Physical Disabilities and Sensory Impairment Partnership Board

29 November 2016 2pm 4:15pm

March Community Centre, Station Rd, March PE15 8LE

Minutes

Present
PB Pauline Brown
SC Sally Cleghorn
KC Kathy Cornell
HD Heather Davison
GL Graham Lewis
LM Lee McManus
MS Mick Scadden
AS Anne Streather
MW Melanie Wicklen
AB Amanda Bavin
Independent member
Admin Officer, CAIL
Community Navigators Coordinator, Fenland, Care
Network
Coordinator, Healthwatch Cambridgeshire
Development Officer, CAIL
Service Development Manager, CCC
Independent member
CEO, Cam Sight
Senior Operations Manager North, Age UK Cambs
& Peterborough
Speech To Text notetaker

1. Welcome, introductions and apologies

Apologies: Erika Brown, Andy Palmer, Frances Dewhurst, Chris Eleftheriou.
MS took the chair.
GL said that CE is unwell. He has sent him a get well card.
KC sent her best wishes.

2. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

2.1 Minutes
The minutes were agreed.

2.2 Matters arising

GL has started to circulate the Adult Social Care Forum minutes.
GL emailed independent members about chairing todays meeting and Mick
volunteered.
3. Updates from board members
3.1 Cam Sights newsletter will be circulated within CAILs newsletter.
3.2 Healthwatch Cambridgeshire
wants lived experience evidence about home care.
Asked organisation members to add a link to Healthwatch social media on
their sites.
The Accessible Information Standard is now in place. Healthwatch will be
looking for evidence of its impact. January to March they will be working with
Cambridgeshire Deaf Association on this. She will also attend Cambridgeshire
Hearing Help and CDAs drop in sessions. Reports will feed through to the
Department of Health.
MS asked for an explanation.
HD anyone with an impairment must be asked how they want to be communicated
with so all services like GPs and dentists will know in advance. This may take time.
GL asked about those whose first language is not English.
HD this only covers those who have protected characteristics.
PB are you talking about support in hospital?
HD it refers to those in receipt of health and social care, pharmacies, GPs, dentists
and hospitals.
PB they would need regular training.
HD admitted it is a big ask. Healthwatch wants to find out if the real experience
matches up.
MS what about people in hospital?
HD people have to be asked so the choice comes from the patient how do you
want to be communicated with?

4. Feedback from other meetings

4.1 MS has met a director of Stagecoach to talk about audio on buses. The director
said they are developing a phone app. MS suggested they contact Transport for
London. He then circulated some communication cards that Stagecoach has
been promoting on the buses and their website.
GL said CAIL had promoted them but he wasnt sure how effective they are.
MS said Whippet has audio-visual service on the guided buses which works well.
The director of Stagecoach invited anyone with a query or complaint to contact him.
AS - it sounds like Stagecoach has taken up a position which is neither appropriate
nor logical.
MS retro fitting is difficult but he queried why new buses dont have audio- visual.
GL had put in a Freedom of Information request to ask if audio-visual had been
included in the contract. He was unable to get a clear answer. The next tender is
in 2020.
MS the good news is following a campaign by Guide Dogs all new buses will have
audio-visual by 2020.

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PB the proposed roadworks on the A14 will affect bus services. Timetables can be
confused and unclear.

4.2 PB reported that Hunts Blind Society had had a speaker on unwanted phone
calls and callers at the house.
She said she had written to the Council and the Cambridge News about the
floating bus stops.
AS added that she had also commented but had not yet received a response from
the Council.

5. Updates from the PD and SI Teams

They are starting to work more closely with Peterborough. The
devolution deal covers planning, transport and development with one
elected mayor.
PB asked if current individual mayors will be involved.
LM had no information on that.
GL thought it would be a similar model to London where each borough delivers
services.
Wendi Ogle-Welbourn is the Director, Children, Families and Adults.
The re-tender of home care is coming up.
They are particularly working on delivering Transforming Lives. It has
now rolled out from Learning Disabilities to Physical Disabilities and
Sensory Impairment.
Carer assessments are continuing
They have recruited two new support workers to support adults on the
autistic spectrum.
PB are these assessments for help and support, not for PIP?
LM they look at how someone can live independently and arrange support for
dressing, eating, shopping etc.
PB is it means-tested?
LM its more about the level of care and level of income and savings is taken into
account.
PB what if your circumstance change?
LM you can request a re-assessment.
KC asked about the eligibility criteria which are currently critical and substantial.
LM its complicated. Social workers are struggling a bit with the definitions as given
in the Care Act. They are gradually doing the annual assessments.
KC Care Network has challenged where the effect is on emotional needs.

