Notice Board

Survey About Chemists and Pharmacies
NHS Manchester is conducting a Pharmacy Needs Assessment. This looks at how people use community pharmacies (Chemists) and what people think of them. They want to find out if the services on offer are the ones really needed by local communities, and to help plan and develop the best services for the future.

The survey is online and should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. It’s quite straightforward, so people who aren’t very confident with English should still be able to complete it. They have also tried to make it work with online translation - all you need to do is paste the address (www.surveymonkey.com/nhsmpharmacies) into an online translation engine (e.g. http://translate.google.co.uk/) to view and use the survey in a wide range of languages. Automatic translation is imperfect, but the survey should still be clear enough to use.

Also available is a TalkingHealth Telephone Survey Line (0161 765 4040) for people who don’t want to fill the survey in online. This is a voicemail box to collect people’s names and contact numbers ready for us to call them back during the week of 5th to 9th July 2010 to conduct the survey over the phone. Because you are only asked to leave your details (and any preferred call back time), you would only pay for a local-rate call of typically less than a minute. You can also use this line to request paper copies of the survey - just leave your address details instead of your phone number.

Link: www.surveymonkey.com/nhsmpharmacies

Manchester Stroke Questionnaire
Throughout June and July 2010 NHS Manchester and Manchester City Council will be working with local GPs to carry out a survey of people who have had a stroke and/or their carers to guide the development of stroke services in Manchester.  If you are a stroke survivor / carer / group  this is an opportunity to give feedback. If, by the end of July, you have not received a questionnaire, contact Val Bayliss-Brideaux on 0161 765 4168 or email talkinghealth@manchester.nhs.uk. Help will be available with to complete questionnaires if needed.

Reforming Adult Social Care law
As noted back in February, the Law Commission (Government's advisory body on legislative reform) has prodced proposals for a single act to govern Adult Social Care in England & Wales. In theory, this will bring clarity to the system of adult social care, but there is a question of how it will fit with personalisation and individual budgets. The consultation section on the Law Commission's website now includes a range of resources for users, carers and voluntary groups. (Consultation ends in June 2010).

Link: Law Commission Consultation
Link: Law Commission Consultation leaflet for the voluntary sector (PDF)

NICE Guidance for Patients and Public
NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) is well known as the organisation which makes recommendations about which particular treatments should be available through the NHS. Since most of this guidance is for professionals, NICE also produces Plain English versions for patients, carers and members of the public. NICE has now introduced a search facility on its website for all these documents making it easier for people to find information they need to make informed choices about treatments. Follow the link below to view the search facility.

Link: NICE Guidance for Patients and Public

Free Personal Care at Home
The proposed Bill will remove the time limit imposed on Local Authorities which relates to the provision of free Personal Care. This Bill is widely welcomed by organisations representing and working for older people. It is seen as another step towards the reform of the Care System.

However, there are concerns about how this initiative will be funded.
Download: personal_care_at_home_bill.doc

Manchester Community Central
MACC is proud to announce the launch of Manchester Community Central, the new support service for Manchester's voluntary and community sector. This is a new service being delivered in a partnership between MACC, Voluntary Action Manchester and Community Network for Manchester. We believe this represents a big opportunity for improving the infrastructure support for Manchester's diverse voluntary and community sector. Click on the link below to download our first ever press release!
Download: manchester_community_central.pdf

Your Care, Your Say
Manchester LINk and MACC held a public meeting in October 'Your Care, Your Say' where we discussed the government's proposals for the future of long term care. The meeting focussed on the future funding of social care in England and the proposals for changing the way we fund the country's social care needs. Read our responses.
Download: response_to_the_green_paper_on_the_future_of_adult_social_care.pdf

Adults Plan 2009
The Adults Health and Wellbeing Partnership's Partnership Delivery Plan sets out how local agencies will work together to increased life expectancy and reduce health inequalities. You can download a copy from our reports section usng the link below.
Link: Health and Wellbeing - Reports

Personal Health Budgets
The Department of Health has published a new leaflet which aims to provide basic information about the new "personal health budgets" system and how to obtain further information.
Link: Department of Health

Advocacy and Safeguarding
The Manchester Safeguarding Adults Board commissioned a working group to explore the development of advocacy services in Manchester as part a range of ways of safeguarding adults from abuse. Below is a link to download the final proposal from that group for developing Safeguarding advocacy services. This will be considered by the Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Manchester City Council on June 19th 2009. The report was scrutinised by the City Council's Adult Social Care Department and it has been their decision that there will be 'no financial consequences for the budget'.
Download: advocacy_cttee_report_june_09_final.doc

The Final Draft of Manchester's Dementia Strategy
Dementia is one of the biggest challenges facing the Health and Social Care economy.At the end of 2007 the joint Policy and Operations group for Older People commissioned a piece of work to produce a Dementia Strategy for Manchester. A multi-agency group was set up to do this work, including representation from the Manchester Carers Forum and the Alzheimer's Society.

