Agenda item

Together in Cudworth Initiative

Jane Holliday, Chief Executive Officer, Barnsley Age UK will give an overview of the Together in Cudworth Initiative.

Minutes:

Jane Holliday. Chief Executive Officer, was welcomed to the meeting and gave an overview of the Together in Cudworth initiative.

 

Key points were highlighted, including:

·         Social isolation is a killer, equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, with 17% of older people in contact with someone less than once per week. 

·         Age UK are looking to develop a pilot service in Wombwell and Cudworth areas.  Lots of time has been spent talking to older people about what they want.  There are a lot of housebound older people in the area, with physical disabilities and dementia a major issue.

·         Currently 1:1 work takes place with 21 local people.  Social prescribing (GPs) is the biggest source of referrals. 

·         There are a range of issues, including mental health, confidence, housing, financial, physical disability and transport.

·         Group work includes  accessible information, a Healthy Living Group,  get togethers at Grimethorpe Farm, tea parties, pantomimes, tea in the park, and health and Christmas fayres (community events). 

·         Work is underway to become a Dementia Friendly area council, with 17 businesses signed up in Cudworth.

·         19 local volunteers currently provide 170 hours of work, which includes helping out with events, supporting people to attend activities and appointments; befriending people with home visits and telephone calls and getting people out and about as a Community Car Driver.

·         The pilot found that there are limited activity groups in Cudworth but there are lots of new groups that older people would like to see in place.  All areas are different and have different needs. There needs to be a focus on those groups involving eating together.

·         An application has been made for £96k/2 years shared between the North East and South areas, front loaded to widen the focus on other communities in the North East.  The North East area will have a 30 hour post for two years.

 

Members praised the work of Age UK and were of the opinion that longer term interventions worked best, with people remaining on the books for ongoing support and care.  It was felt a coordinated approach would work best, with everybody working together. Digital exclusion is also an issue, leaving older and disabled people unable to access the information they need.  The Barnsley Chronicle is a good source of information for these groups.

 

RESOLVED that Jane Holliday be thanked for her attendance and contribution.

 

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