North Somerset Ageing Well bulletin July 24
North Somerset
State of Ageing
Delighted to say we have had over 200 responses to the State of Ageing survey from older people. Thank you to everyone who helped distribute and publicise the survey.
Nicola will be carrying out a last few conversations with organisations and older people over the course of July and we hope to have a final report available around the middle of August.
Date for your diary.
State of Ageing North Somerset “unconference” 1st October (more details to follow)
The report is just the first stage of the work we want to do in North Somerset. The unconference will give all stakeholders an opportunity to get together, discuss findings and agree some next steps.
Improving Ageing in North Somerset (IANS)
As you may have seen, we have been recruiting for the new IANS roles and hope to announce the new IANS team in next month’s bulletin.
Digital switch over (from Lisa Maher Access Your Care)
Telecare services play a vital role in health and social care and allow thousands of people across North Somerset remain independent in their own homes,
By the end of 2025 telecommunications providers hope to of switched their services from analogue to digital networks creating the way forward for telecare meaning more personalized services early intervention and the ability to detect signs of health deterioration.
Although the switchover is great in terms of future development for TEC it means that current telecare users risk losing this safety net when lines go digital as many telecare services equipment works via analogue therefore will not be compatible with a digital connection.
Below are some things we can do to ensure clients telecare is working correctly.
Regular test calls on the equipment – Make it a habit of asking Clients to press their pendant/unit once a month to test it works this can be done second or third week of each month.
Where possible support clients to register with their Telephone Service Provider as a ‘vulnerable user’ so that they don’t get switched to digital until the end of the digitalisation programme unless they specifically request it.
Service users who have switched to providers like Truspeed (and others) will not be able to use an analogue alarm unit in future, but service users who have switched to BT Digital and others will still be able to use an analogue unit for now as the alarm can be plugged directly into the digital hub.
Alongside this many of the clients we support across our services will be using mobile phones mobile phones that are supported by 3G (third generation Network) which is planned to be switched off by the end of 2025. Some companies have already started the switch off of 3G services. Basic 4 G handsets are available to buy for as little as £10.
Age UK Somerset
New KewStoke Tai Chi class
Thursday 2.30-3.30 at Kewstoke village Hall
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact the Ageing Well team.
Phone: 01823 345626
Weston Town Council
We are delighted to invite you to join us for 'Quarry Conversations 2' – your voice on the Old Town Quarry.
Event Details:
Date: Tuesday 16th July
Time: (1) 2.00 – 3.30pm OR (2) 7.00 – 8.30pm (Same session repeated)
Venue: Weston super Mare Town Council offices
As Weston super Mare Town Council prepares to take over the lease of the Old Town Quarry site, this event is the second in a series of community engagement sessions. These sessions are an opportunity to share your ideas and aspirations for the Quarry.
PLEASE NOTE: This event is a repeat of the Quarry Conversations event held in June and will provide the same information and follow the same format – but if you joined us in June and would like to come along, or accompany someone who hasn’t been before, you are very welcome to attend again.
And please let people who might be interested know about this Quarry Conversations event too!
To ensure you stay informed and receive invitations to future meetings, we encourage you to join our mailing list: http://eepurl.com/iP9du2.
IMPORTANT: There is a limit on numbers at this venue, so please RSVP to quarry@wsm-tc.gov.uk and confirm if you want to attend the DAYTIME OR EVENING session.
Thank you once again – and we look forward to receiving your RSVP.
Best regards,
Weston super Mare Town Council
Womens Work Lab
The Women's Work Lab supports Mothers (with children of any age including adult) in the Southwest, back towards meaningful employment. They will be running their next 12-week bespoke programme in Weston-Super-Mare from September 2024. The programme commitment includes two face to face group sessions a week and includes a four-week work placement.
For more information or to apply now visit:
https://www.womensworklab.co.uk/
Training
The National Academy of Social Prescribing and Independent Age have joined together to offer Social Prescribing Link Workers bespoke training on Supporting Older People facing financial hardship. They have co-designed the training which will cover three topics: Attendance Allowance, Pension Credit and the social implications of financial hardship for older people. The 'social Implications' section incorporates awareness of:
food insecurity,
fuel poverty,
financial management,
digital exclusion,
social vulnerability.
Social implications are highlighted to provide a sound understanding of how financial hardship may impact on an older person's life, what a Social Prescribing Link Worker may need to be aware of and how they could help.
My Future Care
If you are not yet using the My Future Care Handbook to support the people you work with, here is how to get started.
The simplest thing to do is book onto our popular, free to attend training. In two ninety-minute online sessions, we train your team to support people to complete their later life, end of life and future care plans using the My Future Care Handbook as a guide.
Our next training sessions are:
🗓️ 6th & 13th September
🗓️ 18th & 25th October
🗓️ 1st & 8th November
Thanks to grant funding, Handbooks are free in certain parts of the country, and are otherwise available for a fee. If you already have an understanding of later life planning, you don't have to complete our training to be eligible for free Handbooks, but you do have to commit to providing support to the people you distribute them too.
Can I get copies of the My Future Care Handbook to distribute without providing additional support?
Yes, absolutely! You can buy copies of the Handbook at any time, and we offer excellent discounts for bulk purchases.
However, it is worth noting our research shows that people who receive support using the Handbook are more likely to successfully complete their later life plans. Completing our training also qualifies you for free ongoing support from our team and peers within the My Future Care community.
Whatever you decide is best for your organisation, click here to book training and/or discuss Handbook purchases info@mycarematters.org
Campaigns
Carers UK's Caring Survey - Have Your Say!
The Carers UK annual State of Caring survey is the most extensive survey into unpaid carers’ experiences in the UK.
Give your views as a carer here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWSJB5C
Centre for Ageing Better
Campaigners warn more than 6.5 million people could still be stuck in dangerous homes by end of next parliament.
Centre for Ageing Better are running a series of webinars to support their campaign on improving housing for older people.
Finding funds, fixing homes: innovation in local authority provision of home improvement grants and loans
Event: Building effective local home improvement services: Good Home Hubs
What is a Good Home Hub? Learn about this comprehensive model for home improvement services and how it can benefit people living in your area.
Housing quality and people’s health: making the case for improving health through housing.
Homes should be places of warmth and safety but for millions of people, their homes cause falls, asthma, heart problems, joint problems, and many more conditions. Understand how local areas are creating joint solutions across the health, care and housing sectors.
National
Ageing without Children
I hope you will forgive some shameless self-promotion, but Dr Lucy Pollock has recently published her new book, The Golden Rule using real-life stories to show how we can use those answers to build a better society and healthcare system for older people, now and in the future. I was interviewed for the section on Ageing without Children and would thoroughly recommend the book to colleagues.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/discover/2024/july/dr-lucy-pollock-on-ageing-with-optimism/
Ageing without Children and Advanced Care Planning
https://speakforme.co.uk/blog/ageing-without-children-advance-care-planning
Blog from AWOC group leader Penny Shepherd “don’t ask for my next of kin”.
https://www.awwoc.org/post/don-t-ask-for-my-next-of-kin
Ageing without Children are one of the seldom heard groups that the new IANS project will be focusing on.
Centre for Ageing Better
How local authorities can support older people’s substantial contribution to local communities.
Local government faces unprecedented funding challenges, presenting difficult decisions on where to make savings. This can lead to an increase reliance on digital solutions and cuts to community resources.
The Centre for Ageing Better has joined forces with a number of organisations to create the 50+ Employment Commitment which outlines six steps political parties should take to level the playing field for older workers.
https://ageing-better.org.uk/news/closing-employment-gap
https://ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-06/50%2B_Employment_Commitment.pdf
Age UK
It’s a struggle to be seen.
Results of Age UK’s research into the experience of people aged fifty and over accessing health and social care services.
Help with housing costs - how can you apply if you are not online?
Digital technology is playing an increasing role in daily life, and for many people, it is essential to the way that they socialise, work, shop, manage their finances, access services, and get entertainment.
