SOS: Sheltered Outreach Service. Helping older people stay independent and at home

Transcription

1 SOS: Sheltered Outreach Service Helping older people stay independent and at home

2 Raven SOS stands for sheltered outreach support. The friendly SOS team, part of Raven Housing Trust, provides a support service for you if you are an older person who wants to remain living independently in your home. We can provide the service for as long as you need it. You don t have to be a Raven resident as the service is open to anyone meeting our criteria. We can help you with all kinds of things, such as: getting some help with daily care so you can stay independent in your home using services such as benefits and health advice: for example, helping you contact the citizens advice bureau, Age UK, adult social care, GPs and other community healthcare agencies taking up a new hobby making links with Raven s local sheltered schemes, providing: access to facilities such as communal lounges and computers using local resources such as community and sports centres, libraries and adult education classes access to sheltered scheme activities, events and outings using a computer so you can understand and access the internet. We ll arrange our visits and calls at a time suitable for you, whenever we can. About Raven Raven set up SOS in 2011 because we thought the services we provided to older people in our sheltered housing schemes in the Reigate & Banstead area could also benefit older people who don t live in sheltered housing. Raven is a charitable Industrial and Provident Society. It is registered as a social housing provider with the Homes and Communities Agency, the independent regulator for affordable housing in England. 1

3 Contacting us for help - and what happens next You can apply to SOS direct - just call us on or raven@ravenht.org.uk. When you apply to or are referred to SOS, we will try to meet you to carry out a needs assessment as soon as possible. Sometimes we may not be able to do this quickly because of pressure on our service. If so, we will try to phone you to make an initial assessment of your needs. We will then put you on a short waiting list for your area. Your place on the waiting list will depend on how urgent your needs are. You can phone the office to find out where you are on the waiting list and get an estimated waiting time. If we think your case as urgent, we will arrange to meet you as soon as possible. If you are in a crisis, we will try to provide some short-term immediate help. Our full SOS service includes recording and monitoring your needs in a written support plan. How we assess you Two of our SOS team will visit you for an initial meeting. They will discuss your situation with you, ask questions about your needs and ask for background information. They use these details to check whether our service is right for you and find out where we can help. After the meeting, we will write to say whether and when we can start to provide the service. If you are unhappy with our decision, you may appeal in writing, giving your reasons to Raven s housing manager for supported housing and lettings. 2

4 Raven How is the service funded? If you get Housing Benefit, the service may be paid for you. If you don t get Housing Benefit, you would need to pay for the service yourself. There is a weekly charge and we would send you a bill for this every month. However, if you have a low income we can meet you to find out whether you may qualify for other funding for this service. Call us to find out how much we charge for this service. How do I contact my SOS officer? Your SOS officer can be contacted by phone or . Our SOS officers are based in Raven s sheltered schemes in the Reigate and Banstead area. About our standards: our promise to you We are committed to providing a high-quality service in our day-to-day work. We promise to: act in a friendly and professional manner support you to stay independent arrive on time and tell you in advance the name of the member of staff visiting you carry identification respect the confidentiality of any information you give (we provide an information exchange consent form for you to sign) respect people s differences, including age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, and gender reassignment tell you how we can support you within seven working days of carrying out an initial assessment involve you in planning and reviewing the service we give seek feedback from you on how we can improve our service treat any complaints you make seriously and try to resolve them satisfactorily. 3

5 If you feel we are not meeting these standards, or that we should change them, please speak to your SOS officer or write to us. What are our policies and procedures? Our policies and procedures govern the way we work and may be relevant to you. Below is a summary of some of the policies that may be relevant to you. You can get a full copy of any of them from your SOS officer. We welcome any comments or suggestions you may have about them. Confidentiality policy Our confidentiality policy sets out the principles and guidelines we follow about using and storing sensitive or confidential information. It explains when we can and cannot pass on information about you to other individuals or agencies. It also describes our staff s responsibilities for storing your information safely. Raven is registered as a data user and computer bureau under the 1998 Data Protection Act. You have the right to view information we may hold about you, and to have any wrong information corrected. Safeguards ensure that we store any sensitive information we keep securely. We may exclude from these safeguards any information provided by an external party. If you wish to see any information we hold about you, please make a written request to the sheltered housing manager. There will be a small charge for this. Equal opportunities and diversity policy Raven is committed to giving all our customers equal opportunities to benefit from the services we give, regardless of their needs. We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination. 4

6 Raven Safeguarding adults and children policy Everybody has a right to be protected from all types of abuse. Staff must maintain suitable professional boundaries and relationships with all SOS customers. Our procedures provide guidance to staff and customers, which define abuse. They include what staff must do if they suspect or witness abuse, or if they have been made aware of suspected abuse. If you would like a copy of our safeguarding procedure, please ask your sheltered outreach support officer. If you feel you have suffered abusive behaviour from a member of SOS staff, please let us know in complete confidence, or make a complaint as detailed below. Complaints procedure If you feel you have good cause for complaint about an aspect of SOS or its services, you may choose to make an official complaint. We ask that you first consider using informal ways of raising your concerns, such as discussing the matter with your sheltered outreach support officer or sheltered housing manager. If you remain dissatisfied, you can use the complaints procedure. It outlines the various options available to you. It also sets out times by which SOS must respond to your concerns. Please ask for a leaflet from your sheltered outreach support officer. Abuse and aggression towards staff policy We do not tolerate aggression, violence and abuse towards staff by the people we support. Staff will report all violent and abusive incidents to their manager when they occur or as soon as possible afterwards. Anyone who acts violently towards staff may be reported to the police. If there is aggression, staff will immediately call for help or the police. Staff will try to defuse incidents wherever possible. But their first priority is their own safety, the safety of other staff and the person we support. 5

7 If a member of staff is attacked, they are allowed to use minimum reasonable force to defend themselves. We will consider taking formal action, such as legal action, against the person concerned. However, follow-up work with the person being supported will also take place to reduce the risk of it happening again. Professional boundaries Our staff and customers are likely to come into close daily or weekly contact with each other. We encourage staff to have a friendly, respectful attitude towards customers, but it is important that the relationship stays on a professional basis. We will not discriminate against any individual or group. We will never use language that is likely to give offence, such as racist and sexist terms. We must ensure our words and actions do not cause nuisance or harassment to others. Staff will never take to their home or a relative s home any customer, or develop friendships outside their duties. Staff will not bring their relatives or family members into a customer s home. Staff will never make any private financial arrangements with a customer. They must not accept gifts. Please refer to Raven s code of conduct and the sheltered team s professional boundaries procedure. Copies of these are available on request. How you can get involved, if you want to We want you to be involved in SOS and how Raven manages the service. We welcome your ideas and views on the service and how we can improve it. Please write to us or call your SOS officer with any ideas. We send out survey forms to help us understand how we can improve what we do. Your feedback is very important to us and we welcome it. 6

8 Raven Contact us The SOS service is based at: Raven House 29 Linkfield Lane Redhill RH1 1SS Call us on or Customer Charter Our Customer Charter sets out the standards of service you can expect from us. You can pick up a copy at any of our offices, or download a copy from our website, We can provide this leaflet in audio, large print and other languages. Please let us know what you need. Raven Housing Trust Raven House, 29 Linkfield Lane, Redhill RH1 1SS Telephone Raven Housing Trust Limited is a charitable Industrial and Provident Society, registration no R, and is registered as a social housing provider with the Homes and Communities Agency, registration no. L4334. September 2015 This has been printed on environmentally friendly paper which has been sourced from managed forests and is totally chlorine free. Printed on a revolutionary waste reducing Anicoolor press, using vegetable oil based inks throughout.