Notice Board

MyManchesterServices
Manchester City Council has launched a new section on its website called "MyManchesterServices". This is aimed at adults who need advice, information, health and fitness activities, social opportunities or other services to help improve their quality of life. You can build up a list of services and opportunities near you. If you register with the site you can save your search and return to it at any time, making this your personalised directory.
(If you would like your organisation to be added to this directory you can contact the team by email at: mymanchesterservices@manchester.gov.uk.)
Link: www.manchester.gov.uk/MyManchesterServices

Improving Safeguarding for Adults
A consultation on the review of No Secrets has been launched. How can the VCS contribute to the development of better tools to safeguard adults from abuse and improve our own processes and procedures?
Link: Safeguarding Adults

Consultation on No Secrets Guidance

 Government have recently published a consultation document on the review of the No Secrets Guidance for Safeguarding Adults. Reconciling safeguarding with the Personalisation Agenda was discussed at the Manchester Older People's Network meeting in October. VCS organisations agreed to meet to discuss the review in more detail, at the MACC office on Wednesday November 26 at 10am until 11.30.

Please confirm your attendance by contacting Mary Duncan at MACC. 

Hate Crime Research
Reported crime against disabled people has come to the fore in recent years, yet there is no agreed or common understanding of what disability hate crime is.  Breakthrough UK has obtained funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to find out more about the way organisations define and respond to reports of hate crime, or related incidents.  The main aim of this study is to develop and share greater understanding of disability hate crime, and how this compares with understanding about hate crime toward other groups.
Even if you think organisation does not do anything in this area your response will help the research. The survey can be downloaded below and should take about 20 minutes to complete.  Please return the questionnaire to Breakthrough UK by Monday 27th October. There will be a conference in March 2009 to launch the report of the findings of this study.
Download: hcquestionnaire.doc
Link: Breakthrough UK

Support for Young People with Chronic Health Conditions
Staying Positive Workshops are a series of three one-day workshops delivered over a period of six weeks for young people aged 12-18 who are living with a long-term health condition. The workshops give them the skills to improve the management of their condition from both a health and social perspective. They've been developed through working with teenagers on the format and content - including delivery of the sessions by young people aged between 14 and 25 who are themselves living with a long term condition. The workshops are usually held on a Saturday, Sunday or during the school holidays to prevent the loss of school time. A trained responsible adult is always on site to assist the young facilitators if any difficulties arise during the workshops. The North West Launch of Staying Postive takes place on 7th November 2008 at  Urbis, Cathedral Gardens, Manchester from 1pm till 3pm including buffet lunch and will cover:

• About the Staying Positive programme
  
• How the programme helps local trusts meet obligations under Every Child Matters and the Children’s NSF
• Hearing directly from young people who have experienced the programme and find out what it has meant to them
• How to make it happen in your area and network over lunch

Be in the know...join the MACC mailing list!
Join our rapidly expanding mailing list to get the latest updates from MACC on your chosen areas of interest. You can choose from Health and Social Care, Children and Families, Health and Well-being,Older People, Voluntary Sector Development, Mental Health, Advocacy Services and Community Engagement. If you're not already on our list, it’s simple to join, just;
   1. Click on the link below,
   2. Print the form,
   3. Complete all sections and,
   4. Post to : MACC FREEPOST, NAT 4533,  PO Box 189, Manchester M30 3BR.
We will send you information via email and/or post as you wish on your chosen interests... and it's all for FREE.
Link: MACC Contact Database Form

New national umbrella group
A new organisation called National Voices to bring together groups of health and social care patients, service users and carers to give them a stronger collective voice in policy-making at a national level. This seems to fill a gap which MACC has long identified in engaging with the policy and decision makers at Westminster. Further details can be found on their website:
Link: National Voices

