Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Steve Goldensmith (BCC), Jenny Newton (AVDC), Alison Bussey (OBMH), Martin Holt (CDC), Patricia Birchley, County Councillor, Angie Blackmore (PCT), Rachel Young (Hospitals Trust), Neil Comley (BCC), Ken Dorling (Alzheimer’s Society) and Helen Janes (Carers Bucks). Ann Whiteley from Carers Bucks was attending as a substitute for Helen Janes.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting of the Older People’s Partnership Board on 10 September 2007 as a correct record

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2007 were agreed and signed as a correct record, with the following amendment:

• Page 2 – paragraph 5 – ‘financial advice’ should be replaced by ‘financial information.’

Actions arising from Minutes

• Neil Comley to provide an update for the next meeting re: his role offering to be the main point of contact between OPAGS and voluntary sector and transportation.  ACTION: NC
• Claire Oaten to contact Sharon Boundy with regard to talking to OPPB about depression in older people  ACTION: CO
• Steve Goldensmith to come to next meeting to speak about areas of action around crime and fear of crime for inclusion in the OP ActionPlan.  ACTION: SG
• Catherine Erbetta to set up multi-agency meeting to clarify the issues identified, discuss the possible solutions further and to draft a full options appraisal with funding streams to be brought back to the January meeting.  ACTION: CE
• Muriel Alleaume to attend next meeting with mapping report. Sheila Davies also to bring her report to the meeting and present it to members.  ACTION: MA/SD (MA to be reminded re: her analysis of different data sets)
• When Community Team have recruited to the post to lead on Extra Care Housing, invite new post-holder to meeting  ACTION: Secretary
• Neil Comley to feed back on Council’s Access Policy at next meeting.   ACTION: NC

Chris Stanners

Chris Stanners, Chairman of the Older People’s Champions Forum, spoke to the Board about the future of the Champions’ Forum. The Forum had recently lost some direction and authority and changes needed to be made to increase the impact of the Forum.

Chris Stanners read out the new draft Mission Statement for the Champions’ Forum:

Mission Statement for Bucks Older Peoples Champions Forum

As stated at the Meeting of the Forum on 30^th October 2007

The role of the Forum is:

·         to collate views and issues that are of concern to older people and to use these as the basis to influence decisions and service delivery

·         to monitor the actions and decisions of the OPPB

·         to promote public health and the prevention agenda

·         to facilitate understanding among the public and the professionals of the key issues that relate to the health and well-being of older people

The work of the Champions Forum should be informed by background presentations provided by officers and members.

The Agenda for meetings of the OPPB should be drawn up in consultation with the Chair or other representative of the Champions Forum.

One recommendation was that the Chairman of the Champions’ Forum should meet with the Chairman of the OPPB prior to each OPPB meeting. An important part of the work of the Forum was to monitor the actions of the OPPB and to be involved in the agenda.

Chris Stanners also told the Board the following:

• A new Chairman of the Champions’ Forum was still to be appointed. Ideally this would be a ‘professional’ (Service Manager/Commissioner), who had up-to-date information about work being carried out and was ‘in the loop.’ A Vice-chairman was also needed, and this post could be appointed from an OPAG or from the VCS.
• Through the recent work of the Forum, Marilyn Parks and Ann Banks at the Hospitals Trust had championed a change in working practices, following the experience of a 94-year old woman from Chesham.
• There had also been pleasing outcomes from the discovery interviews which had been carried out, and ideas had been taken back by the Hospitals Trust from these.
• Potential champions needed to be trained. Ann Banks and Marilyn Parker would set up training and recruit champions from the Hospitals Trust. It was suggested that the same be done in the other trusts and in social care. A model could then develop in which each trust would nominate a champion to attend the Champions’ Forum. Meetings of the Forum might become less frequent. Chris Stanners said that Marilyn Parks and Ann Banks had visited a training centre in Leicestershire, where there was a very active programme for champions.

Ryan Mellet, previous Chairman of the Champions’ Forum, thanked Kerry Stevens for originally setting up the Forum.