Although many older people fully embrace the digital world, digital exclusion increases with age and those who are not online risk being left behind. Age UK and Age Cymru in Wales regularly hear from people who are finding it hard to access public services if they do not use the internet and we are concerned that this could lead to people missing out on much-needed support. This report looks at options offered by local authorities to people with low incomes who want to claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction to help meet their rent and council tax, but who cannot use online systems. We hope it will highlight the difficulties that some people face and encourage councils to review their services and ensure everyone has equal access to support.
Harnessing the power of the self-funder pound
Sian Lockwood – When I get Old.
https://wigo.org.uk/harnessing-the-power-of-the-self-funder-pound/
Resources
A practical tool for day centres and their professional stakeholders is now live.
These resources are for day centres and organisations who may work with them. They aim to support day centre sustainability by improving knowledge about them, supporting their operation and encouraging joint working.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/day-centre-resources-hub
LGBTQ+ and social care
This repository includes a range of knowledge about older LGBTQ+ people – about their lives, needs and their experiences with social care. This is a constantly evolving field of knowledge with some gaps, but this compendium will direct you to the key knowledge currently available in the UK.
https://www.scie.org.uk/older-lgbtq-people-and-social-care/
ReconditionTheNation Fab Stuff Campaign
The #ReconditionTheNation campaign aims to raise the profile of deconditioning and create a social movement that inspires individuals and teams across the country to develop initiatives that reduce functional and cognitive decline associated with deconditioning.
The programme encourages all sectors in the health and social care settings to design innovative and fun ways to promote physical activity, and functional and emotional well-being. It was hoped that this will contribute to preventing deconditioning and associated harms; improve hospital discharges and improve patient outcomes. Participation is not limited to a specific type or size of team or organisation.
The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of deconditioning, to share best practice and to promote the testing and embedding of small-scale changes to reduce functional loss for people in hospital, care homes, social care, community and mental health services.
https://fabnhsstuff.net/fab-collections/reconditionthenation-fab-stuff-campaign
Research
Attributions of Loneliness—Life Story Interviews with Older Mental Health Service Users
There is growing evidence on the prevalence and impact of loneliness, particularly among older people. However, much less is known about the personal origins of loneliness and how it persists, or not, over an individual’s life course. This study aimed to increase understanding of the personal experiences of loneliness among older adults across the life course. Central to this study was giving voice to the participants and allowing them to define loneliness, what it meant to them, and how it affected them throughout their lives.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/12/11/1133
Funding
Home Instead grants.
Supporting communities
Money raised from our dedicated network of Home Instead Offices and external supporters fund groups who support the mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing of ageing adults.
https://www.homeinstead.co.uk/charities/how-we-do-it/apply-for-a-grant/
Mcarthy & Stone
Our foundation runs a number of grant programmes throughout the year for organisations supporting people over sixty-five.
Our Community Grants programme will reopen for applications on July 26th, 2024.
Timings for the upcoming grants round are as follows:
July 26th: Applications Open.
August 23rd: Applications Closed – shortlisting and due diligence takes place.
September 16th: Shortlisted applications go to Grants Sub-Committee.
September 30th: Sub-Committee meets and recommends awards.
October 15th: Trustee Board meets to approve awards.
October 16/17th: Applicants informed of outcome.
GSK IMPACT Awards
Applications are now open for the 2025 GSK IMPACT Awards and new GSK Community Health Programme, which will support smaller charities.
The GSK IMPACT Awards are funded by GSK and provide core funding and free training for charities doing excellent work to improve people’s health and wellbeing. They are open to charities with a total annual income between £150,000 and £3 million. Up to fifteen awards will be made, ranging from £4,000 to £50,000, plus free training and development valued at a further £13,500.
The new GSK Community Health programme will support small charities tackling health inequalities with a total annual income between £20,000 and £150,000. Up to fifteen charities will receive up to £10,000 in unrestricted funding, plus access to free training and development valued at £3,500.
Vacancies
Ageing Well Class Coordinator (Sedgemoor and North Somerset)
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/somerset/get-involved/work-for-us/ageing-well-class-coordinator/
Vision North Somerset
To coordinate and deliver Vision North Somerset’s technology support service for people who are visually impaired to reduce the effects of digital exclusion.