Talking Point Summer 2014

Talking Point SUMMER 2014

Project Swift is ready to fly Find out about our major new IT plans

l Our Work Turning Point’s first ever wellbeing coach

l Meet The Reevy Road team in Bradford

l Your Turning Point Peer mentor co-ordinator Rob exhibits paintings at Manchester Cathedral

Welcome

Welcome point

Contents 2. Welcome point 3. Our Work How technology is helping residents in Bradford 4-5. Spotlight Programme Swift is ready to fly 6. TP People Meet... our Reevy Road Learning Disability Service team Face to Face with Mohammed Habbib 7. News and Views Learn from...Camden Health Improvement Practice 8. Your Turning Point Service user Ian Devine holds another concert.

Plus ’How Turning Point helped me’.

I hope you have been all enjoying the summer and the sunshine - where we’ve had it. As ever, we’ve a range of articles on different things you’ve been involved in since our last issue and it is great to see your work in action and the difference it’s making to people’s lives.

Summer is the time when I try to get away from my computer, Facebook, LinkedIn and all the other technology and social networks that I use at home, and try and get out and about. Reflecting on this, I realise how much technology has taken over our lives and how much we rely on it. My personal view on this is that as long as technology enables me to find things quickly and helps me connect with people in ways that I might not otherwise be able to, I am happy. Whereas, I have a brother who gets excited about every new gadget and computer innovation. I just want things to happen at the press of a button, whereas he’s curious about every which way to use technology. I’m sure that within Turning Point we have colleagues with each of these perspectives.

In this edition, we have quite a lot on Programme Swift which is a project to enable us to use technology to better manage the way we connect with each other and store information. It’s a really important Programme, which will help us to be even more effective in how we work together in providing services to our clients and in helping us to manage the crucial information we need to run an effective organisation. I am excited about what Swift can do – particularly if it helps me do things more swiftly!

Finally, watch out for our new look Talking Point in the autumn. We are keen to improve and develop this magazine so that it really does reflect your views.

If you have any ideas for future articles or if you’d like to write one yourself on something that is really important to you, please drop us a line at talkingpoint@ turning-point.co.uk Winnie Coutinho, Editor

Useful numbers Employee Assistance

0800 716 017

(Free confidential information, advice and counselling for Turning Point employees)

General Turning Point enquiries Standon House (London)

The Exchange (Manchester)

020 7481 7600 0161 238 5100 Worried about something at Turning Point?

0845 888 1110

To the point 1.2 million The number of people who are admitted to hospital with alcohol-related conditions each year

£15 4.2% The expected growth in need for adult social care support among people with learning disabilities in England for the period 2009-2026

(Confidential number to call if you are worried about any malpractice)

Have your say Talking Point is your magazine and we are keen to hear any stories you want to share. Email us at: talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk 2

1 in 5 The number of older people affected by depression

Sources: 1. Alcohol concern and the Government 2. Learning Disabilities Observatory Report, supported by Department of Health 3. Mental Health Foundation

Our Work

How technology is helping Reevy Road residents Many of the people we support at our Reevy Road residential learning disability service in Bradford now have greater independence, thanks to the addition of some simple but effective assistive technology tools.

This all came about after Project Worker, Lucy Brown and some colleagues attended a training course on assistive technologies.

Continuity plan to be released Turning Point is to release its first ever business continuity plan annual report shortly, which will identify any incidents that affected our business operations over the past 12 months and share how well we are doing in putting continuity plans in place.

As many of you will know, all services and central departments must review, update and submit their plans to the planning and performance team each year.

The report will demonstrate just how valuable this process is – as it shows exactly where continuity plans have come into effect.

Leona Jones, Corporate Performance Manager, Planning & Performance, says: ‘There were between 20 and 30 incidents that could have affected our business last year, so the report shows that continuity planning is really important. We will produce the report annually from now on so people can see that, and we hope it will also help pass on the message that updating and resubmitting your plan is vital.’

INFO For more information please contact POINT leona.jones@turning-point.co.uk

These technologies have been adapted to allow people with disabilities to use them, and new equipment helps people to do things that they might previously not have been able to do themselves.

Following the course, the team used their regular residents meetings to invite service users and their families to choose some of the assistive technologies.

Lucy says the service now

has touch-button boards, ‘The things we’ve which enable service users introduced don’t sound like who are unable to speak to major changes,’ says Lucy, ‘but communicate more freely, they have made a massive and safety kettles which, difference. The sound boards with safety switches and have literally provided some controlled water temperature, residents with a voice and the allow residents to make their kettles give them a sense of own tea and coffee in the independent living. It’s made independent suite. The team an unbelievable difference.’ has also brought in talking Meet some of the Reevey Road books that use recordings of INFO team on page 6. For more residents’ own families to tell POINT information please contact Lucy.

