http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/page.cfm?pid=11602&orgid=452
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/documents/direct-payment-policy-e-merge.pdf
http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/family_parent/family/community_care.htm
http://www.disabilitywales.org/about/independant-living/direct-payments
Legislation
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2000/wsi_20001868_mi.pdf
http://opsi.gov.uk/legislation/wales/wsi2006/wsi_20062840_mi.pdf
PDF version Mrs Thomas said:
“Good progress has been made on the Dignity and Respect in Care programme since it was launched in 2007. Older People in Wales should always be treated with respect and never be subject to harm and abuse. Welsh Assembly Government is committed to changing attitudes in Wales where disrespect and abuse of older people is viewed with the same abhoration as the abuse of children. If we can change these attitudes we are part way to achieving dignity and respect for all.
“Over the past three years we in Wales have developed considerable expertise on moving the dignity in care agenda forward. The additional funding will help to build on this success and provide for a safer and fairer environment for older people. I am particularly pleased with our plans for the Dignity in Care Champions which has the potential to make a considerable and sustainable impact across Wales.”
Ruth Marks, Commissioner for Older People, said:
“One of the key priority areas for the Commission is to progress dignity in care work. The commitment shown to this agenda by the Welsh Assembly Government is important and as a Commission we welcome the initiatives proposed by the National Co-ordinating Group. Older people tell us that dignity is a major concern for them and they want to see practical changes to improve care and spread good practice.”
Dr Win Tadd, Chair of the Dignity in Care National Co-ordinating Group, said:
“In the last two years, we have moved forward positively on a number of developments. There is still work to be done and one of the advantages of having a National Co-ordinating Group is that it brings together a range of expertise that is invaluable in this work. However, ensuring older people receive dignified care and are treated with respect remains a responsibility of us all.”
This additional funding will allow a number of initiatives to be progressed in 2010-11, including further small grants to support innovation in the field of dignity in care. Work to integrate the Welsh language will also be taken forward.
Developing the network of Dignity in Care Champions is also planned across Wales. This network will invite individuals who are committed to taking action, however small, to create a care system that has compassion and respect for those using its services.
Each Champion's role will depend on their knowledge, influence and the type of work they are involved in. Champions will be instrumental in helping to make small important local changes to improve the lives of older people in Wales.
http://wales.gov.uk/newsroom/healthandsocialcare/2010/100524dignity/;jsessionid=4YpQL73LGJxsnnFQYYP1W1TB4VGq2v46MHs3t0K9pnJq7qxgV7CC!-1925435667?lang=en
Disability Advice Services Facing a Post-election “double whammy”
DLS were commissioned by the Community Legal Service to conduct a research exercise into the provision of legal advice to Disabled people in Wales.
The findings indicate that Disabled people are struggling to access advice and legal services, and any further future cuts to advice services will only make the situation worse.
“One Stop, Many Shops: joined-up disability advice for Wales” was launched in the National Assembly on Monday March 22nd, with the support of Paul Davies A.M. (Preseli Pembrokeshire).
The report highlights a range of problems faced by disabled people seeking advice in Wales, including:
- Variable provision of advice services across Wales.
- National shortage of lawyers with an experience in disability issues.
- Lack of co-ordination between agencies: disabled people having to re-repeat their case histories.
- Private legal services often unaffordable for disabled people who cannot get Legal Aid.
Carwyn Fowler, DLS Development Officer for Wales and author of the report believes “The ‘double whammy'' is a good way of summing up the situation facing advice services in Wales.
“More people are seeking advice as a result of the 2009 recession. However, advice services are likely to witness major financial cuts in the years after the General Election.”
“Non-statutory advice services are probably more of a ‘frontline’ service than the NHS or social services, in that they can prevent people from having to access the latter, statutory services. Politicians of all parties would do well to heed this message.”
A PDF version is downloadable below, if you requre alternative formats (for example large print, audio) please do not hesitate to contact us at info@dls.org.uk
Download: “One Stop, Many Shops: joined-up disability advice for Wales”
We cannot improve health, social care or education, for example, without building upon and supporting the contributions that people make.
To take this forward, The Citizens' First Wales Team of the Welsh Assembly Government aims to:
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improve customer service in line with "Building Better Customer Service: a Framework for Improvement", the Assembly Government's policy for accessible and responsive public services;
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collect and make use of citizens' views of public services to inform the design, delivery and improvement of public services;
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find ways of giving people a stronger voice in their communities to shape services and priorities to meet current and future needs, guided by our forthcoming public engagement policy; and
- harness Information Communications Technology (ICT) to improve the access and experience of public services by all citizens.
http://cymru.gov.uk/topics/improvingservices/peoplefirst/?lang=en
Social care leaders are confused over the Welsh government's rejection of what it calls the "market-led model" of "personalisation" in favour of one based on "citizen control".
The idea, which implicitly rejects the approach to personalisation taken in England, was set out in the Welsh government's 10-year plan for social services, published last month.
It said the government wanted to create "citizen-centred services", with service users more involved in running services and access to direct payments for all who want them. It distanced itself from the term "personalisation" because it had become "too closely associated with a market-led model of consumer choice".
This would mean a different approach to that taken in England, where councils have been set a target of having all service users on personal budgets by 2013, and are expected to promote a diverse marketplace of services for users to choose from. The term personal budgets is not used in the Welsh government's plan.
However, Welsh social services directors, the Welsh Local Government Association and the service user advocacy group Disability Wales have admitted they are in the dark as to precisely what the Welsh government means.
Beverlea Frowen, director for social services and health improvement at the Welsh Local Government Association, said the WLGA was being funded by the Welsh government to develop a one-year national programme on self-directed support that will draw on examples of innovation in Wales. However, she admitted she was not totally sure what the government's vision entailed.
"There's always been a healthy debate between directors and the assembly [about personalisation], which has been driven by a political ideology," said Jon Skone, director for social care and housing at Pembrokeshire Council. "There's a bit of the Labour government here that didn't like the consumerist element of it. I'm not sure what they mean by it."
Social care consultant and former UK Department of Health finance chief John Bolton, who has visited every Welsh local authority to identify good practice for a forthcoming report, described the Welsh government's approach as applying personalisation to the Welsh context.
This meant there would not be personal budgets for all by 2013, and that private sector care providers would have to fit in with a public sector ethos.
"That's very different from England and I guess more of what we have in Wales is a greater combination with the voluntary sector," he added.
In a statement explaining its approach, the Welsh government said: "We want to give individuals control and that may well be through having control over the money to buy their services; but we also want people to be supported in making their choices.
"Part of this process is to actively engage people who use services to commission the package of services they need, but with support from professionals."
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/03/03/116382/welsh-vision-f...
Community care charges will be capped at £50 a week from next month for service users in Wales, as their counterparts in England face mounting fees.
Under the change, which will affect 14,000 of Wales's 66,000 users of community-based services, recipients on maximum charges in one-third of Welsh authorities will save £7,000 a year. In other councils, those on maximum charges will save between £2,000 and £5,000 a year.
The Welsh reform follows the passage of the Social Care Charges (Wales) Measure 2010, to end the nation's postcode lottery of charges.
Under the new measures, local authorities will continue to set charges as they consider reasonable within the £50 a week limit, subject to specific ceilings.
The maximum charge is the centrepiece of a wider package in Wales worth £10.1m a year to cut charges. This will be introduced on 11 April, and also:
● Bar local authorities from charging for the provision of transport to day centres.
● Provide financial safeguards for people on low incomes.
● Require authorities to introduce a consistent procedure for reviewing charges within a specific timeframe.
By 2013-14, the Welsh government expects to have pumped in an extra £35m to social services on top of the extra £10.1m a year to reimburse local authorities for the loss of income through charging.
The reform is being introduced as the Welsh government plans an overhaul of social services that will include a new countrywide eligibility threshold for adult care, a national adoption agency and regional commissioning, as part of a 10-year strategy.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/03/25/116535/Welsh-cap-care...
Cuts have been made to support for families needing respite care in parts of Wales, figures obtained by the BBC
have shown.
Statistics gained under the Freedom of Information Act show nine councils have reduced how much they plan to spend.
It has led to concern that vulnerable groups are denied support some carers call "light at the end of the tunnel".
The Welsh Government said it was up to councils to ensure they had necessary respite placements.
According to figures provided by 21 of the 22 local authorities to BBC Wales, cuts have been made to defined respite budgets in Blaenau Gwent, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Swansea and Torfaen.
In Carmarthenshire, Conwy and Monmouthshire, the overall residential care budget, which includes provision for respite, has been cut.
In several other counties the budget for respite in 2011-12 was up on last year, but in some cases represented a cut on previous years.
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/Documents/524/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Need...