Notice Board

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

Third Sector Survey
The Office of the Third Sector is carrying out a Third Sector Flexibility Survey addressed to third sector organisations that are currently delivering public services or have been involved in their delivery in the last 12 months. The survey is a follow up to the Cabinet Office publication “Excellence and Fairness: Achieving world class public services”. Through it the Office for the Third Sector aims to improve its understanding of what supports and drives innovation in Third Sector public service delivery.  If your organisation is currently involved or has been involved in public service delivery in the last 12 months, please take the time to complete the survey and return it by 8 September 2008. Click here to complete the survey. Please return this survey even if it is incomplete. All answers are valuable.
Link: Cabinet Office - Third Sector Survey

Review of Older Age Mental Health services in Manchester

The aims of the Commissioners review of older age services is to identify gaps and to identify inequalities in current service provision, both geographically, age boudaries and within different population groups, especially BME communities.

If you want to comment on current services, contact us at MACC or the commissioners direct at tracey.langley@manchester.nhs.uk

Manchester Infrastructure Support Survey
Manchester City Council has launched a consultation survey on the support services currently available for voluntary and community sector organisations. These are currently being provided by Novas Scarman Trust   The information provided will identify how the current service is being used and gaps in provision - which will shape the tender for the new contrct for this work. MACC strongly encourages all local voluntary sector organisations to take part in this survey: there is a clear need to develop the range of support available to the sector and this is the big opportunity to communicate that message to the people who commission the service. Follow the link below to take part. The deadline is 30th September 2008.
A hard copy of the questionnaire can be downloaded from the City Council website or is available from: The Third Sector Team, Corporate Performance Group,  Manchester City Council,  PO Box 532, Manchester M60 2LA   tel: 0161 234 3141.
Link: City Council Infrastructure Support Survey

Urgent Care in Central Manchester
Manchester Primary Care Trust, working with Central Manchester Practice Based Commissioning Group and Manchester City Council, is developing a full specification for urgent care services in Central Manchester. They are asking providers including the voluntary and community sector to contribute to the "design stage" - this will ultimately shape the service specification. If you're interested in contributing to this, you should contact the Greater Manchester Commissioning Business Service (link below) by 20th August 2008.
Download: urgent_care_reform.pdf
Link: Greater Manchester Commissioning Business Service
Link: Manchester PCT - Urgent Care Programme

Draft Dementia Strategy
The Government has published details of its draft dementia strategy. There is a three month consultation period about their plans to improve services and they focus on raising awareness of dementia. The Manchester Older People’s Network have campaigned to improve services and support for people living with dementia, our last public meeting on this issue was in January last year following which we submitted older people’s views to the Department of Health. We will be holding another meeting to discuss the Dementia Strategy but would urge groups to look at the draft and send in their comments.
Link: Department of Health - Dementia Strategy

Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care
"Consultation Workshops” at the Gujarat Centre (GHS Enterprise Ltd), Preston on the 8th September 2008. The Department of Health recognises that volunteering plays a huge potential role in the context of more flexible, responsive and patient-focused health and social care services.  This consultation exercise is designed to discuss and debate the five key elements of the “Towards a strategy to support volunteering in health and social care document”

• Support for individual volunteers
• Effective management within organisations
• Commissioning environment and infrastructure
• Promoting partnership
• Leadership
  

Introduction to Advocacy
Action for Advocacy are holding a training day on advocacy in Manchester on 21st of August. It will focus on defining what advocacy is, different models of advocacy and what constitutes effective practice. The day is aimed at:

• people who are newly working or volunteering in advocacy
• people who are interested in working in the advocacy sector either on a voluntary or paid basis and want to find out more about what it is
• people who work in advocacy services who want to gain a common understanding of what ‘advocacy’ means to everyone in the organisation. 

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

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