An elected Member asked if there was a representative from the Aylesbury Vale District on the Forum. Chris Stanners said that representatives came from the OPAGs, but that OPAGs had only recently been set up in North  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Adult Social Care is required to complete an Equality Impact Assessment on the Older People Partnership Board as the function of the Board is relevant to equality. This statutory duty should also apply to all other statutory organisations / services represented on the Partnership Board. Muriel Alleaume proposes formation of a sub-group comprising of various members of the Partnership Board so as to complete the assessment together. This would not only fulfil each organisation's requirement but also demonstrate good practice in relation to partnership working as well as offering diverse perspectives within the assessment.

The proposal of a sub-group for the completion of the Equality Impact Assessment was supported, and it was agreed that the following members would sit on the group:

Kerry Stevens, Stuart Townsend, Sheila Davies and Jo Brader

Graham Box

The Chairman welcomed Graham Box, Project Manager, to the meeting. 

Graham Box told members about the discovery interviews that had been carried out by the Older People’s Champions Forum. The Forum had decided that the interviewers should be lay-people, and 9 older people had been trained to conduct the interviews. Interviewers worked in pairs for security reasons. The process had been very successful.

• The interviews had focused on people who had used the Hospitals Trust, with approximately half the interviews with people who had used day services at hospital and half with people who had stayed at hospital overnight.
• Feedback on day services had been positive.
• Some feedback on overnight stays had been positive but there were also several areas identified where improvements were necessary. The three main areas which needed to be addressed by the Trust were: Care provided at night; Discharge arrangements; Transport.
• The interviews had not collected much information on the experience of clients in social care services. Kerry Stevens had suggested that Intensive Home Support (previously known as 24/14) could be looked at through the discovery interviews. Graham Box said that he would check with the interviewers to see if they were happy to do this.
• The peer interviews had cost just over £3000 so far. Members agreed that this was good value for money.

The Chairman asked if those being interviewed had been able to be more honest with the lay people than with professionals. Graham Box said that this had been the case, although some patients had still been reluctant to open up completely as they were concerned that their story might identify them.

Graham Box said that the key to successful interviews was to allow the patient to tell their story, rather than asking a number of questions. The Hospitals Trust had tried very hard to take the issues identified on board, although it was likely that those issues which also fell under government targets were more likely to be taken forward as a priority.

A representative from Age Concern said that the paper was very moving and interesting.

The Chairman asked if other services could also be looked at through peer interviews. Kerry Stevens said that the interviews had originally been commissioned by Adult Social Care, to gather the views of patients who had been in the care of the acute trust.  ASC were also interested in looking at Home Care Services, either through mystery shopping or through the Champions’ Forum.  Kerry Stevens said that the peer interviews were an excellent tool which showed that a response was being made to local need. However training of interviewers would need to be carried out on an annual basis. Kerry Stevens suggested that the OPPB could point the direction of the peer interviews.

Kerry Stevens suggested that Graham Box try to get some coverage of the interviews in the national press, as they were a ground-breaking piece of work which the Champions’ Forum could own for Buckinghamshire. The Chairman suggested that Graham Box speak  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Neil Comley

In the absence of Neil Comley it was agreed that this agenda item should be deferred to a future meeting.

Sheila Davies

Sheila Davies told members that she had told Pat Ward, Group Manager, Economy & Enterprise, BCC, that the general economy was of interest to older people, and had explored some areas of this with her. Pat Ward was due to meet Kerry Stevens on the following day. Pat Ward would also be taking the issue to the County Economic Development Group.

Sheila Davies asked the Board if they thought that a sub-group should be set up to take the issue of the market for older people forward. Kerry Stevens said that his service was carrying out work on transformation, including financial services for older people, which would have some strong links with this issue.

There was a discussion about possible financial advantages for companies which were involved. Sheila Davies said that a work shop which had been held had established that older people needed someone they could trust to advise on assets. The ethics of working with the commercial sector would need to be looked at.

A representative of Carers Bucks said that another issue was the need to highlight to people aged 50+ that some provision needed to be made for their financial future, as not everything would be paid for.

The Chairman suggested that homes for older people needed to be adapted. Sheila Davies said that she would be in contact with the Planning Department. Homes needed to meet Lifetime Targets, with doors wide enough for wheelchairs etc.

Graham Box suggested that social enterprise groups be involved, so that the basis of the work was not profit-driven. One suggestion was that older people could invest in a nursing home by purchasing shares. This was similar to the Extra Care Model.

