Inclusion North Bulletin

Issue Number 20 2nd July 2012

In this bulletin you will hear about some of the work Inclusion North is doing and information about what is happening across the country. Here are some examples of what work we will offer over the next year
Best ways of supporting people with complex needs We are doing some research into what is good support for people with additional support needs looking at areas that really matter to people like supporting friendship, good health, work, advocacy, PAs and family involvement. We want to make a book that shares all of these good examples and helps everyone develop good support options for people with complex needs. To find out more or tell us about the good ways of working you know contact Kate Safeguarding and Hate Crime Project We are working with local areas to work out how people with Learning Disabilities get the right support from Community groups and the Justice System when they have experienced disability hate crime or harassment. We can help you work out how people get access to the right support from the criminal justice system, community supports as well as safeguarding If your area wants to get involved in this please contact Scott

Understanding the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Sessions to help family members and carers understand the Mental Capacity Act and what it means for them. There are only a few sessions left so you need to tell us if you want one.

For more information about any of these pieces of work you can contact us in the office.
Inclusion North Response to Winterbourne Reports On Monday the Government and the Care Quality Commission published reports about their work since the abuse at Winterbourne View. We did a short briefing paper to help people get and understand all the information that has come out. You can see that by clicking on the below: Short briefing on Winterbourne Reports Inclusion North also put out a response to these reports which you can read here: Statement on Winterbourne Reports CQC report on the findings from the Inspection Work As well as the report on Learning Disability Services in England CQC have also published a report on the findings from the inspection work they carried out. You can see an easy read report of this by clicking on the link below: http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/2012 0626_market_report_summary__easy_to_read.pdf

CQC Survey on home care services The CQC as part of their themed inspections of home care services are asking people to complete a survey to gather information to inform their review of home care services. They will be conducting over 250 unannounced inspections of home care services over the coming months. Deadline for service users to complete the survey by: 31 Aug 12 The document is available at the link below. www.cqc.org.uk/public/news/tell-us-about-your-experienceshome-care-services Housing Options Advice Line for People and Families Housing Options now offer an advice line which is available for member organisations as well as people with learning disabilities and their families. The number is 0845 456 1497 and you can email them on enquiries@housingoptions.org.uk This service operates from 8.30 4.30 Keeping it Local Keeping it local is a free 3 day training programme with ongoing mentoring and support to build the local knowledge needed to enable people with challenging behaviour and profound and multiple learning disabilities to stay in their communities This course is for professionals or individuals who have an interest in helping develop good local services for people with learning disabilities For more details contact Alicia Wood on alicia.wood@housingoptions.org.uk

Local Area Co-ordination New Report The new paper on Local Area Coordination - From Service Users to Citizens" has been published by the Centre for Welfare Reform this morning. It is available from the Centre for Welfare Reform website via

http://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/library/by-date/localarea-coordination.html

GMC improving care for people with learning disabilities The GMC has launched a new website to help doctors and other healthcare professionals provide better care for people with learning disabilities This site gives doctors an idea of the small changes they can make to their practice which can have a big impact on the standard of care they provide. You can see it at: www.gmc-uk.org/learningdisabilities

To help promote the site, the GMC has designed a promotional card for people with learning disabilities to give to those providing their healthcare. These cards are business cardsized and come in a handy booklet of 10. To request promotional cards please call the GMC's Contact Centre on: Tel: 0161 923 6602 E-mail: learningdisabilities@gmc-uk.org Tell them how many you need, quoting 'LD Networks'.

Outcomes from the Families & Personalisation programme As part of learning disabilities and carers week the NDTi and Dimensions are publishing the first wave of outcomes from our Families & Personalisation programme. This calls for better information and support for families if we are to move beyond budgets to real change, choice and control.

You can see it at: http://www.ndti.org.uk/publications/ndti-insights/insights-13families-and-personalisation/

North East charity takes digital action A North East charity is taking digital action in a bid to facilitate friendship and networking within the regions learning disabled population. A first for the region, Ouseburn-based Friends Action North East (FANE), has rolled out a fully accessible and interactive website, in a bid to provide adults with learning disabilities with a one stop digital shop for all that is needed to enhance their social life and build lasting relationships. You can visit their website at: www.friendsaction.co.uk There is a recite function, which reads aloud all content, and when linking to another website, this function continues.

