LINk
POOLE
Annual Report 2011
Poole LINk is a network of local people and groups who want to improve health and
social care services. The LINk listens to what YOU have to say and tells councils
& the NHS what it discovers, so that together we can make a change.
YOU SaID - We DID
“We are really
worried about council cuts”
What You Told Us…
What We Did…
We worked with local
groups, service users & carers to tell the
Council what people were worried about.
“We are
concerned about maternity
services in Poole”
What You Told Us…
What We Did… We worked with new
parents, children’s centres & midwives to
find out more about Poole maternity services.
Result... Some services weren’t cut, e.g.
employment support for people with learning
disabilities. This year we’ll be evaluating the
impact of social care cuts in Poole by carrying
out a research project.
Result... The LINk’s recommendations have
led to a new bedside information leaflet, more
ante-natal classes and a refurbished maternity
unit. Find out more on page 4.
“We want
simple & clear information about
social care”
What You Told Us…
What We Did… We held an event for over
50 people and made recommendations to the
Borough of Poole.
What You Told Us… “We don’t
know how to find an NHS
Dentist”
What We Did…We gathered over 800
comments about dentistry and our report
resulted in a local NHS campaign in 2010 to
help people find an NHS dentist. For help
contact Dorset Dental Helpline 01202 854443.
Result... Our local councils have now set
up the ‘source’ website, simple information
with a feedback section for you to comment on
services. Have a look at:
org.uk or call the Social Care Helpdesk.
Telephone: 01202 633902
STOP
PRESS
NHS Bournemouth and Poole has
begun the process for procuring a
new NHS dentist in Hamworthy, to
meet the LINk’s recommendation.
Here’s a list of
local groups
who are
registered with
Poole LINk:
15 Days in Clay
Action Against
Allergy (AAA)
Action for
Children
AECC
Chiropractic
College
Agincare UK Ltd
Alzheimers
Society
BCHA Domestic
Violence Project
BCHA Surf Group
Body Positive
Dorset
Bosum Buddies
Bournemouth
and Poole
MDF Bi-Polar
Organisation
Bournemouth
Chinese School
Bournemouth
Churches
Housing
Association
Bournemouth
Independent
Providers
Association
Bournemouth &
Poole Branch of
Epilepsy Action
Bournemouth
People First
Bournemouth
University Carer
& Service User
Partnership
Group
Bridging
Communities
Broadstone
Access Group
Broadstone
Youth Centre
PAGE 2
How Poole LINk works
Poole LINk has almost doubled in size over the last year. We now have over
700 participants, including 137 local groups and organisations. We’ve
listed all the groups who are part of Poole LINk in this annual report. If
you’d like to join them and help us improve health and social care in Poole,
get in touch.
Over the past year we’ve gathered over 1200 comments from local
people about health and social care services in Poole. This chart shows
what you’ve been telling us:
Other health & social care
Access to Information7%
23%
Dentistry
5%
Hospitals
11%
Other health & social care, 89 Dentistry, 59
Access to Information, 285
Hospitals, 136
Maternity
8%
Mental Health
6%
GP’sMaternity, 96 CarersPharmacy
10%
4%
Mental Health, 68 6% 74 Pharmacy, 53 GP’s, 125Carers,
Social Care,
241
Social Care
20%
Dentistry
Hospitals
Social Care
GP’s
Pharmacy
Carers
Mental Health
Maternity
Access to Information
Other health & social care
GETS
WHAT
GOAT?
YOUR
The LINk collects your
comments at public
events, from GP surgeries,
hospitals, social services,
on the phone and by email
“I’m really worried that the cuts to social
services will have a negative effect on
people’s mental health”
PAGE 3
Who Does the Work?
A Stewardship Group, chaired by Barbara Plumbridge, oversees the work of
the LINk. The group makes decisions about LINk projects and promotions to
turn your comments into the LINk’s workplan.
