Connecting Older People. Annual Review

Transcription

1 Connecting Older People Annual Review

2 Chair s Report This year covers my first year as Chair and I welcome you to read about how we have touched the lives of older people in West Sussex during the year. It has been an eventful year, with significant changes in the commissioning arrangements by the County Council following grant reductions by government. All contracts are being retendered, which as with most other voluntary organisations in the County, has a significant effect on the sustainability of our services. We did lose the contract for our Good Neighbour Befriending project which was a real blow but given the skills and expertise we had built up in this area over the years we decided to carry on with an unsubsidised home visiting service. The blow was mitigated financially by successfully tendering for the WSCC Home from Hospital service and extending our Help at Home projects in partnership with other local organisations; these are going from strength to strength. We are also actively tendering for other services, and are beginning to build our capacity to undertake such tenders regularly. We have taken time this year to review our key areas of work in the light of changing expectations by older people, national legislative changes and their impact on commissioners. We have confirmed our commitment to our current projects, whilst increasingly expecting them each to balance their budgets without subsidy. We continue to focus on reducing loneliness and the lack of social connectedness of older people through all our services, not least running five major activity centres that are becoming local community hubs and in reducing financial exclusion for people with our debt and benefit advice. We have also agreed to explore the development of a paid for personal care service, which would be a significant new area for us, although closely allied to current services. Finally I wish to thank my fellow trustees, our staff team led by Diane and all our volunteers without whom an organisation like ours could not hope to succeed. It is their efforts and commitment which justify the trust which so many people in West Sussex place in Age UK as an organisation. John Dixon Chair of the Board of Trustees

3 Customer Statistics Average Age: 78 Female: 71% Male: 29% Living Circumstances 5% 36% 59% Living alone Living with spouse Living with family or carer Age UK West Sussex has dealt with over 1,800 benefit enquiries leading to 756,000 in benefit entitlements for older people in West Sussex Age UK West Sussex has served over 17,000 lunches including on Christmas Day We have helped to reduce a debt by 21,000 for a single older person We have received over 750 enquiries for domiciliary and other personal care We have had over 2,200 attendances at our chair based exercise classes We have had over 1000 attendances at our computer classes including digital photography and family history groups Age UK West Sussex has had over 400 attendances at our specialist exercise classes to help with preventing falls We have provided over 1500 hours of cleaning and other domestic support to customers across Sussex In the first 3 months of running, over 125 people were helped by our Home from Hospital Service

4 Connecting from home Ken and Lucy came to us because Lucy has dementia, in the early stages, but she is rapidly declining. She had been turned down for Attendance Allowance by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). They came to our office so we could help them appeal this decision. One of our managers lead the review while one of our support workers shadowed her to gain an understanding of the appeals process as part of her career development. In discussion with Ken and Lucy they told us they lived in rented accommodation and had a bad leak in their boiler. After several months and several visits from a plumber the situation was not resolved. Ken, who has some physical disabilities, was having to empty a bowl of water every day from the airing cupboard, which was unacceptable of course. We called the landlord, within four days after several calls, the boiler was mended. Lucy s appeal was successful and she was eventually awarded Attendance Allowance. It was a long battle with the DWP, we had raised errors and points of law with them. Once this was successful, we went on to help them get carers allowance. Although the award was made by the DWP, they did not actually pay it. This came to light when we helped them address their outstanding debt, so we chased it up and a back payment of 1,388 was made. We are now helping Ken and Lucy with their debts and had managed to get 1,535 written off by 31 March 2014, because of Lucy s dementia diagnosis. We are also assisting Ken to try and get an increase in his DLA as his carer needs have increased. Total benefits awarded in this year were 7, Ken told us the difference our help made to their lives. He said you have helped to take the stress away from us, I am now able to look after my wife. We have bought a new three piece suite, we have never had a new three piece suite in our lives, we have also bought a new light weight vacuum cleaner, as we could not lift our old one. In addition to all of this we signposted them to the Carers Health Team who have helped them access some money so they can have a holiday together, which they haven t done in years. The Carers Support Service has also paid for a podiatrist to visit once a month. So a very positive outcome.

5 Connecting away from home Bill, 74 poked his head into the Tamarisk centre about a year ago, he was very quiet and hung about a bit. Sally, the volunteer in reception, realised he was a new face and offered to sit down with him over a cup of tea to find out what had brought him in and tell him what the Tamarisk had to offer. It turned out Bill had had a very nasty car accident and was recovering from a brain injury which made speech difficult and he couldn t do a lot of things he did before the accident. His passion was chess and he could still play very well. There is a chess club at the Tamarisk and Bill came to give it a try. Jessie his wife, drove him in and enjoyed the few hours free time this gave her knowing Bill was happy in the chess club. After a few weeks, Jessie would come back to have lunch with Bill and his chess friends. On one visit, she saw adverts for the beauty therapies on offer and booked herself a facial and to have her nails done. They have also signed up to the Help at Home service giving them a subsidised cleaning service to take some of the pressure off Jessie s carers role. They are both regulars at the Tamarisk now, enjoying making new friends and joining in most of the entertainment sessions as well as their regular activities. Bill s speech has improved much faster than expected by his doctors too!

6 Volunteer Story Clare, in her forties, rang the manager of our community club project and very diffidently asked if she could help. She had more time on her hands as the children had grown up. After meeting with her, the manager had concerns that Clare was so shy she may not be able to mix well. However, her experience of bringing up three children and caring for her mum who had been poorly for a long time showed she could cope, but the outside world had receded for her. She certainly did not have the confidence to find a paid job. Our manager s judgement proved right; she started out as a kitchen assistant at one of the lunch clubs and completed her food hygiene and first aid courses with flying colours and now a year later, runs the kitchen when the chef is away. More importantly she now entertains the older people at the centre with family stories and listens to theirs with total confidence. Clare has recently taken on a part-time job but still comes every week to volunteer for Age UK.

7 The Board of Trustees who served during the year were: John Dixon (Chair) Robert (Joe) Ashton Dennis Goodwin Robert Page Leonard Barnett (Chair of AWS Enterprises) Marianne Coldman Frances Russell Dave Turner We also benefit from nominated members representing District and Borough Councils across the County. The Senior Managers employed during the year were: Diane Henderson Chief Executive Ray Kaveney Head of Finance Lynda Ryan Head of Community Support Services Kim Fleming Head of Activities and Wellbeing (from 2014) Jacqui Parfitt Head of Development (left AWS 2014) Tracy Taylor - Beck Head of Day Services (left AWS 2013) Our professional advisers are: Solicitor: Thomas Eggar Belmont House Station Way Crawley RH10 1JA Bankers: CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ Accountants & Auditors: Jones Avens Piper House 4 Dukes Court Bognor Road Chichester PO19 8FX Age UK West Sussex is a registered Charity No, Suite 2, Anchor Springs, Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 6BP. T E admin@ageukwestsussex.org.uk W

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