For more information about Friends Action North East visit www.friendsaction.co.uk or call 0191 231 4327.

The Cornerstone Group Kathleen Ainsley from North Tyneside has been part of setting up a group for families - here she tells you some of how that happened The Cornerstone Group evolved through need for information around Personalisation. A message from Kathleen Ainsley When Matthew was due to return from Dilston College, a Mencap college in Northumberland, I was bumping into parents of his friends while out and about. They were asking how he was doing and what he was going to do -which services he was going to attend etc. When I explained that before Matthew went out of borough he had completed The BIG Plan and knew exactly what he wanted to do longer term.

He was returning home but wanted to live with his friend in their own place and he wanted to work in an office and wanted to go on holiday to Ibiza. I believed that he COULD do all of these things but we would need lots of help to put these things in place. He would NOT be going to day services!

Anyhow, as there were about 12 parents asking me to meet up and tell them how we managed to do all of the planning/coordinating/implementing and asking "What is a Personal Budget?" I realised meeting up for coffee with them all would take LOTS of my time as they were working parents who found it difficult to make daytime commitments.

So, I took contact details and we all agreed to meet in an evening at a cafe (The Cornerstone) as the cafe owners are parents who also wanted/needed the information.

As I was a member of The All Together better North Tyneside Parent Carer Forum steering group I asked for funding for a one off gathering to meet with the wider parents to share the info we all needed. It was a huge success and we all agreed we needed to meet regularly and have somewhere to ask questions/pass on experiences and share up to date information. The Cornerstone Group was born (November 2010) We meet on the second Wednesday of the month 6-8pm and stick to OUR agenda. We invite the Local Authority in to update us e.g.-of the proposed changes to Adult Social Care -and now have encouraged them to work WITH us to ensure what they have in mind is what we NEED for our future. We have been invited to work with lots of different groups within ASC and have recently been invited to regular provider forum meetings, which is the sensible thing to do as WE are the customers who will dictate what WE want to buy in the very near future.

Personal health budget pilots: fifth interim evaluation report The 5th independent evaluation report about the personal health budget pilot programme has been published by the personal health budgets evaluation team. You can see the report at:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/06/phbfifthreport/

Safeguarding resources that address concerns of family carers The National Family Carer Network and HFT have launched Safeguarding resources for family carers on their websites during Carers Week and Learning Disability Week You can see these on www.familycarers.org.uk/safeguarding Or www.hft.org.uk/safeguarding Mencap's work in the future - My Life consultation Mencap are making plans for how they work in the future. As part of thinking about that they are asking people with learning disabilities & family members to tell them what they think. Mencap are calling this 'Listen & learning'. You can find out more & how to have you say at: http://www.mencap.org.uk/

Dimensions to launch Social Care Charter Dimensions believe people with learning disabilities or autism should have equal chances to live the life they choose. They put together a social care charter with the people they support. The Social Care Charter tells everyone what people want to be able to live the life they choose. You can see it at: http://www.dimensions-uk.org/charter/

What the Health and Care system will look like in 2013 An infographic from the Department of Health

The health and care system is changing in order to meet new challenges. New organisations, and changes to existing roles, are being developed over the course of this year, and the new health and care system will be up and running by April 2013. Click on the link below to see a diagram of what this will look like: https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/healthandcare/files/2012/06/systemgraphic.jpg

Right to Control Consultation

This consultation seeks views on the proposed regulations to enable the delivery of the Right to Control Trailblazers for a further 12 months from December 2012. This consultation closes on 19th September 2012

You can see the easy read and full versions of this by clicking on the link below:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2012/right-control.shtml

If you would like any information on any of our meetings, training or projects you can contact the office on: Tel: 0113 262 6409 Or E-mail: info@inclusionnorth.org Or you can write to us at: Inclusion North 191 Belle Vue Road Leeds LS3 1HG

Or you can contact any member of the Inclusion North team: Samantha Clark Tel: 07823 536 603 Email: Samantha@inclusionnorth.org

Danny Casper Tel: 0113 262 6409 Email: Danny@inclusionnorth.org

Scott Cunningham Tel: 07767 776 125 Email: Scott@inclusionnorth.org

Kate Fulton Tel: 07876 145 390 Email: Kate@inclusionnorth.org