Nithsdale Forum

Monday 28th September 2015, North West Resource Centre, Dumfries, 1-3pm.

Attendees:

Alzheimer Scotland / Paula Cochrane
Dumfries and Galloway Carers Centre / Lesley Jeffrey
Global Reach Activism / Lawrence Lobe
Locharbriggs Village Hall / Paul McGregor
Leonard Cheshire Disability / Bill Milven
Loreburn Housing Support Service / Heather Dorling
Loreburn Housing Support Service / Charlotte Soutar
Recovery College (UWS) / Jennifer Challinor
The Hub / Suzanne Lafferty

In attendance:

Nithsdale Area Lead Officer, TS D&G / Selina McMorran
Nithsdale Convener / Sam Johnston
Policy, Research & Community Planning Officer / Hayley McGowan
Social Work Liaison Officer / Shona Jessup

Nithsdale Convener Sam Johnston started off discussions with round table introductions.

Hayley McGowan gave an update of what is happening locally with Health and Social Care Integration, including that draft Locality Plans will be out for consultation on 19th October. Each locality will have different methods for engaging people with the consultation, including online surveys and face to face events. It was agreed to have a ‘special’ meeting again to respond to the consultation together as a forum.

This opened up a discussion on the Integration of Health and Social Care. There was agreement that there needed to be a plain English approach to the consultation, with easy-read versions of the plans made available.

There was some discussion around a common issue among certain groups of the waiting time for care packages to be put in place for service users.

Communication between agencies was another main issue in terms of integration. Shona Jessup provided an update of the ALISS project and directed any enquiries to Ewan Marshall, the Development Officer working on the project.

Shona Jessop gave a presentation on Adult Support and Protection (ASP), including the importance of staff and volunteers working in the third sector knowing where to go to refer an adult they thought could be vulnerable. This opened up a useful discussion on the experiences of third sector organisations when dealing with ASP issues.

The streamlining of referral systems was an issue raised at the last Nithsdale forum, and Shona is at the early stages of an ASP scoping exercise to understand the level of awareness and knowledge of ASP in the third sector. Shona is the third sector representative on the Adult Protection Committee, and is working with the Lead Officer for ASP on this.

Sam Johnston thanked everyone for taking the time to attend the forum.

Issues for discussion in the future:

- Asset Transfer and Community Empowerment

- Examples of successes in the third sector rather than challenges

Actions:

- a ‘special’ meeting again to respond to the consultation together as a forum

- Hayley to upload Shona’s PowerPoint slides to Third Sector, D&G website