Solva Care Nov 2017
What’s happening in Solva?Innovation in Community Care
What is Solva Care?
Solva Care is a local initiative offering help and support to those who need it in Solva and the surrounding area. It is unusual in that it developed from ground up. Set up by Solva CommunityCouncil in June 2015, following a village survey in 2013 to find out if residents thought it would be a good idea – and they did!Mainly for elderly people, but also those who may suffer from illness or injury.
How was it set up?
The first action was to employ a part-time Co-ordinator in June 2015, who spent the first few months setting up procedures and policies, recruiting and training volunteers. The project was officially launched in October 2015 at a specially arrangedafternoon tea in the village hall, targeting elderly and frail residents with personal invitations. Volunteers helped making sandwiches, scones and cakes and provided transport for those who couldn’t make their own way there. The hall was packed as 50+ people came, some of whom had not been seen out and about for years. Great success, good atmosphere – we repeated it in October last year, an equally well attended event.
The aim
The aim is to improve Health & Quality of life by
- Enabling residents to stay in their own homes and remain part of our community
- Offering a way to reduce loneliness & isolation
- Provide extra support for those caring for family members.
Who can use the service?
Anyone needing help and who lives in Solva Parish.We started delivering services as early as August 2015, as and when people approached us. We also visited all residents who were in care – about 30 - to see if we could add anything to what they already had and leaflets were delivered to all households. We help 40-50residents now. Apart from people contacting us directly, we get referrals from relatives and concerned neighbours,social services, hospitals, local surgeries and district nurses. The Co-ordinator has a room in Solva surgery for a couple of hours on Friday mornings, for people to pop infor a chat.
Who provides the services?
Services are provided by 30 local volunteers some of which are Welsh speaking. Many are retired but ages vary and we have both men and women. The help can be on a regular basis or ad hoc.All volunteers have had DBS checks done, received induction training, and are insured. Most have attended a Dementia Friends Session and some have had 1st Aid Training.
Services provided
The Co-ordinator keeps detailed records of all services provided. For the period August 2015 to December 2016, the volunteers gave2,374 hours of their time (140 hrs/month on average).
Some examples of what we do:Bring people to the weekly luncheon club, coffee morning etc., pop in visits, accompany people for walks, dog walking, shopping and picking up prescriptions. For residents living with dementia and their carers we offer short respite. We take people to the shop/surgery/hairdresser etc. Also signposting toother scs. We try not to get involved if there are existing services that work well. For instance Country Cars and Cars for carers. We will provide transport to the hospital if there is no other option and there is a volunteer is available.
Funding of the Project
The pilot project was initially funded for two years by the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park's Sustainable Development Fund. This pays for the Co-ordinator’s 24 hours a week and some other costs. This funding was renewed for another 2 years in April this year. We have also had funding fromthe Welsh Government,HywelDda / The Health Board and most recently from the Allen Lane Foundation. We are also increasingly receiving donations.
Activities
We started arranging activities for our residents living with dementia in Nov last year. The Alzheimer’s Society provided a Taster Session, which very quickly turned into regular events, two Friday afternoons a month. From January this year we have run these weekly, (now supported the Reach Project at Pembrokeshire College). We have found that music works particularly well, our local ukulele band comes to play, and there’s country & western music as well. Other activities include music quiz, craft, singing, gentle movement and yoga. Some people are hesitant in coming along and it has taken some time to build up. Now well attended events and for some it may be the only time they leave the house all week.
In August we arranged our first outing, to a ‘well-being garden’ nearby. We had a walk around, plenty of seats to rest on the way,finished with coffee and cake. A very nice day and one person said it was the first time he’d been out of Solva for years! We also recently arranged a trip to a café for Afternoon Tea. We keep people informed of our activities via posters the monthly Solva newsletter, where we have a Solva Care page. We have volunteer meet-ups twice a year.
Developments
Since August this year we are a charity (essential as village councils are not allowed to ‘trade’).New website, Twitter account, Facebook page. We have just employed a Wen administrator to keep our website updated.Last yearwe had a grant from the Dyfed Powys PoliceCommissioner’s for a project, Stay safe/Stay connected toinform about and prevent scams with various activities: a film evening with talks by the Police Trading Standards and a special coffee morning. We had aleaflet printed, which was distributed to all residents and we ran a quiz in the village newsletter (1stprize – a special phone that vets phone calls). We aim to involve more young people (schools, youth club). We get equipment donated: mobility scooters, wheel chairs, walkers etc. that we can lend to people.
Research & evaluationprojects:Last year we repeated the village questionnaire(92% very supportive of Solva Care).We don’t only monitor Solva Care and research needs ourselves but work in partnership with the HEI sector on research and evaluation. We have a local RME Group and a wider network of collaborators that meet regularly. I am going to touch on two independent studies briefly:
Research on Pilot Phase
Solva Care was one of two case studies researched by Dr Luke Cowie and Prof Ian Rees Jones at Cardiff University to examine the barriers and enablers in setting up a social enterprise.TheManagement Boardwas interviewed twice and documents examined. Found that social enterprises such as Solva Care are strong on social value, can benefit services and communities and increase their share of social care provision. But… have unmet support needs, are disadvantaged in tendering, require policy change and pragmatic solutions.
Feasibility study– methods & results
Dr Bridie Evans Swansea University led a feasibility study in 2016-17. The Research questions were
Is it possible to collect data about Solva Care, what can we collect and what can we learn?
Standardised Questionnaires to Solva Care clients and volunteers on well-being, social interaction, health service usage(n=57) 79% response.Looked at the possibility of linking questionnaire data with routinely collected health service data held in the SAIL data base.Focus groups with Solva Care clients and volunteers on experience of volunteering and using Solva Care. Results were as follows:
- Improve Solva Care data base for research purposes.
- Good response to questionnaires (79%).
- 84% happy for data to be linked.
- Data collection and linkage successful.
- Focus groups very positive about Solva care providing practical and emotional support. Volunteers get a lot out of the role.
- Service has potential to reduce un-scheduled care and length of hospital stay.
See our website solvacare.co.uk for full reports.
Visions
In April 2017 we moved from the pilot phase into a new area: Wellbeing & Prevention.Also, our plans have all along included being able to provide hands on care, in addition to the voluntary scs. We think it can be done a lot better, more suited to need and what people actually want. We are running into all sorts of red tape and obstacles, which we are working on to overcome.Started building relations with private care companies in our area and local carers.Aim to staying flexible and responsive to further improve our community
We have created aLocal skills list (inspired by Community Catalysts, Somerset), and started on a list of local carers. We are now delivering meals for those who can’t get to the luncheon club. Working on a ‘tool box’ in order to spread to other communities.We do sometimes get asked to help people in neighbouring communities butsadly have to say no. The reason that Solva Care works is that Solva is a small and close knit community (also some volunteers don’t drive). But we are happy to share our experiences in setting up Solva Care - rather than others ‘reinventing the wheel’.
Connecting our community
This is our tag lineand exactly what this is about; it’s making our already friendly and caring community even better.More residents are getting to know each other and what we are doing is making sure people don’t fall through cracks.There have been some unexpected effects. It’s not just one way thing with a volunteer helping someone, but the volunteers are happier, less lonely, making new friends and feeling useful.
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