Action: GL to circulate the eligibility criteria.

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LM for learning disabilities Cambridgeshire pays quite a lot per person compared
with other counties. He suggested Barbara Cassey would be the best person to
speak about it.

6. PDSI PB election of Chair

GL explained there was currently no permanent chair. Pauline and Mick had
alternated.
Mick Scadden was elected unopposed as Chair of the PDSI Partnership Board.

7. Handypersons Service
Age UK Cambridgeshire officially merged with Age UK Peterborough 1 April.
The Cambridgeshire Handyperson Service does not cover Peterborough.
It is for both those over 65 and anyone with disabilities.
There are two parts to the service
the Home and the Wellbeing check which covers the individual and
their home
7-day Hospital Discharge Service

Assessments and the provision of grab rails is their biggest area of work. Grab
rails are provided and installed for free.
The charge for other work is 25 per hour plus the costs of any equipment.
MS that seems quite high.
MW its quite competitive and is for the first hour, after which the charge is per
quarter hour.
With permission they share information with Adult Social Care (ASC) but they
have to wait for services through ASC.
500 assessments have been done so far. There are three assessors.

The 7-Day Hospital Discharge Service is free.

It helps with things like installing key safes, moving beds.
KC are self-discharge people offered this service at weekends by the hospital/
MW Id like to think so. Referrals are generally through health professionals. If
appropriate, once a person is home they will offer a Home and Wellbeing
Assessment.
HD Healthwatch is working with Hinchingbrooke to improve the referral rate.
Other services they offer contribute to fewer hospital admissions.
Home Help 12.50 per hour
Gardens service 13.50 in Fenland, City and South.
Volunteer visitors support about 400 older people.
HD those services are heavily over-subscribed.
MW it varies from area to area. Retaining staff for home help is difficult.
HD asked about the help at home from the Fire Service.
MW its called Safe and Well and is mainly to install smoke alarms and outside
grab rails.

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 Break

8. Care Network
Fenland is a very deprived area. Statistics on those living with long-term
conditions are difficult to come by. Care Network in Fenland has the
highest number of referrals but there is a lack of resources.
People who approach Care Network are not particularly looking for
information. Typically they have problems such as managing pain, difficulty
getting out of bed.
There are many organisations but often the problem is accessing transport
to take part in activities. People cant travel independently.
PB commented that some of the frailer people in her retirement home have
scooters but this is more difficult in rural areas.
KC there is a high incidence of Type 2 diabetes which has led to amputations in
younger people. They are now directed to re-ablement and independence which is
good but there comes a point when theres nothing else.
PB Red2Green is in a rural area.
AS Fenland Golden Age Fairs are good. East Cambridgeshire rural areas are
also neglected.
KC - Im talking about well above the national average of people who cant leave
their homes. Transport is there but theres still the problem of getting to it and/ or
on it.
LM have you heard of Total Transport? This has been trialled in East Cambs as
a way of using day centre type transport during the day.
Action: LM will send the information to GL.

KC Care Network runs a community care scheme but volunteers cant help with
wheelchairs and physically helping someone.
GL Voice Network identified this as a big problem.
Care Network Help at Home volunteers can only go in for three weeks.
MS were relying a lot on volunteers who do a remarkable job.
MW clarified that VoiceAbility now has the combined advocacy contract.
KC thanked the Board for enabling her to raise these issues. She asked for
members to look out for other organisations who could help. She also added it
would be good to have someone local on this board.
HD is this being raised strategically?
MW could Age UK be involved because a lot of their work is in rural areas.
GL this could be explored further in a Task and Finish Group.

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9. Adult Social Care Forum items for and from
Domiciliary care
Those in receipt of Direct Payments can find they pay more for services than
those who receive services through the Council.
Identified concerns about Care Packages.

10. Action Log

Self-directed Support support with this will change next year. GL will get a
speaker.
The Board agreed to keep it in the Action Log as an unresolved issue.
GL is still trying to find a speaker on Personal Independent Payments.
LM structure chart will be circulated when restructure is complete.
GL has emailed SENSE and will source a speaker and investigate closer
working.

11. Any other business

Date of next meeting: February 23, 2pm 4:15pm, Orchard Park Community
Centre, Central Ave, Cambridge CB4 2EZ

Kindly note there will be a meeting of service users just before each meeting
between 1:15 and 1:45pm

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