Age Concern and Help the Aged : Yorkshire and Humber Region
Age Concern Federation Activities and Services Audit Questionnaire
Name of Activity/Service / Forget Me NotType of Activity/Service / Advocacy and Befriending including:
· Home visiting
· Telephone Befriending
· Promoting the Hungry to be Heard campaign in hospitals
Year Established / 2004
1) Status of Activity/Service
a) Is the activity/service run in partnership/collaboration? / Yes
Please give details of partners.
· Hull College – Service Level Agreement
· Children’s University
· Hull Royal Infirmary
2) Reasons for Activity/Service
a) What are the reasons you run the activity/service?
Please give reasons, including details of any research.
The service was ‘inherited’ from Hull Advocacy Forum which closed and approached AC Hull to pick up this service.
3) Aims of Activity/Service
a) What are the overall aims of the activity/service?
· To reduce isolation and prevent loneliness
· To promote dignity in care – food in hospital
· Develop the skills of volunteers
· Raise awareness of issues which affect older people (with students)
· Provide volunteering opportunities for a wider range of people including those with disabilities who are unable to participate in other
services
4) Outcomes of Activity/Service
a) What are the outcomes of the service?
Please give details of the benefits to users of the activity/service.
· Health benefits – prevention of and overcoming depression
· Helping people to eat in hospital leads to earlier discharge
· Intergenerational work: college students in hospital + Children’s University students writing to lonely older people (in the process of development).
· Has resulted in the recruitment of BME Befrienders and this is helping to promote the I and A service in these communities
5) Delivery of Activity/Service
a) Who delivers the service?
Paid Worker(s) / Yes / How many? 1
Job title(s)
Project Co-ordinator, Advice and Befriending (30 hrs pw)
Volunteers / Yes / How many? 40
What roles do volunteers have?
· Home visitors
· Telephone befrienders
· Hospital visiting
Others (e.g. paid tutors) / Yes / No / How many?
What roles do these people take?
n/a
6) Funding the Activity/Service
a) How is the activity/service funded (e.g. local authority, trust,)?
Hull City Council – Service Level Agreement
b) What is the current level of funding for running the activity/service?
£21,384.86
c) Does this level represent full cost recovery?
Yes
d) What is the unit cost for this service?
n/a
e) What is the ideal level of funding to run this service?
More than this – the SLA has not changed for 3 years
7) Promoting the Activity/Service
a) How is the activity/service promoted?
Please give details of how you promote and raise awareness of the activity/service, for example, posters, leaflets, advertising.
· Networking with other agencies
· Website
· Training
· Posters
· Leaflets
· Events
· Word of mouth
· Via other AC Hull services
b) Do you record how effective each of the various ways of promoting the activity/service are? Yes
c) What are the three most common ways people get to know about the activity/service?
1. Events / networking
2. Via Volunteer Manager
3. Leaflets and signposting via I and A
8) Accessing the Activity/Service
a) How do people access the activity/service?
Please give details of referral streams and ways people access the activity/service.
· Referrals from other AC Hull services e.g. I and A
· Family / friends
· Self referral
· GPs and other health workers
b) Do you record how effective each of the various ways of accessing and/or referring on to the activity/service are? Yes
c) What are the three most common ways people access and/or are referred on to the activity/service?
1. Referral by others (AC Hull and family / friends)
2. Self referral
3. NHS.
9) Service Users
a) How many people access the activity/service? / 155 at present
b) Are there criteria for who can access the activity/service? / Yes
If yes, what are these?
· Aged 50+
· Lonely and in need of support
c) If demand exceeds capacity to deliver, how do you prioritise who accesses the activity/service?
This has not risen to date but if it did the needs of the service users would be prioritised.
In extreme circumstances it might be necessary to reduce the number of visits / calls
10) Service User Involvement
a) Are service users involved in designing the activity/service? / Yes
If yes, how?
Mainly via the volunteers who have regular meetings and reviews so are in a position to feed back information from service users.
The Co-ordinator meets with service users and volunteers on introduction
There is the possibility of setting up a steering group for this service which involves volunteers. The Service User completes a feedback form.
b) Are service users involved in monitoring the activity/service? / Yes
If yes, how?
· Telephone contact with service users
· Reports from hospital experience
· How is the service user doing reports.
11) Measuring Outcomes
a) Do you measure the outcomes of the activity/service? / Yes
If yes, how (for example, do you use specific performance indicators)?
· Monthly figures
· Documentation for volunteers – sent out to fill in then is used in supervision
· Meetings with service users and volunteers
12) Quality Assurance
a) Are there any formal quality standards for this activity/service / Yes / No
If yes, please give details.
· Investors in People
· Quality Counts
· SLA with Hull City Council
One sheet to be completed for each activity/service