The following actions were agreed:

• Kerry Stevens to give Sheila Davies’ details to Kate Walker, Transformation Team  ACTION: KS (Kate Walker to sit on the sub-group)
• SD to start sub-group re: market for older people, find participants and set a realistic agenda (speak to Martin Tutor, Jenny Newton, Martin Holt)  ACTION: SD

Martin Holt

Members to note report on Dial-a-ride Service; Martin Holt to attend next meeting   ACTION: MH

Sheila Davies

Sheila Davies told members that she had been involved in the national initiative, ‘Shared priorities in improving the lives of older people’ Action Learning Sets (ALS).

The ALS had been supported by many senior professionals. 50 Local authorities had worked on the ALS, separated into five workshop areas.

The outcome of the ALS had been a series of books. Sheila Davies said that copies of the books would be requested for members of the OPPB.

Sheila Davies gave members a list of the key summaries from the ALS.  Those who had been involved in the ALS had felt more empowered to return to their local authority, having worked with other professionals.

Sheila Davies suggested that feedback on transformation be given to the OPPB.

Actions:

• SD to supply members with copies of the Action Learning Sets outcome books  ACTION:SD
• Feedback on transformation be given to OPPB  ACTION: KS/KW

Jonathan Horbury

Jonathan Horbury gave members an update on the Manor House redevelopment and Older Adult Services and distributed a handout. Jonathan Horbury said that they were still at the beginning of the process.

The following points were made:

• There had been a consultation in 2005 called ‘Putting People First,’ regarding Buckinghamshire mental health inpatient services.
• A conference had been held on 29 October 2007, from which a service model would be developed. There was a need to produce something practical and useful for the future, with the potential for change.
• A business case would be developed in 2008. OBMH might become an NHS Foundation Trust. If it did, it would be able to raise its own money for capital development.
• Older people in-patient services were still offered at the John Hampden Ward at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and at Amersham Hospital.
• New in-patient services would be developed at Manor House for adults of working age. Considerations were ongoing whether to also offer services for older people there.

An elected Member asked if relatives of patients had been consulted. Jonathan Horbury said that engagement with relatives was important, but sometimes difficult with organic illnesses.

There was a relative carer group at the John Hampden Ward.

A representative from Carers Bucks asked if there were any carers represented from South Buckinghamshire, as there would be huge implications for carers when the Chartridge Ward at Amersham Hospital was closed. Jonathan Horbury said that work with carers was undertaken through Carers Bucks. However they were only at the beginning of the process.

The representative from Carers Bucks asked whether the Chartridge/Kingshill Ward would continue to provide day-care, and Jonathan Horbury said that there would be some continued provision.

Jonathan Horbury said that if anyone was interested in taking part in the process, that they should contact him or go through the OBMH website.

Kerry Stevens said that it would be interesting to look at the transport issues for a client based in the South of the County (e.g. in Iver), and suggested that this could be a project for the Champions’ Forum.

Kerry Stevens also said that there was no clear system that linked transport systems, and that the divergence in concessionary fares in different districts was widening.

Jonathan Horbury said that following the Consultation in 2005, transport had been clearly identified as an issue. It had been agreed that work on this would be led by the PCT, followed by BCC.

Some work had been carried out that had looked specifically at where clients who used services at Amersham had travelled from. However how transport was funded had not been looked at.

Sheila Davies referred to the SHAPE Project (‘Services having all people engaged’). A company had been engaged to work with the project to develop a model of engagement (‘Access to Services’). Sheila Davies said that this would be written up by March 2008 and could be linked. The Chairman asked that Jonathan Horbury share his analysis with the SHAPE Project  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Kerry Stevens said that the LAA would be refreshed in April 2008. Many targets in the LAA concerned older people. The LAA refresh would include consideration of whether to reduce the number of indicators.

Kerry Stevens asked that LAA targets be put on the next OPPB agenda. It was also agreed that SHAPE would be put on the next agenda.

Actions:

• SHAPE be put on the next agenda
• LAA be put on the next agenda  (BOTH ACTIONS: Secretary)

16 January 2008 at 10.00am in Mezzanine Room 1

16th January 2008 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury