Agenda and minutes

Venue: Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Altwood Road, Maidenhead SL6 4PF

Contact: Andy Carswell  Email: andy.carswell@rbwm.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

35.

Welcome and Introductions

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked those present to introduce themselves.

36.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Samreen Aslam, Jayne Donnelly, Pete Ireland, Josephine Crabb, Deborah Maynard, Katie Gear and Craig Miller.

37.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 62 KB

To review and approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

Cllr Majeed stated that a discussion and a request to send out an email had been raised under Partner Updates at the last meeting had not been minuted

 

The Chairman noted Cllr Majeed’s points and stated that as this item was an internal Council matter it should be addressed outside the meeting. Cllr Mrs Rayner also acknowledged the points made by Cllr Majeed and asked if they could be noted and discussed outside the meeting as an internal Council matter. This would allow the meeting to continue.

 

Cllr Majeed requested that it was minuted that he had raised the issue that the minutes did not include a discussion and an action he had raised at the previous meeting of the group .

 

Cllr Majeed left the meeting at 10.22am.

38.

NHS Social Prescribing Project pdf icon PDF 55 KB

To receive a presentation and update on the NHS Social Prescribing Project.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Caroline Hunter introduced the item by explaining that it had been estimated 20 per cent of patients had consulted their GP on what could be considered a social problem, thereby impacting on their wellbeing. The Social Prescribing project had therefore been launched as a means of providing a single point of support for people to receive help through non-medical intervention, such as through different community and/or social groups, thereby reducing the number of inappropriate GP appointments and unplanned hospital admissions and making better use of existing resources. In the first instance patients would be assigned a link worker based in one of the GP practices, who would contact them by phone and work out their best options. However it was stressed that any action taken would be led by the patient and not the case worker.

 

Caroline Hunter stated that isolation and loneliness were the key issues affecting patients within the Royal Borough, particularly amongst the elderly and those who did not have access to their own transport. The key aim of the Social Prescription project was to get patients more actively involved within their community, with the long-term goal of some of them going on to become volunteers. Volunteering group community forums were planned in order to facilitate this process.

 

The group was told that the project had gone live on June 1st at three GP practices, with referrals being limited at the moment to carers, and patients at risk of falls. So far there had been 117 referrals, which had been evenly split between the two target groups. Since the project had launched the number of home visits and face-to-face contact had increased, with some patients receiving this type of treatment for the first time. Caroline Hunter explained that each referred patient would be put onto a 12-week programme; it had not been possible to assess the effectiveness of the scheme as so far nobody had reached the end of the 12 weeks.

 

Following her presentation, Caroline Hunter asked the group if there were any questions. During the question and answer session the following points arose:

 

·         Nighat Ellahi invited the Social Prescription programme to a free drop-in session for carers from ethnic minority backgrounds held each Friday in Desborough 4 at the Town Hall, as a way of increasing awareness of the project amongst harder-to-reach social groups.

·         Social Prescribers would work across more than one GP practice. Their working arrangements were still being worked out.

·         It was hoped the project could be expanded, to include a greater number of GP surgeries and types of patient groups that needed support.

·         Low numbers of volunteers in some sectors meant referrals were sometimes slow; this was a key target to work on.

·         Extra funding for the project was being sought. Some funding had been made available from the STP. The group was reminded that the Council had its annual Grants Scheme, which the project would be welcome to apply for.

·         If there were safeguarding concerns attached to a patient, they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

39.

Adult Dyslexia Centre

To receive a presentation on the Adult Dyslexia Centre from Sara Thomassen.

Minutes:

Sara Thomassen introduced the Adult Dyslexia Centre by informing those present that it had been running as a charity for 14 years and providing support for around 300 people per year. Among its primary roles was to help adults with dyslexia find and keep jobs; provide free screenings to assess the extent of a person’s dyslexia; and provide self development courses in order to aid a person’s mental health or self esteem issues. The charity also writes to employers and teachers to make them aware of dyslexia and offer training, so those employers and teachers could be seen to be proactively engaging with people with dyslexia rather than being reactive to a person’s circumstances. Sara Thomassen stated that, as an example, the Adult Dyslexia Centre had recently been working with the National Film and TV Studies School in Beaconsfield.

 

Sara Thomassen stated that the Adult Dyslexia Centre would be providing courses on communication and drama over the next two terms.

 

Eileen Denny offered to circulate details of the Adult Dyslexia Centre’s activities as part of the WAM Get Involved newsletter.

40.

Signal4carers

To receive an update on Signal4carers.

Minutes:

Nobody from Signal4carers was present at the meeting.

41.

Prevent Update

To receive an update on the Prevent strategy from Craig Miller.

Minutes:

Harjit Hunjan informed those present that the Council’s Prevent lead, Craig Miller, would soon be leaving the Royal Borough.

 

Harjit Hunjan informed the group that a Prevent Steering Group had recently been set up and an action plan created, following consultation with partners. The group was informed that there were no specific issues relating to Prevent that had been raised as an information point for the group, nor had any referrals been made to the Channel panel in recent times.

 

Louise Warbrick informed the group that she had been present at the South East Regional Prevent Conference. It was anticipated that policies and procedures relating to Prevent were likely to be implemented from November onwards. Louise Warbrick stated that the focus for Prevent was looking at responses to people returning to Britain from Syria. There were no localised issues in terms of crime encompassed by the Prevent strategy; although there had been an increase in reports of hate crime, there was no pattern and was mostly in relation to neighbourhood disputes where racist language had been used.

 

Harjit Hunjan stated that an update on what would happen with the Prevent team following Craig Miller’s departure would be provided at the next meeting. Louise Warbrick stated that, going forward, local authorities would take more responsibility for leading the Prevent strategy, although the police would retain an important role.

42.

Armed Forces Covenant Update

To receive an update on the Armed Forces Covenant from Harjit Hunjan.

Minutes:

Harjit Hunjan thanked the Household Cavalry for their hospitality in hosting the previous One Borough meeting.

 

Nicola Davidson said grants were available in two categories; for groups helping to integrate Armed Forces personnel into their local communities; and for those working on improving mental health and wellbeing of service personnel. Grants of up to £20,000 were available and there was no deadline for applications.

 

Cllr Rayner said she wanted to see more applications from within the Royal Borough go to the South East Grants Panel. She said the Panel received many applications for funding but it was rare for one to come from the local area.

 

Louise Warbrick clarified a point she made at the last meeting and confirmed that Thames Valley Police had been successful in its application for a grant from the Armed Forces Covenant, which would be used to teach servicemen and their families to cook. Negotiations with Windsor Boys’ and Girls’ Schools on using their catering facilities for these classes was ongoing.

 

Harjit Hunjan reminded the group that the Council had received a bronze award from the Employer Recognition Scheme run by the Ministry of Defence to promote support for the Armed Forces and for Reservists. It was hoped this could be progressed and further awards given.

 

Harjit Hunjan said the Army would be hosting a meeting with employers about the Covenant on October 13th, which was being supported by the Council. Deb Beasley said that two confirmations of attendance had been received within a day of the invitations being sent out.

43.

Partner Updates pdf icon PDF 950 KB

To receive updates on community issues from One Borough partners, including, but not limited to:

 

·         Launch of Men’s Matters drop-in

·         Flu vaccination and Stoptober campaigns

Minutes:

Barbara Grossman told the group the Maidenhead Synagogue would be hosting a Macmillan coffee morning at 11am on September 29th.

 

Emma Mills reminded the group that free fire risk training and home safety checks were available. The next training session was at Maidenhead Fire Station on October 19th at 2pm.

 

Paul Samuels informed the group that Men’s Matters had launched a drop-in for older men from 2-4pm each Wednesday in York Road, Maidenhead. A lunch had also been arranged in the Desborough Suite from 12-2pm on October 19th. Men’s Matters was seeking to work with partners to let isolated older men know more about the project so that they could take part in activities.

 

Eileen Denny informed the group that the annual Voluntary Awards would be taking place the following week, with 38 different nominations being received. The next WAM Get Involved training event, focusing on writing application letters for funding bids, would take place on September 25th in the Council Chamber at the Town Hall. This would look at applying for funding for children’s charities, and also one-to-one support for high growth businesses. This was open to social enterprises and charities working in the Royal Borough.

 

Robin Bunyan said that Norden Farm’s social arts exhibition had been held before the start of the summer holidays and had been very successful. The next project was Norden Farm’s Christmas event, to be held on December 9th. Workshops would be running throughout November and December in the run-up to it.

 

Jane Drapkin told members that Family Friends had recently appointed James Nadal as its new PR and fundraising executive. She said there would be a launch of the group’s new strategy and recruitment of new trustees. The group AGM would be on October 10th, and it was hoped further updates could be provided soon afterwards.

 

Ila Gangotra told the group WAMCF was setting up a young adults group. Funding had been secured but the project was still a work in progress.

 

Cath Price said that groups were welcome to hire Radian’s Health and Wellbeing Wagon, which was used by volunteer groups for health-related matters.

 

Nighat Ellahi said free English classes for carers were running each Friday at the Town Hall between 10am-12pm.

 

Harjit Hunjan reminded the group that it was still possible to apply for RBWM grants. The closing date for the next round of applications was November 14th, with the Panel meeting towards the end of December.