Key aims of the Forum
- Listening to and acting on the views of local people who use services and their carers
- Supporting local people to speak up and influence service development.
- Develop our Stakeholder Advisory Network to allow the voice of local people to be heard and to influence local service developments.
- Provide information on proposed service developments and give local people the opportunity to ‘have a say’ in how services are developed.
- Provide information on local services and support groups and sign post appropriately.
Membership/management structure
Our Forum became a Company Limited by Guarantee on the 1st April 2004. We have 16 Board of Directors who come from a variety of backgrounds and bring a wealth of knowledge to our Forum. We have a sub-group to deal with employment and finances and other subgroups are set up when required to deal with specific pieces of work.
Our membership is made up of 226 community/voluntary groups and over 500 individuals with an interest. Many of these groups have hundreds of members therefore creating a huge Network of local people.
Key achievements of 2004/2005
- We have consulted on Older People service development proposals. We did this using a variety of approaches and were able to gather the views of individual local older people as well as the views of local elderly groups. As a result of this work we have influenced how local services will now be provided.
- We have also consulted on the proposals for the development of Learning Disabilities services. We consulted with Carers first and then with local people who use services. We are in the process of producing a User Friendly document explaining these proposals using pictures and specialist software.
- Many of the issues previously raised by service users and their carers are included in these proposals. This was very much welcomed by local people who feel they have now been listened to and have been able to influence how services are provided locally.
- We also worked with INFUSION in evaluating the implementation of Single Shared Assessment in older people’s services.
- We are developing a Direct Payments consultation group who will look at promoting Direct Payments in Inverclyde.
- We have consulted on NHS Argyll & Clyde’s Clinical Strategy proposals. These proposals were met with huge outcry locally. We facilitated 3 Open meetings with our members in the 3 main towns when we looked at the proposals and gathered the views of local people. The original proposals have been disregarded and there is work ongoing to produce an alternative.
Focus of work 2005/2006
- We will continue to work with adults with learning disabilities and their carers in the development of local services and the review of the Partnership in Practice document.
- We will continue to work on the development of older people’s services in Inverclyde.
- We are working with ACUMEN (Argyll & Clyde mental health group) to develop a mental health service user group in Inverclyde. We will provide a video conferencing facility for this group.
- We are planning to look at developing the other areas of our remit over the next year.
Services that the Forum has helped set up and develop
- Inverclyde Community Care Forum applied for funding from Inverclyde Council, Argyll & Clyde Health Board and the Community Fund to develop a generic Advocacy service for Inverclyde. This service has now been in operation for 3 years now and has now become a separate Company Limited by Guarantee with charitable status.
- We continue to support and develop a Respite Care Forum.
Features that demonstrate Good Practice
- Our Network in fully inclusion.
- We work with statutory agencies to summarise documents into plain English, jargon free, easy to understand – explaining ‘what does this mean for me’ before consulting and gathering feedback.
- We have produced a user-friendly version of the local learning disability services proposals.
Features that demonstrate user/carer involvement
We continually work with service users and carers through our Network and by distributing information and producing a quarterly newsletter. This information is distributed to local public places.
See also Argyll & Bute for West Dunbartonshire, now in Greater Glasgow Health Board area
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