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The best things in life are free: community-powered advocacy
- Author:
- WIGHTMAN Clare
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 17(1), 2013, pp.25-31.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Purpose – This is an opinion piece about exploring fresh approaches to advocacy for older and disabled people. The purpose of the paper is to suggest a new role for professional advocates. Professional advocacy help can be an important first step to a stronger life or it can be a revolving door. It makes all the difference when we've got people around us who can help us to get over problems, and not feel we're stuck on our own. But most users of services have no one whom they can turn to when things get tough for them. What if we designed advocacy services so they acted on the causes of demand for advocacy, rather than delivered a number of advocacy transactions? Design/methodology/approach – This article uses the experiences of Grapevine in Coventry and draws on the findings of a project conducted with advocacy organisations in the Midlands and South East, many of whom felt that professional advocacy was not getting to the root of the problem. Findings – Advocacy practice is about being a corrective to failures in other services and an intermediary between service users and providers. It can be very vulnerable at times to being seen as an “add-on” of unproven value. Practical implications – The article asks practitioners to consider the new role advocates might play in developing and connecting networks of local people for mutual help and support. This “community-powered” advocacy could provide effective root cause help and protect the sector's legitimacy during unprecedented financial austerity. Originality/value – The paper is of value to practitioners and commissioners of advocacy services.
Personalisation through person-centred thinking with older people
- Authors:
- SANDERSON Helen, BAILEY Gill, BOWERS Helen
- Journal article citation:
- Community Connecting, 23, November 2009, pp.14-16.
- Publisher:
- Community Connecting
Using case examples, this article describes the Practicalities and Possibilities Development Programme, which was developed by the Older People's Programme, the Centre for Policy on Ageing and Helen Sanderson Associates to help councils and their NHS partners work together to improve outcomes for older people using a range of person-centred techniques, and has been running in 9 local authorities in England over 18 months. The programme includes a resource pack containing lessons and stories showing how the areas (Bournemouth, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Dorset, Enfield, Hounslow, Leicester, and Tameside) created a personalised approach using different person-centred tools to learn who the older person is, what is important to them and how they want to be supported. The article sets out the lessons from the local authorities' work for helping older people experience the benefits of personalisation, including involving older people from the start both individually and collectively to identify key priorities, developing partnerships, the importance of a strategic approach with support from a senior lead, investing in creating the right conditions for change, and recognising that it is change both for staff and for older people and families.
Working out at the memory gym
- Author:
- BARNES Colin
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Dementia Care, 18(1), January 2010, pp.18-19.
- Publisher:
- Hawker
Using the example of groups for people with mild memory problems run by speech and language therapists in Portsmouth, this article reports on therapy for people with mild memory impairment. It describes how, after reviewing the therapy programme in 2006, the team identified three key factors to drive future service developments: a clear link between achieving improvement in function and mildness of memory impairment, an increasing health promotion and prevention agenda locally and nationally recognising the importance of good cognitive health, and an increase in referrals of people who were presenting with very mild memory impairments. A new form of memory group for people with very mild memory impairment was established, called the Memory Gym, using paper-based and computer-based exercises, and aiming to provide support and advice for people with very mild memory impairments, explore the use of cognitive exercises in a group setting, enable individuals to identify the most suitable memory strategies and cognitive exercises for their own use, enable individuals to develop lasting memory strategy use, and enable the development of resources and experience that could be used to promote cognitive exercise more widely in Portsmouth. The first three groups were evaluated using client reports and a client-completed evaluation form, with generally positive results.
Quality of life partnership: promoting the opportunities arising from an ageing society
- Authors:
- DOUGLAS Barbara, NICHOLLS Mary
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 13(4), December 2009, pp.34-38.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This article explains how an award winning initiative has had a significant effect on the way older people are engaged in the city of Newcastle. The Quality of Life Partnership (QoLP), formed in 2004, is made of the Elders Council of Newcastle, Age Concern Newcastle, Newcastle Health City and Newcastle City Council. The QoLP’s strategy is formed around five aims – ‘Older people making a contribution’, ‘Access to information, advice and advocacy’, ‘Mental, Emotional and physical health and wellbeing’, ‘Older person friendly neighbourhoods’ and ‘Being financially secure’. Research carried out indicated the need for older people to be able to find out about services that could help them stay independent, which led to the QoLP developing Information NOW – a central database of information that older people, cares and staff can access. The authors examine the benefit this database has had, and how it is being evolved through constant dialogue with both older people and agencies.
Being 'in control' - individual budgets for older people in West Sussex
- Author:
- GOLDINGHAM Jane
- Journal article citation:
- Working with Older People, 10(3), September 2006, pp.19-23.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The author reports on the West Sussex pilot, the first of 13 pilot sites across England, which is introducing individual budgets for people using care services. The article considers the policy context and explores some of the potentials for older people together with some of the challenges surrounding the implementation. It also contains two case studies.
Effects of using nursing home residents to serve as group activity leaders: lessons learned from the RAP project
- Authors:
- SKRAJNER Michael J., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Dementia: the International Journal of Social Research and Practice, 13(2), 2014, pp.274-285.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Previous research has demonstrated that persons with early to moderate stage dementia are capable of leading small group activities for persons with more advanced dementia. In this study, the authors built upon this previous work by training residents in long-term care facilities to fill the role of group activity leaders using a Resident-Assisted Programming (RAP) training regimen. There were two stages to the programme. In the first stage, RAP training was provided by researchers. In the second stage, RAP training was provided to residents by activities staff members of long-term care facilities who had been trained by researchers. The effects of RAP implemented by researchers and by activities staff member on long-term care resident with dementia who took part in these RAP activities were examined and the effects produced by two types of small group activities: two Montessori-based activities and an activity which focuses on persons with more advanced dementia, based on the work of Jitka Zgola, were also looked at. Results demonstrate that levels of positive engagement seen in players during RAP (resident-led activities) were typically higher than those observed during standard activities programming led by site staff. In general, Montessori-Based Dementia Programming® produced more constructive engagement than Zgola-based programming (ZBP), though ZBP did increase a positive form of engagement involving observing activities with interest. In addition, RAP implemented by activities staff members produced effects that were, on the whole, similar to those produced when RAP was implemented by researchers. Implications of these findings for providing meaningful social roles for persons with dementia residing in long-term care, and suggestions for further research in this area, are discussed. (Edited publisher abstract)
More than words - intergenerational participation and mental health
- Authors:
- BALL Amy, CUMMERSON Rivkah
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 15(4), 2011, pp.175-182.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
This paper describes a radio project involving intergenerational participation work in which young and older people using mental health services learnt how to interview, role play, and put radio shows together. Over one weekend in September 2010, 5 older people and 4 younger people, ranging in age from 14 to 85 years, explored their personal experiences of, and reactions to, age and mental health discrimination through the medium of radio. The project involved collaboration between Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and community radio. The project provided fun and the acquisition of new skills, resulting in a product that could reach a wide audience. Intergenerational work gave the participants an opportunity to challenge stereotypes and gain confidence, and the resulting radio programme invited listeners to challenge their own prejudices in relation to age and mental health.
Personalisation in practice: lessons from experience: making personal budgets, support planning and brokerage work for people in later life
- Author:
- ORELLANA Katharine
- Publisher:
- Age UK
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 45p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The aim of this document is to influence the way that self-directed support is being implemented so that it meets the needs of older people, to share knowledge and experience that contribute to its effective delivery, and to contribute to the personalisation agenda. It outlines the specific circumstances of older people and the benefits of personal budgets for older people, and draws attention to the needs of those who fund their own care and support. It emphasises the need for targeted support planning and brokerage services and sets out messages for local authorities about personal budgets and ensuring effective support planning and brokerage. It also presents a range of case studies focusing on Age Concern and Age UK services and service users across England. The report notes that people in later life are less likely to want to take on responsibility for managing their budget and organising their care and support themselves, but welcome the opportunity to exercise choice and control over the care and support they receive.
Lanarkshire's managed care network: an integrated improvement collaborative
- Author:
- HENDRY Anne
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Integrated Care, 18(3), June 2010, pp.45-51.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
“Promoting the Development of Managed Clinical Networks” set a strategy in place for the development of MCNs in Scotland, where they operate on a local, regional or national basis. This article describes how MCNs enable virtual integration of health, social care and housing service delivery, through collaborative working across care sectors within an agreed governance framework. When focused on outcomes and experience for service users and carers, they can provide integrated support for improvement in the pathways, processes and experience of care and support for older people. The article provides a case study of the development of a managed care network of health and social care partners in Lanarkshire in the context of current policy drivers in Scotland. It outlines the process of transforming the policy into practice, asks what should we integrate, and then considers the integration of resources. The author suggests that by ensuring that the resources available follow the patient to where they add most value, the integration framework development programme hopes to evidence a sustainable shift in the balance of care, improved experience, and better outcomes for both service users and carers.
"Wheelchair access? That's a lifestyle choice!": lessons from a pilot advocacy service in south west England
- Author:
- BRIGHT Les
- Publisher:
- Older Peoples Advocacy Alliance
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 32p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Stoke-on-Trent
The title of this report is based on a direct quote from an exchange between an advocate and a member of staff of a housing association when discussing the situation facing a disabled tenant, and the difficulties the tenant was experiencing with wheelchair access to their home. The exchange took place during the evaluation on which this report is based. It highlights the prejudice and misunderstanding experienced by some advocacy service users, and indicates the valuable role that independent advocates can play in helping people to get their voices heard and action taken. This report highlights lessons arising from the evaluation of a pilot advocacy service for people with physical and sensory disabilities, and older people experiencing general frailty, in South West England during 2008. Combining findings from the project evaluation with reflections from the advocacy scheme’s staff and case examples, the report provides an in-depth insight into the emergence of an innovative independent advocacy scheme and the issues and factors which influenced its success.