possibilities into realities

Transcription

1 mirus Edition 1 Spring 2014 possibilities into realities love is in the air! In every edition of our newsletter, we are going to publish our favourite photo of the quarter. This time it s the lovely picture of Myfanwy with her partner, Damien. Myfanwy said: Damien and I met at college many years back and became great friends. We started dating and Damien asked me to become engaged and I accepted. We are going to have a holiday and then start looking for a place to live together before we get married. All of us at mirus wish you the very best! hello and welcome It s been a while since we ve published a newsletter, but with all the good news and important developments at mirus, we re pleased to be back. The newsletter will come out quarterly and is one of the ways in which we can tell you about all that s going on within the organisation. It will feature the people we support, staff and a variety of other important people like trustees and volunteers who help make up our team. You can also visit our website for news and follow us on If there s anything you d like to contribute to the newsletter - by giving us stories or photographs - just let us know by ing NeilY@mirus-wales.org.uk or by giving Neil Yates a call on Happy reading! Mandy Evans, Chief Executive

2 making things better! From time to time, making things better means we need to receive complaints. When we receive complaints we endeavour to put things right and improve things for the future. One way we are making it easier for people to understand how to complain is by making a video to explain how to make a complaint. The video will be shown to the people we support and to our staff. We ll also be putting it on our website. Jess takes charge It s always encouraging to see the people we support take steps towards independence. A great example is Jess who decided not to rely on medical support for her daily injections. She said: When I moved into my new home I had to stay in for the Community Nurse to come and administer my injection. Sometimes they were late arriving and I had to rely on my mum or dad to do this for me. I didn t like this because it meant I missed out on some of my activities, which I didn t think was fair. We spoke to the Community Nurse and they showed me how to self administer my medication. At first I was a little frightened and my mum and dad were very worried, but because of the planned approach to risk, we were all reassured. We I feel a great sense of achievement and control in my life that I didn t have before. I don t have to rely on anyone and this has given me more self confidence, it has changed my life. knew that it would make things easier and give me independence, which is what I wanted. Jess added: My link worker wrote up the risk assessment, guidelines for all the staff team to follow so everyone knew in how best to support me.

3 happy 50th Mike! We were thrilled to see Mike have the 50th birthday bash he d always wanted. So, what are you planning for your 60th Mike? It was held at the Glamorgan Wanderers club in Ely, Cardiff. Mike wrote and posted invitations to his colleagues, friends and family, inviting them to join him at a buffet and disco. He also arranged the DJ and the chose the playlist of music for the evening and bought gifts for the raffle. Mike had a surprise birthday cake in the style of a Cardiff City football club shirt! Mike said: I had the best time ever! He thanked everyone on the microphone for joining him in his celebration. Janet s new IPad! Janet has bought herself a new Ipad and she loves it! For Janet who has a visual impairment the great thing about the tablet is that she can hold it close to her to watch films, and musicals in particular. Janet is really enjoying the IPad and particularly loves a music app. The app accesses a xylophone, which she likes to run her fingers along, and hear the different sounds it makes. She clearly loves it we can tell by the way she pulls it closer to her laughing and smiling, while the music is playing. The tablet has become an important part of her evening and weekend routine. The next thing on the to do list is helping her choose more apps to download.

4 P is for participation! Participation has always been important to us at mirus and in recent years, we ve really upped our game and participation is the focus of everything we do. Officially, we call it our participation structure. Put simply, that means creating an environment which enables people to come together and tell us what is important to them. regional participation groups We re delighted to have regional participation forums in all the areas where we support people and there s also a dedicated group for those we support in respite care. Depending on the number of people we support in each area, we attract between 5-30 individuals at these monthly meetings. Going forward, we will be working with People First in all the regions. They have agreed to facilitate all the local participation forums which is great news! Thank you People First and our participation co-ordinator, Rachel Stinchcombe for all your efforts! Jo s group Selected representatives from the regional forums, then go on to represent their area at Jo s Group. Jo s Group meets every three months to allow representatives from the regions to feedback directly to our trustees. why do we meet? To discuss what is happening and tell people in my area To talk about things that worry us To make new friends To get mirus more noticed To speak up for people To represent people with learning difficulties To help more around our community To have a better life To make complaints To make a difference To make decisions To have an opinion To make sure that people are doing their job properly To help explain any changes To help people in my area have a voice To take back any information from mirus

5 so who is Jo? Jo is our way of thinking about everyone supported by mirus When we come to meetings we are not just speaking for ourselves We are thinking about everyone supported by mirus Jo could be a man or a woman young or old They are always supported by mirus We always need to think about people other than ourselves when we make decisions at the meeting so we think about Jo! We ask ourselves how would Jo feel about that? and what would Jo want? the impact it s had. We ve discussed all sorts of topics at both the regional participation forums and Jo s Group. Some of the successes have been: Getting information, which really helped us create the content in our service user survey. This enabled us to ask more of the right sorts of questions! Hearing concerns about local transport provision. As a result, we were able to help the people we support in approaching Powys County Council about public transport Receiving feedback on the changes in the way we staff our service. Now we have an even clearer idea of what staff changes really mean to the people we support meeting at the commission As a result of our work on participation, two of the people we support Neil Parsons and Andrew Thompson met with the Older People s Commission for Wales. The event was organised by All Wales Parents and Carers Forum. The chair of Carers Forum is mirus trustee, Pauline Young. The main topics of discussion were; Making people safe Making sure people are well cared for A focus on a good quality of life The Minister will be presenting the findings of the review to the assembly in July. The meeting with the older peoples commission for Wales