Manchester Adult Social Care Consultation
Manchester City Council's Adult Social Care Department is asking for people to respond to a questionnaire about their services and policies. The aim is to gather feedback from people using the services, their carers and the general public about the present services and plans for the future.
There have been a lot of changes recently in the provision of home care services and with the personalisation agenda more changes are on the way. The deadline for responses is 7th November 2008.
Link: Adult Social Care Consultation
Link: Download the consultation form (Word Document)

DAST newsletter
The Drug and Alcohol Strategy Team at Manchester City Council (known as "DAST") has released the first edition of a new quarterly newsletter for groups in Manchester interested in issues for carers and families of people with substance misuse problems. This edition includes a questionnaire to gather the views of carers and service users which will inform the DAST's future work.
Download: catalyst_july08.doc
Link: About DAST

Worforce Development Funding Guide
Skills for Care, Skills for Health and Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) have produced a workforce development funding guide aimed at employers in the social care and health sector. Click on the link below to download a copy.
Download: nw_hsc_funding_guide.doc

Adult Social Care Workforce Development
In October, the Government will be publishing a strategy for the development of the workforce delivering health and social care services for adults. It will cover workers in all sectors - public, private and voluntary. In moving to services shaped around the user under the "Personalisation" agenda, the range of people who deliver those services is going to change, so this strategy should be an indication of how far these changes are expected to go. The Department of Health has produced an "interim statement" to give people some ideas of what will be in the final strategy.
Link: Department of Health

CRB Checks for Volunteers
In June, the Office of the Third Sector released guidance to make clear what groups using volunteers need to do about Criminal Records Bureau checks. This is intended as a reply to concerns that some volunteers are being put off by the CRB check process. Obviously, organisations do need to manage risks in people doing voluntary work with children or vulnerable adults and there are some legal requirements but this new guidance tries to explain where a formal CRB check fits with other steps such as interviewing, training and getting references.
Link: Guidance on CRB Checks for Volunteers (pdf)
Link: Criminal Records Bureau

NHS Next Stage Review
As you'll have seen in the national media, the final report of Lord Darzi's "NHS Next Stage Review" has now been published which "sets out a vision for an NHS with quality at its heart." It includes a number of messages which would be expected such as increased emphasis on (i.e. by spending money) prevention of illness, choice and control for patients, changes to the system under which new drugs are approved for NHS use. Perhaps one of the most telling features in terms of the direction the Government wishes the NHS to go is the introduction of personal budgets for people with long term conditions - based on the same model which is currently being rolled out within social care services.
Link: Department of Health - Darzi Report
Link: King's Fund briefing on Darzi Report

Consultation on GP out of hours services in Manchester
Manchester PCT is planning to re-contract for the provision of GP services which operate outside normal opening hours. They have set up a short online survey to gather views on some of the key ways the new provider should operate. To take part, please click on the link below.
Link: Out of hours survey

Carers Strategy 2008
The Government has published its short-term agenda and long-term vision for the future care and support of carers. It's accompanied by a £255 million investment to implement some immediate steps alongside medium and long-term plans in areas such as respite,  health checks and young carers issues.
Link: Department of Health
Link: Manchester Carers Forum

What happens to the workforce
This report from the Improvement and Development Agency presents the findings of a study that explored "outsourcing" (i.e. services being provided by external agencies rather than local authorities) within adult social care. It examines how this is affecting the workforce in local government. As the personalisation agenda takes hold, more people using social care services are themselves becoming employers - so what will the care workforce of the future look like?
Link: IDeA website

Shifting the Balance of Care to Local Settings
The Department of Health commissioned The King's Fund, in partnership with Loop2, to undertake a simulation-based project to understand how a shift in the balance of care from hospital to community settings could take place. This report shares the learning that emerged from this project.
Link: The SeeSaw report

Self Directed Support Discussion Document
MACC has produced a discussion document on the future funding of social care services and the development of Self Directed Support. It's available in the Reports section or via the link below.

Link: MACC paper on Self Directed Support (word)