwater with Teresa Harvey from Sedgemoor District Council. Angela Farmer from Sedgemoor also updated the group on the situation with EDF and the proposed Hinkley C power station. Ridgeway Care and Repair and Sedgemoor District Council provided an update on Disabled Facilities Grants and the new Home Improvement Agency in the area. As we are now carrying out four meetings per year instead of two, we asked attendees to contribute towards lunch this time or gave the option of brining their own. It is difficult to say after one meeting if the numbers were affected by this. In total 25 people attended and 19 contributed towards lunch. The average attendance in 2010 was 33 at each meeting and in 2009, 35 people. We need to monitor this over the course of the remaining meetings and decide if we should continue to do this in the next contract year.
The next meeting will take place on 15th September at St Andrews Church Hall in Cheddar. The Councils annual budget consultation and local community safety will be on the agenda. We are also in the process of discussing with the various benefits agencies how to obtain their involvement in the November forum in Burnham on Sea.
Taunton Deane Disability Discussion Group – 4 Meetings per year funded by Taunton Deane Borough Council.
We have now received our funding from Taunton Deane Voluntary and Community Grants Fund to continue to fund this year’s discussion group.
The next meeting will take place on 28th June where there will be a chance for people to give their views on how the council should spend their budget over the next 3 years and the how to make services fairer for disabled people. Ridgeway Care and Repair and Taunton Deane will give an update on Disabled Facilities Grants and their services. We hope to have speakers from Housing and Citizens Advice at the September meeting.
SCC (SCC Service Level Agreement funded)
Transport
So far we have not received any further instruction from Jane Newell at SCC regarding the transport consultation event we have pending. Once we receive a date from them we can go ahead with this.
Update Accessible Venues Database
Steven will shortly be starting work to update the information held on the SCC website and our own database regarding accessible venues. We will be writing to each organisation listed to invite them to update their details.
Other Compass Disability Network activities
As a result of the distribution of the Networker to all Livewire recipients last month, 226 slips were returned from people wishing to receive the Networker of these 64 requested more information on the network. 4 Associates were added from the returns as well.
Membership information will be sent out with the June edition of the Networker. We have now created a separate project for those wishing to receive just the Networker.
Network Enquiries
1 enquiry was received in the period;
Regarding concessionary bus passes and the fact that they had been refused one. Suggested contacting A4E or Citizens Advice.
Membership
Current Membership 735
No. of members deleted in Apr / May – 8 in total, details below;
1 – Moved Away
2 – Deceased
7 – Personal Reasons
As a result of Disability Somerset, there has been an increase in the number of individual members and associate members. The total number of associate members now stands at 129 compared with 114 at the end of March.
Compass Disability Network – North Somerset (CDNNS)
41 completed questionnaires were returned for this project’s first membership evaluation, that’s a return rate of 15%, which is slightly disappointing as almost 300 were distributed. However most of the comments were positive with a few points of constructive criticism thrown in too. One member even sent a cheque for £10 as an expression of his gratitude and appreciation of the Networker! Nat is just finalising the evaluation report and it will soon be uploaded to the intranet.
Richard saw one of our main contacts from North Somerset Council at an event recently and he confirmed that there is no funding presently available for the project, which of course is disappointing, however we are ever hopeful that we may be successful in finding some grant funding that would enable us to maintain a stronger presence in this area.
Wiltshire Direct Payment Support Service (WDPSS)
Sara has been spending time with the team visiting Service Users with the DPA’s to gain an understanding of the service that we deliver and attending the team meetings.
Referrals numbers during April and May totalled 18 and we are now 17 % through the year and referrals are at 10% this means we are slightly under contracted numbers to date that we will monitor going forward.
The team have all attended Employment Law training via Fish insurance which will be useful in their role when advising Service Users employing PA’s
Other Project Work
NHS Somerset Personal Budget Pilot
At the Personal Health Budgets project group meeting in June, we received feedback from commissioners, they are impressed with the excellent Support Plans for continuing health care and how they are tailored to the individuals needs helping to keep people home for longer.
We have achieved all of the Stroke numbers and we have been asked to carry out an additional two referrals.
NHS Somerset are considering how Personal Health Budgets can be made available to end of life care and long term conditions. The general consensus from NHS is that Compass Disability Service are delivering an excellent service and are keen to continue to work with us going forward.
Somerset Adult Social Care Learning and Development Hub
Richard, Sara, Rachel & Nat met with two members of staff from SCC’s Learning and Development team on 10 May. We were very pleased to learn that they have several pieces of work they wish the Hub members to get involved in and have set aside a budget for this to be undertaken.
The next Hub meeting is taking place on 15 June and we are looking forward to asking members which pieces of work they wish to be involved with. At the moment there are three main pieces: developing a 1½ hour session for an away day with Adult Social Care staff (based on the governance workbook that Hub members inputted into previously); developing an induction day for new members of Adult Social Care staff, to be run twice this year (September and March); and getting involved with the learning sets – which are groups of social work and OT students that come together for peer support and learning.
The Voice & Influence Project
6 Champions attended a workshop on the 12th May 2011 to find out the different ways in which they could get their voice heard in Parliament on issues that were important to them. The group learnt how parliament worked, what it has the power to do and what it can’t do and how to get MPs to take up your case. It was a great workshop, easy to understand and very informative! Feedback from all those attending was extremely positive. Naomi Kent a Parliamentary Outreach Officer for the South West of England facilitated the workshop.
Apprenticeship Project
Of the original four apprentices, one was deemed unsuitable after the first week of employment and therefore the recruitment process was restarted and the new apprentice has been found and employed. One other decided that the post was not suitable for them and again the recruitment process has been restarted.
The second report is due to be sent to Skills for Care in July.
Meeting rooms
Bookings in the meeting rooms have been slow since the start of April, only managing about 50% of available days. Our existing customers are still our main source of business, with only a few new bookings. The feedback we receive from the meeting room evaluation forms left at each place setting continues to be very positive, many commenting on how good our service is
ExmoorNational Park
Nat attended a consultation event at ExmoorNational Park offices in Dulverton, to help shape the new ‘Partnership Plan for Exmoor; 2012-17’. It was an interesting event and whilst there Nat learnt of a Disability Awareness Day they are planning that Compass Disability Services has been invited to be a part of.
Promotion and Publicity
Disability Somerset: The publicising of the Disability Somerset exhibition led to the organisation gaining extensive coverage on radio, in newspapers, websites, newsletters and e-bulletins.
As they were due to attend the event, BBC Radio Somerset provided Disability Somerset with excellent publicity in the run up to the event. Disability Somerset also gained pre-publicity in many of the local media outlets, including the Somerset County Gazette, Bridgwater Mercury, Somerset Guardian and their associated websites.
It also gained an event listing in the Your Somerset newsletter, which is produced by Somerset County Council and delivered to every household in the county.
A paid for advert appeared in Disability Now magazine for a negotiated rate, and the event also appeared in many third sector organisations and associate members also included the event in their newsletters and e-bulletins,
The organisation also engaged in many other marketing activities to publicise the event, including distributing posters, flyers and programmes to doctor’s surgeries across the county, erecting roadside banners and posting details on Facebook and Twitter.
These activities result was an excellent turn out for the event.
BBC Somerset’s attendance at Disability Somerset resulted in some excellent live coverage on the day, and an article about the event also appeared on the BBC Somerset website.