Autism Argyll
Minute of committee meeting held on Monday 16th November 2015, 40 Union Street, Lochgilphead.
Present: Alison Leask, Sheila Campbell, Julia Hannah, Anne Horn & Maureen Mackintosh
.Apologies: Fiona El Taweel, Gina Stewart, Alison McQuade , Alison Hay, Lorna Davidson & Jim Curnyn.
Alison welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially our new members Anne and Julia. The meeting wasn’t quorate so minutes need to ratified at the next meeting.
Treasurer’sreport: Maureen informed the meeting that the bank balance on 6th October was £8,980.83. We have £45,000 in the Cambridge and Counties Bank.
The OSCR return had been completed and posted. We hadn’t heard anything back so presume it is all in order.
Coordinator’s report: Maureen presented her report.
Website & Newsletter: There has been a technical problem with the website being updated. Anne Lavelle has had a look at it and thought it was sorted but there’s still a glitch. Anne thinks I might be to do with the software needing updated and she’s going to come back and take a look. A newsletter was produced following the AGM and one will be produced before Christmas.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to continue to update website and produce a newsletter before Christmas.
AGM: The AGM was held in September and was well attended. Michael McCreadie proved to be a popular speaker.
Homestart, Oban: Maureen and Joyce from the Get Set 4 Autism project, delivered a presentation to members of Home Start in Oban on 27th August which was well received.
Ardrishaig Church Guild: Maureen delivered a presentation to Ardrishaig Church Guild on 10th November. Maureen tabled the evaluations which showed it was well received.
General duties: mail, e-mail, writing up of minutes/reports, maintaining records and dealing with enquiries. There have been 16 enquiries to the Autism Argyll office since the last committee meeting.
Chair’s Report: Alison presented her report.
Argyll & Bute Autism Strategy Group: Alison attended a meeting of this group on 30th September. It was well attended. Allen Stevenson, Argyll and Bute’s Project Manager for Integration is to be the new chair of the group, replacing John Dreghorn. Alison had emphasised the need for more commitment from a strategic level and an implementation plan to be developed following on from Argyll and Bute’s Autism Strategy. Alison is meeting with Allen Stevenson next week to give him some background to the Strategy group, to provide him with more information about resources and to discuss the future of the group.
Alison informed the meeting that an Argyll and Bute transition group has been formed. She asked Maureen to ask at the next meeting (23/11/15) if there was to be someone with an autism expertise attending this group.
ACTION POINT:Alison and Maureen to continue to attend meetings and report back to group.
Adult Diagnostic Subgroup: A review meeting was held of this group to ascertain what has been achieved and discuss future plans. There were various issues around organisational structure, capacity issues funding. The service is still not mulit-disciplinary and several skill sets are missing. Alison informed the meeting that Julie Hempleman and Jayne Carruthers have been given diagnostic training and that 3 members of the Learning Disabilites team are to be trained in the ADOS diagnostic tool as well.
There followed a wide ranging discussion on the authority’s lack of strategic thinking with regards to autism.
Scottish Autism: Alison had attended an event at Scottish Autism to celebrate the first anniversary of their Centre of Practice Innovation. There had been some very good presentations, especially one on palliative care.
Alison, in her role as Vice Chair of Scottish Autism, attended a workshop on governance with 2 other Scottish Autism board members.
Get Set 4 Autism:
This project is continuing to develop. Unfortunately, Joyce Munro, is unwell and unlikely to be back in post for some time. Her position has been filled by Clare Young. At present we are supporting 18 families throughout Argyll & Bute.
Proposed Council Cuts: There was a discussion around the proposed budget cuts by the council, in particular the proposals around ASN. Autism Argyll had been asked by Argyll and Bute’s Parents Against Council Cuts group in Oban if we would like to attend a meeting they were holding and for us to give a short statement in support. Alison had written a short statement which she had planned to send to the parents. However, Julia said she was going to attend so she agreed to read it out on Autism Argyll’s behalf.
Anne said she thought it possible that the proposed ASN cuts will be withdrawn from the final budget proposals and although parents would be relieved at that, they may not be aware of the impact of other proposals on services.
Alison read from a review of ASN which she had been sent by Councillor Rory Coliville. Alison said she would circulate this to the committee.
ACTION POINT: Julia to attend meeting in Oban. Alison to circulate ASN review.
Spring event: There was a discussion around our next event which we hope to hold in the Spring of 2016. Peter Vermeulen was suggested as a possible speaker. It was agreed that Maureen contact Mike McCreadie to ask what he thought and ask him to suggest other speakers connected to AT-Autism.
ACTION POINT: Maureen to contact Mike.
AOCB: None
Date of next meeting: TBA – Maureen to send e-mail offering two dates (12th and 13th January) and see which one is most popular.