Barbara says, ‘I feel privileged to Chair the Poole Stewardship Group and with
the help and support of Louise Bate from Help & Care we have grown and
developed. Please use LINks – it can’t work without you!’
Each project has its own group using volunteers with a special interest in the
subject.
We have a LINk visiting team, volunteers who have received special training
and are CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) checked. These volunteers can visit
health or social care services to find out more about them.
We also have a LINk Reading Group, 11 volunteers who help the NHS and
Council to produce easy to read information, without all the jargon.
Rachel, from the LINk reading group,
says, “I’m passionate about clear,
customer focused reports and leaflets
and I despair at some of the things
published by large organisations or the
public. It’s great to have the opportunity
to make a difference.”
Lots of other volunteers help with
LINk publicity and promotion stands,
like Lynne Fisher pictured here at our
social care event.
If you’d like to be more involved in the
LINk, please contact Louise Bate,
LINk Ambassador Lynne Fisher
Development Officer on
and her PA Kornelia Levai
0300 111 0102.
Our achievements
Here’s some more achievements from the past year that we’re really proud of:
•
•
•
•
•
We helped the Borough of Poole to write their strategy for engaging
people in council decisions about social care.
The LINk reading group helped the NHS to write an ‘easy to under
stand’ Community Health Services quality account.
We held a Fertility Services focus group in September 2010, empowering
local people to have their say about service changes.
By working with carers, local groups and Borough of Poole councillors
we contributed to a new ‘Carers in crisis’ card.
We took part in the Bournemouth & Poole Dignity and Respect for
Older People’s project.
Care Ambassador
Scheme
Care South
Carter Community
School
Cherry Tree
Nursery
Church of the
Good Shepherd
Parish Nursing
Project
Community Mental
Health Team
Concern with
Hearing
Connexions
Coping with Chaos
Crumbs Café
Diabetes UK
Poole Group
Disability Wessex
Diverse Abilities
Dogs for the
Disabled
Dorset Adult
Aspergers Society
(DAAS)
Dorset Advocacy
Dorset African
Caribbean
Assocation
Dorset Blind
Association
Dorset Business
Chamber of
Commerce and
Industry
Dorset Cancer
Network
Dorset Cardiac &
Stroke Network
Dorset Epilepsy
Service
Dorset Gypsy
Liaison Service
Dorset Fire &
Rescue
Dorset Healthcare
NHS Foundation
Trust
Dorset Epilepsy
Service
Dorset Gypsy
Liaison Service
Dorset Fire &
Rescue
Dorset
Healthcare NHS
Foundation Trust
Dorset Mind
Dorset Probation
Dorset Race
Equality Council
DOTs Disability
East Dorset
Mental Health
Carers Forum
Enham
Expert Patient
Programme
Faithworks
Fibromyalgia
Support Group
Fourways Day
Centre
Friends of
Rossmore Library
Hamworthy
Advice Project
Hamworthy
Library
Hamworthy Safer
Neighbourhood
Team
Harbour
Challenge
Headway
Healthpoint
Help and Care
Hillborne
& District
Community
Association
Hope FM
ICAS –
Independent
Complaints &
Advocacy Service
Ignite
Intercom Trust
PAGE 4
Money Matters
LINks are funded by the local Council, using money
allocated to it by the Department of Health. In 2010-
2011 the total funds the LINk received from Poole
Borough Council was £92,700. In addition, we carried
forward £33,915 from previous years.
We spent £68,960 on staffing (which includes LINk
Development and Communications Officers, together with administration,
helpline, finance and management staff), office and running costs.
We spent £20,739 on:
LINk projects (including reviews of services, questionnaires and surveys)
Engagement (organising events and meeting groups and individuals to
get their experiences of, and views on, their local health and social care
services)
Marketing and Communication (including e-bulletins, newsletters,
advertising, web site etc.)
The Community Chest (grants to local community groups)
Meetings costs and reimbursement of the out-of-pocket expenses of LINk
participants.
During the year, we made savings on our original spending plans, so as to
build up funds which could be carried forward into next year and used to help
fund extra work related to the transition from LINks to HealthWatch.
Maternity Project
The LINk started receiving some comments about maternity services last
summer so we decided to find out more by visiting parent & baby sessions
and gathering feedback from children’s centres, breastfeeding groups and
midwives.
We gathered over 80 comments and
used them to make recommendations
Hannah
to Poole Hospital. As a result, the
(Link Communications Officer)
hospital are improving their bedside
and her new daughter Lila
information leaflet, putting on more
ante-natal classes and refurbishing the maternity unit. The unit has also
employed extra staff and the LINk is working with them to devise a more
effective way of gathering patient feedback in the future.
See our full Maternity Report at:
‘The ante natal talks at Poole
Hospital have been stopped. They
should be re-instated, that was the
most helpful thing for me – it was
really practical and helped me feel
more confident’
PAGE 5
Poole LINk Community Grants
Last year we allocated £5000 as LINk Community Grants, to support small
projects in the community. In return, those groups collected peoples views on
their local health and social care services and passed them on to the LINk.
We promoted the grants on our website, through promotion stands & via
flyers sent out across Poole last summer.
We received 22 applications for our LINk Community Grants & used a scoring
system to choose the 10 projects we could afford to fund. Here’s just a few
of the successful applicants.
The Training & Learning Company
The LINk grant funded a series of cookery
demonstrations and buffets in Poole, promoting
healthy home cooking. Raglan Housing Association
went on to fund successful cookery workshops
for their residents.
Hillborne & District
Community association
The LINk community grant helped to refurbish Hillborne Community
Association Centre in January 2011. This busy centre has over 1000
members and runs a wide variety of
community programmes including
the Rose Sequence Dance Club on a
Monday afternoon, shown here.
Everyone is delighted with the
redecoration and more people are
attending the centre since the new
year, ‘It’s so bright and clean now!’
Hamworthy Money advice Project
Paul Thompson (Food Bank Co-ordinator)
applied for the £500 LINk grant to
produce food and supply parcels, for 18
local families in need from Hamworthy
and outlying areas.
Paul explains ‘We expect demand for
food parcels to increase this year,
as there is a further loss of jobs
and benefits’.
We are planning more
LINk Community Grants this year.
Paul and Deane with
the LINk cheque
Keyring
Knightstone
Housing
Association
Lewis Manning
Hospice
Mencap
Motor Neurone
Disease
Association
Multiple
Sclerosis Society
National
Romani Rights
Association
Neighbourhood
Watch
NHS
Bournemouth &
Poole
North Dorset
Older Peoples
Forum
Opticians Onsite
Over the
Rainbow
Partners in Care
Pelvic Pain
Support Network
Poole & District
Phoenix
Stroke Group
Pensioners
Association
Poole Citizens
Advice Bureau
Poole Council
for Voluntary
Services
Poole Day
Centre
Poole Disabled
Club
Poole Food Bank
Poole Forum
Poole Glaucoma
Support Group
Poole Health
& Social Care
Overview
& Scrutiny
Committee
Poole Heart
Support Group
Poole Hospital
NHS Foundation
Trust
Poole Housing
Partnership
Poole Job Centre
Plus
Poole Mental
Health Service
User Forum
Poole Older
Peoples Strategy
Group
Poole Parkinsons
Society
Poole Partnership
Poole Service User
Forum
Poole Youth
Services
Pramacare
PRO Disability
Project Purple
Prospect Tree
Health Care
Services Ltd
Prostate Cancer
Support Network
Raglan Housing
Association
Resound Bus
Project
Rethink
Richmond
Fellowship
Royal
Bournemouth
& Christchurch
Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust
Saaz Aur Awaaz
Samaritans
Seaview Centre
Day Service
Senior Citizens
Information
Service
Senior Moments
Sign It
Skills for Care
PAGE 6
LINk Promotions & events
We held over 140 promotional
events last year. LINk participants
have run display stands,
distributed leaflets, given radio
interviews and written articles for
the LINk newsletter.
We’ve had LINk adverts on
local buses, posters & cards in
pharmacies and appeared in over
20 press articles.
Thanks to everyone who’s helped
to promote Poole LINk.
Hannah, Chris & Louise with the LINk
bus advert
Poole Park Festival
We gave out hundreds of leaflets and gathered over 80 comments from local
people. Local groups and volunteers helped to run the stand, which was a
great way of working together
and sharing information.
Thanks to everyone who
helped.
Poole Town Crier David
Squire, Sean Hayward from
Poole Forum, Cllr. Judy Butt
and a friendly policeman with
the LINk stand at Poole Park
Festival.
Social Care event at Fourways
We held an event in October 2010 to
find out how the Borough of Poole is
meeting the LINk’s recommendations
to improve information. Self-Directed
Support leaflets are now available in
all GP surgeries and a new
information website for Bournemouth,
Poole & Dorset called ‘Source’
has been launched.
Plus, we’ve got a great new
Poole LINk design.
Lindy & Charlie from PRO Disability,
gave a presentation
PAGE 7
What Happens Next?
Planning for HealthWatch –
the future of patient & public engagement
The government’s plans to reform the NHS will
also change LINks into HealthWatch in 2012. Poole
Council will be planning events throughout the
year to find out what’s really important to you. The
future of patient and public engagement has to be
designed by local people if it’s going to work.
evaluating the impact of social care cuts in Poole
We’re working with local groups to find out what effect the social care
cuts have had on service users and carers. As part of this project we’ll be
interviewing local people. There will be a full report in the autumn.
Hospital Discharge Survey
Poole LINk will be surveying
everyone who leaves a Poole
Hospital older people’s ward this
summer. For this project we’ve
been working with the Patient
Advice & Liaison Service, Poole Hospitals matrons, local care homes and
Pramacare. We’ll report on this project in the autumn.
Working with Poole GP’s
We’re planning to work more closely with Poole GP’s
this year, helping them to gather feedback from their
patients.
Working with young people
This year the LINk wants to find out what young people in Poole want from
their health and social care services. We plan to work with young carers,
youth workers and local schools on this project.
SONG – Self
Organised
Network Group
South of England
Advocacy
Projects
Space Youth
Project
Stanley Pearce
House
Strictly Vitality
Student Support
Services
Sunrise Senior
Living
The Butterfly
Foundation
The Hadleigh
Practice
The Hub
The Training
& Learning
Company
U3A
Upton Bosum
Buddies Group
Victim Support
Wessex
Wayfarers
Walking Group
West Dorset
Mental Health
Forum
You decide what the LINk works on –
so tell us what’s important to you
We’re giving away money!
The LINk has £5000.00 to give away as community grants. We want to give
something back to the wider community and these grants will also help us
gather peoples views. If you know a local group that needs some money to
get an idea off the ground, contact us now to find out more.
Louise Bate - Poole LINk Development Officer
896 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH7 6DL
Tel: 0300 111 0102 • Website:
Thanks to
everyone
involved in
Poole LINk,
it can’t work
without YOU
Register now with Poole LINk to receive free LINk updates,
take part in surveys, find out about voluntary opportunities
and make a change.
Telephone: 0300 111 0102
‘Tell us what you think, good or bad,
and if enough people feel the same
we can really make a change’
Email:
www. poolelink.org.uk
Address: Freepost Licence No BH1902, LINks,
896 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH7 6BR
If you would like extra copies of our annual Report
or a version in a different format, please contact us.
Help and Care is the Host Organisation for Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset LINks.
Registered Company No: 318574 Registered Charity No. 1055056