Minutes from the Craven and Harrogate Local Area Group Chain Lane Community Centre, Knaresborough Friday 23rd January 2015 Introductions Tony and Sam opened the meeting and thanked everyone for coming. Everyone introduced themselves and Sam explained the traffic light cards. They explained what the local area group does for the new people attending the meeting. Minutes from the previous meetings checked and accepted. Co- Chair Voting and new Terms of Reference for groups There was a discussion about the process for the election of Chairs and Co Chairs for the various vacancies in North Yorkshire. Sue explained the current position and said that the application forms and other paperwork for this will be available soon. All completed forms will be returned to Sue. Sue said that there had been a misunderstanding about when the forms would be ready as it had been agreed to send this information out in January and not before. 1
Sue reminded people that the process for elections had been agreed and passed by the Board in the new Terms of Reference. Social Care Transport Sam told the Partnership Board that people were complaining about social care transport but nothing was taken forward. Sue suggested raising the issue again and writing a letter to North Yorkshire County Council about the concerns raised. Sue will let Karen know the contact name for the person who deals with County Council transport. Sue also suggested that each Local Area Group could put this item on their agenda to see if this is a countywide problem. Changing Places Toilets Dawn said that she had put a display in 80 High Street to raise awareness about the changing places toilets in our area. New leaflets and posters are being prepared by Jill Mollon and will be distributed to all the areas of North Yorkshire when they are ready. Jackie reminded everyone that there is a changing place in Starbeck Library. Health Update The Flagging system in Harrogate Distict hospital was discussed in the group. Some people made comments that this isn t always working as well as it could be. It was agreed to flag these issues in the Health Task Group on 3 rd Feburary. 2
Care Act Sue confirmed that the Care Act is available in easy read format. A query was rasied about the audio version of the Care Act. It was agreed that Karen would make the audio version of the Care Act. Supported Employment The Social Care Pathway for supported employment was discussed in the group. Helen Abba told us that the Supported employment team look at peoples skills and training needs to find out what support they would need. They can help people to find voluntary or paid work, help people to apply for jobs and prepare people for interviews. The team also work with employers to help them make reasonable adjustments if these are needed. Leisure/Respite/ Day Services update Jackie gave us an update on the day services in Harrogate. She said that all the people who use the day centre in North Park Road, have a Direct Payment. Although this service is closed now, no one has lost a service and these people now do other things with support. 3
Safe Places Updates Sue gave an update on the North Yorkshire Safe Places. The Task Group is writing a set of rules and guidance for people when they ask for a Keep Safe Card and Wallet. There will also be a set of rules for venues and organisations that agree to be a Safe Place. George McIntyre has agreed to help to check this information. All Safe Places will receive a pack which will include the widget symbol for a Safe Place that will be displayed in a prominent place on the window of their premises. Police/Hate Crime Updates Sam said that the police cells in Skipton police station are closing down from 1 st April. He said that the nearest police cells would be Harrogate, York or Lancashire. Sam explained that the police said that Airedale Hospital would be used for anyone who has a mental health problem if they need to be in a place of safety. It was agreed in the meeting to write a letter to Julian Smith (MP) explaining the situation about Skipton Police Station and to raise the issue with the Partnership Board. 4
Request for funding for leaflet Self advocates from Harrogate explained that they had given training recently to art makers at Henshaws arts and craft centre. This training was about rights and responsibilities. During the training some people said they didn t know what to do or who to ask for help if they were told they couldn t do something. The Harrogate self advocacy group wanted to put a bid in for funding for a leaflet to help people understand what they could do if they felt they weren t being listened to. Karen explained more about the funding the group wanted to ask the Partnership Board for. First of all this funding bid needed to be agreed by the Local area group. After a vote, it was agreed that the funding bid could be sent to the Partnership Board for their comments. Information for the Partnership Board The group decided that we should raise this information at the Partnership Board: Concerns about social care transport Closure of police cells in Skipton Date of next meeting: Friday 8 th May 2015 Belle Vue, Skipton. Friday 6 th November 2015 - Chain Lane Centre, Community Centre, Knaresborough. 5
These people were at this meeting: Sam Suttar Co- Chair (Self-Advocate) Tony Cerexhe Co-Chair (Independent) Bruce Tickner Self Advocate Dawn Walsh - North Yorkshire Strategic Health Facilitator Christopher Porter Self advocate David Bruce Vice Co-chair of North Yorkshire Learning Disability Partnership Board Di Lofthouse MBE Co-Chair North Yorkshire Learning Disability Partnership Board Jacqueline Smith North Yorkshire County Council, Learning Disability Manager Sue Lear Valuing People Co-ordinator Karen Murray KeyRing supporter Helen Abba Supported Employment. Sarah Hatfield Henshaws College Thomas Williams Student at Henshaws College Peter Radley Student Nurse. Pete Ryle Work Coach Advisor. Vincy Benadict North Yorkshire County Council, Business Support Administrator (minute taker) Apologies: Hadyn Davies North Yorkshire County Council, Learning Disability Manager. Eleanor Borkett Family Carer. 6
Mazar Hussain North Yorkshire County Council, Learning Disability Manager 7