Download: manchester_dementia_strategy_2009-2012.doc

Campaign against the abuse of adults
At the Manchester conference on adult abuse held in February, the Manchester Safeguarding Adults Board launched a local campaign to stamp out adult abuse. It has been endorsed by broadcaster Joan Bakewell and former Manchester City footballer Alex Williams. The former goalkeeper said: “All adult have the right to live their life free from neglect or abuse -the abuse of vulnerable adults is criminal."

In 2007/2008 there were 486 investigations of adult abuse across Manchester City with an anticipated rise of 20% in 2008/2009, which includes physical abuse as well as neglect, financial and emotional abuse. Victims include people with mental health problems, those with physical disabilities as well as the elderly.

Broadcaster and older people's champion Joan Bakewell said: “Many people don't realise that the elderly and other vulnerable members of our society can be subject to many different kinds of abuse, including emotional, physical, sexual and financial abuse and neglect." She added:”The aim of this campaign is to raise people's awareness of the potential for this abuse and ensure that they know how to help to prevent it taking place. It is essential that support and protection is available."

Councillor Basil Curley, Executive Member for Adult Social Care for Manchester City Council said: “The abuse of vulnerable members of our community is something that should never be tolerated. Raising awareness is key to stamping out abuse and I really hope more people come forward as a result of the campaign."

If you or someone you know is a victim of adult abuse call 0161 255 8250 (Adult Social Care) or 0161 872 5050 (Greater Manchester Police)

Manchester's Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures on Safeguarding Adults is now available in the Safeguarding Adults Resources section of the MACC website - click on the link below.
Link: Safeguarding Adults Resources

Third Sector Strategy Update
Work is progressing on the development of a Third Sector Strategy for Manchester. The group leading on this work has now produced a short briefing outlining the progress made so far. Click on the link below to download a copy. Alongside this, the first data have been released from the survey of voluntary and community sector organisations carried out during Autumn 2008 to establish a picture of what the "environment for a thriving Third Sector" might look like - including a "headline report" on Manchester. The briefing and the report are available to download on our Third Sector Strategy page: click on the link below to visit the page.
Link: Third Sector Strategy

Review of Adult Social Care Law
The Law Commission is carrying out a review of the range of laws which define and regulate adult social care in England and Wales. There's wide recognition that this is a tangled mess of legislation dating back over 60 years and long overdue for a co-ordinated approach. The review will cover issues such as eligibility criteria and the powers, duties and responsibilities of Local Authorities. The intention is eventually to provide a single legal framework for adult social care. More information and an initial report setting out the scale of the work is available on the Law Commission's website.
Link: Law Commission - Adult Social Care
Link: Scoping Report (pdf)

Manchester Joint Strategic Needs Assessment
The JSNA is a new document which gathers together a great deal of data about needs in Manchester. JSNA's are initiative started by Central Government - and is really about ensuring needs assessment has been carried out so that it informs the commissioning processes across both health and social services. 
It has been developed by the Joint Health Unit in partnership with Manchester NHS, Children's Services and Adult Social Care. As this is the first JSNA it really provides a baseline reference document - so it includes a policy update and local data. It also contains some initial recommendations. It's clearly shaped by the current Children and Young People's Plan and will inform future versions along with plans for Manchester NHS.  
For voluntary sector groups it provides useful data in terms of evidence of local needs and gives some insight into likely commissioning priorities over the coming years.
The full JSNA and a summary version are now available on the City Council website here:
Link: Manchester JSNA

NHS Manchester Commissioning Strategic Plan
On 26th November, NHS Manchester launched their first Commissioning Strategic Plan - this essentially sets out the big priorities for the local NHS over the next 5 years. These are at first glance unsurprising - life expectancy, reducing under 18 pregnancy, tackling childhood obesity, etc, - but the fact that these have now taken centre stage in the Primary Care Trust's plans and budgeting is a considerable shift towards a preventative health economy. The full document is now available on the NHS Manchester Website and includes some interesting initial observations about the need to engage local voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of these preventative services.
Link: NHS Manchester Commissioning Strategic Plan

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

Campaign to fight the stigma of dementia
The Alzheimer's Society has launched a national campaign based on its research into the experiences of people with dementia. This is seen as a five year mission to bring dementia "out of the shadows" and draws comparisons with the way cancer was treated as a secret and shameful subject until only a couple of decades ago. Below are links to the campaign homepages and to the report on the BBC News website, both of which feature interviews with author Terry Pratchett about his own experiences of "coming out" following his diagnosis.
Link: Out of the Shadows campaign
Link: BBC News

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

CRB Checks for Volunteers
In June 2008, 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

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

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