6 a bronze award We are absolutely delighted to announce that we have achieved the prestigious Investors in People Bronze Accreditation. It means we are now part of an exclusive group of UK employers who have gone beyond the standard Investors in People accreditation. Positive feedback from our report included; The way we try to improve things The attention we give to recruiting new staff The focus we have on learning and development The way we talk to each other and how we do our best to keep everyone engaged. There were some recommendations for us to consider around how we use quality indicators, how we celebrate success, how we use IT and our models for formal consultation. We were also acknowledged for the many examples of how well staff showed dedication to their work and the beliefs they uphold. We will use the bronze review report to inform and improve our HR policies and practice. Kay Williams, HR Director said: We are so pleased to hear this feedback and achieve this recognition for mirus. It is one of our proudest moments. Jacquie brings home gold! We couldn t be more proud of Jacquie who brought home two golds from the Special Olympics GB National Games. She represented Wales at the incredible event, which brought together more than 1,700 athletes from England, Scotland and Wales competing in 12 sports. Jacquie said: I was entered in the aquatic event, winning two gold medals for 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle. I had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the weekend. I also came 4th in the 4x50m relay and 6th in the 100m freestyle. My family and staff are very proud of me. I ve been supported to go swimming regularly and the training paid off! I hope now that I will be selected to take part in the Special Olympic World Summer Games in Well done Jacquie an incredible achievement!

7 out and about Engagement visits give our leadership team the opportunity to spend time in the homes of people we support to have informal conversations both with them and their support team. We capture feedback from these visits to capture views on the service to feed into our quality and improvement processes. Currently four trustees and five members of the senior management team are undertaking the engagement visits. Following one of his recent visits, one of our trustees, Mike Jorgensen, said: Paula and Mike are clearly very dedicated and committed to providing a good quality of life for the three gentlemen they support. This was a heartwarming visit for me. staff engagement day We re also pleased to say we recently held a very successful staff engagement day. In the region of 100 members of our team took part from across all our departments. It was held at Churchills Hotel in Cardiff. The purpose was to gather as many staff together in one place at one time in order for everyone to have an input into our staff engagement planning. The feedback we had was really positive and we re looking forward to the next engagement event in June. Donna s baptism Donna lives in Aberystwyth and has been receiving support from us since October She is a keen churchgoer and decided that she would like to get baptised in her local church. It was something we were pleased to support her with. Donna says, The girls who support me at my house are all helping me to become more independent. With the help of my case manager and the congregation, I attend the weekly church service on my own. The staff support me to get to and from church but I stay unsupported as a regular member of the congregation. I feel that getting baptised was the best decision I ever made.

8 learning and development at mirus It s vital that the mirus workforce is equipped with the skills and knowledge to support people to the very best of their ability. As a result, we have a dedicated learning and development team whose job it is to support all our staff to grow in their role. One of the key things the learning and development team manage is support a rigorous induction process which covers the following areas for all employees: A personal induction programme A learning needs assessment An audit of previous learning and skills A focus on preferred learning styles A learning agreement A person-centred profile Hands on mentorship A learning log to reflect an individual s progress This process means we create not only a framework for induction, but also a basis from which to support staff in their ongoing professional qualifications. The team has also developed a core learning programme for all support staff and enhanced learning programmes reflecting the individual support needs and aspirations of people we support. In the last quarter, another 15 of our team have achieved Level 2 / 3 care qualifications and a further seven have achieved Level 5 leadership and management qualifications. Congratulations to you all! volunteer for mirus We are gearing up for Volunteers Week in June to promote our volunteer initiative to anyone thinking about volunteering with us. The volunteering initiative is new for us and has come as a result of a number of people we support asking for help with building friendships. If you ve not thought about volunteering before, maybe now is the time? It s a great way to use your life skills and experience to do something wonderful by befriending someone with a disability. If you re 18 or over, drop us an to volunteer@mirus-wales.org.uk You ll be amazed to find out the difference you can make. dates for your diary 4-11 May Deaf Awareness Week May British Sandwich Week May Dementia Awareness Week 1 June The Big Lunch 1-7 June Volunteers Week 9-16 June Carers Week 9-15 June National Men s Health Week June Adult Learners Week June National Falls Awareness Week June Recycle Week June Deaf Blind Awareness Week Head Office & Cardiff Office Library Court, Fairoak Road, Roath, Cardiff CF24 4PX Tel: us at: NeilY@mirus-wales.org.uk follow us on Volunteer today! Give Someone your time Develop your skills and experience Full training provided Volunteer expenses paid Use your skills and experience to make a difference. m For more info: Tel: (Cardiff) Tel: (Bridgend) volunteer@mirus-wales.org.uk Visit Designed by John Garland tel: