Easy Read
LDAG News
Spring 2013
Social Services and Well-being Bill On 28 January 2013 the National Assembly started looking at the new Social Services and Well-being Bill for Wales. The Bill is a type of law about care and support for people in Wales. If the National Assembly decides to pass the law, it will change social services in Wales. It will help to protect children and adults. People will be able to pay for more services using direct payments. There will be one set of rules to decide who can get care and support across Wales. People will be able to take their assessments with them when they move. Carers will have the same rights as the people they care for. You can read the full Bill on the National Assembly website.
Easy Read newsletter
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LDAG News Easy Read
What has the LDAG been doing? The new Learning Disability Advisory Group or LDAG had its first meeting in September 2012. There are people in the group who work in:
“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or
social services
health
research
voluntary sector or charities.
quote from the story here.”
There are also people with a learning disability in the group. The group was set up by the Welsh Government. The group gives advice about policies for people with a learning disability to Gwenda Thomas, the Deputy Minister for Social Services. The group will be working on:
The changes to social services that will be happening in Wales.
How to support people with challenging behaviour and make sure they are not abused. More on page 3
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Spring 2013 From page 2
Making sure people with a learning disability get good healthcare.
How people with a learning disability can feel part of their communities.
The LDAG will set up small groups to work on some of these things. On 23 April the LDAG had its 4th meeting. Gwenda Thomas, Deputy Minister for Social
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Services, came to the meeting. Social Services and Wellbeing Bill
quote from the story here.”
She thanked the group for its work. She talked about the new Social Services and Well-being Bill. She said that it is important that organisations work together to get the Bill right. She also said that everyone has the right to well-being. This is about giving people a stronger voice and control in their lives. It is also about making sure that people get the right care and support. More on page 4
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LDAG News Easy Read From page 3
She also talked about her plans for a National Outcomes Framework. This is to make sure services are getting it right for people. Gwenda wants to make sure people can get involved in the plans for the new Bill. s All Wale Strategy 198 3 “To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.�
She finished by saying that it is 30 years since the All Wales Strategy was written. This strategy was the first policy in Wales to talk about including people with a learning disability in the community. A lot has changed in 30 years but there is still a lot more work to do.
Challenging Behaviour and Winterbourne View The Challenging Behaviour Community of Practice is a group of people who work with people with a learning disability and challenging behaviour. They meet 4 times a year to talk about the best ways to support people with challenging behaviour. The group met again in February this year. More on page 5
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Spring 2013 From page 4
Positive Behavioural Support in Halton 2 people from Halton Council in North West England gave a presentation. They talked about a Positive Behavioural Support Service in their area. This service does 4 main things:
It helps children, young people and families to try to make their lives better as they get older
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It tries to make sure that things do not go wrong in the future
It trains staff and collects information
It finds good places for people to live.
Winterbourne View The next part of the meeting was about the reports in England on the abuse that happened at Winterbourne View. One of the reports by the Department of Health has an action plan to change services and make sure that people never get abused again in places like Winterbourne View.
More on page 6
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LDAG News Easy Read From page 5
The Community of Practice thinks that Wales needs an action plan too. They made a list of all the problems. Here are some of them:
Not enough good places for people with challenging behaviour to live
Not enough money to pay for services
Not enough information
Staff not having the right training
Assessments not being good enough
“To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”
are lth ial C Hea Soc
People who pay for services sometimes do not know or understand what a good service looks like Health and social care do not share their money to pay for good services together
Then they made a list of things that could make things better. Here are some of them:
A list of all the people who are sent to live outside their local area Better planning for the future Looking at all the policies in Wales for people with a learning disability More on page 7
Spring 2013
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Hea
lth
are ial C c o S
Making sure health and social care share budgets to pay for services Getting children’s services, education and adult services to work together Making sure staff get good training Making sure people with a learning disability and their families are involved in planning and checking services.
The group all agreed that Wales needs an ‘implementation board’ or group like the one in England to make sure the changes happen. “To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”
The group said they would write the action plan and send it to the LDAG by 23 May. Another group called ‘No Winterbourne in Wales’ met with the Deputy Minister for Social Services Gwenda Thomas back in September 2012. They talked about how worried they were that people in Wales might be abused like the people in Winterbourne View. They will meet with her again on 8 May to talk about what Welsh Government is going to do to make sure that this does not happen. More on page 8
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LDAG News Easy Read From page 7
Jim Crowe, Director of Learning Disability Wales, wrote to all the local authorities and local health boards in Wales in August 2012. His letter asked lots of questions about services for people with a learning disability. Not many local authorities and health boards have answered his letter. The group are worried about some of the answers that they have had to Jim’s letter. “To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”
They will be talking to Gwenda Thomas about this in the meeting on 8 May. They will also talk about what the Challenging Behaviour Community of Practice and the LDAG have been doing about Winterbourne. And they will ask Gwenda what Welsh Government is doing to make sure that nobody from Wales is abused like the people who lived in Winterbourne View.
Spring 2013
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What will Welfare Reform mean for disabled people in Wales? Disability Wales asked the Bevan Foundation to write a report about how disabled people in Wales will be affected by Welfare Reform. Welfare Reform means the changes to benefits and support that the UK Government is making. “To catch the reader's attention,
These changes will affect people in the UK
place an interesting sentence or quote from the story here.”
who receive benefits and support including people in Wales. The report is called ‘Cap in hand?’. It talks about the ways that some people will be affected by more than just one change. For example, a disabled person could lose their Disability Living Allowance and their Blue Badge. Rhian Davies, Chief Executive of Disability Wales, said that the changes will make many disabled people much poorer. This will make it harder for them to be included in society. More on page 10
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LDAG News Easy Read From page 9
These changes will also affect their families and communities. Rhian is worried that it will be like going back in time to when disabled people and their families had to beg to get any help or support. This is why the report is called ‘Cap in hand?’ because it is like having to beg for money. Welsh Government has said that they will try to make sure that people in Wales are not too badly affected by the changes. But the Welsh Government does not have any power to stop the changes. The report also has a list of recommendations for governments and other public sector organisations. This is a list of things that they should do to try to stop disabled people getting poorer and losing their independence.
For more information or to let us know what you think, phone Sam Williams on 029 20681160 or e-mail: samantha.williams@learningdisabilitywales.org.uk