Brown2@turning-point.co.uk their stories.

Wellbeing coach supports service users Some of the people we support in and around Earl’s Court in London are now reaping the benefits of Turning Point’s first ever wellbeing coach.

The wellbeing coach was first introduced at the Earl’s Court Health and Wellbeing service two years ago, and Amy Stephenson, Centre Manager, says the coach’s work is now underpinning lots of the work being done to support service users.

‘Anyone can access wellbeing coaching, so long as they have something they want to develop or work on

that’s related to their health to achieve. From there, the and wellbeing. So it sits well in coach will help set some goals terms of helping people who and will track progress, using have health issues, including cognitive behavioural and substance misuse issues,’ motivation techniques, to Amy says. ‘But it’s also about help service users reach their helping people who want to objectives. maintain a healthier way of Earl’s Court currently has living – and that can include one coach. While that coach people who have moved away is currently commissioned from substance misuse and by the local authority, want to maintain that.’ the team is exploring the The service offers six free possibility of adding further one-to-one sessions, either coaches through local Clinical face to face or over the Commissioning Groups. phone. The sessions start off with an initial assessment, INFO For more information please contact which includes lifestyle factors POINT amy.stephenson@turning-point.co.uk and what service users want

Our latest update on some of the activities our Chief Executive, Victor Adebowale, has been carrying out on behalf of our services and clients: l I have taken up recent opportunities to discuss and highlight health inequalities faced by our clients. I was delighted to be able to take part in a twitter chat on behalf of the Mental Health Providers Forum. I also spoke in a House of Lords debate in June on premature deaths & health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability. l At the Health and Care Show I got a chance to speak about pressing public health issues, “timebombs” as they are sometimes called. l It was good to hear from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, that in response to the report I chaired by the Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing, that they consider mental health is core business for the police.

Spotlight

Programme Swift is ready to fly

What is Programme Swift?

It’s a collection of projects that will deliver major change to the way that Turning Point manages information and uses technology.

Information is present throughout all areas of Turning Point, whether it’s about measuring client outcomes, producing care plans, preparing quarterly budget forecasts or managing our people. This means that the scope of this programme is big, really big.

Last year, we held discovery workshops to listen to your needs and got external experts views on our plans.

This year, we have been working to shape the programme by identifying the individual projects within it. We then planned the sequence of the projects by considering factors such as cost, availability of people, the risk to the business and the strategic fit with other activity at Turning Point. In a programme of this size and complexity, this piece of work proved to be no simple task.

The updated programme has now been reviewed, tested and approved by the Programme Steering Group, the Chief Executive Team and the Turning Point Board.

So now we are ready to start delivery! There are 12 key projects that make up Programme Swift.

What are the 12 Projects?

Data Centre This project will move all of our data to a dedicated facility and upgrade our infrastructure, preventing disruption, making it safer and work quicker.

Network Upgrade We will review and redesign our network to make systems quicker, at the same time increasing mobility and communication options.

Organisation & Governance This will put in place structures and governance to improve our Information Management & Technology (IM&T) service and products.

Security & Resilience This project will fix existing security gaps, streamline policies, and build a Turning Point-wide security and protection.

Applications This will simplify how we use, develop and integrate our key systems, such as Client Information Management (CIM), HR and Finance systems.

Site Infrastructure This is the major one! We will upgrade all sites, service hubs, and staff computers so that everyone has fully up-to-date equipment and software.

Information Management We will put in place tools and governance so that we manage our vital information better and help everyone to work more effectively.

Insight By aligning our key information and systems, we will be better able to share information and data with each other and external organisations.

Communication This project will upgrade our voice, video, and messaging systems and integrate them so that we can communicate better across the organisation.

Mobility To help people be more efficient, we will provide technology options to staff so they can work effectively on the go.

Employee Empowerment We will develop our key systems (e.g.

CIM, HR and IM&T Self-Service) so that they can be easily and consistently used throughout the organisation.

Enhanced Compliance After building a solid foundation through earlier projects, we will further enhance our systems and processes for better security and resilience.

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Spotlight

The Programme will be delivered in three phases:

Introducing the Programme Team

Foundation (July 2014 - December 2014) Before we start on some of the more exciting aspects of the programme, we have to lay a solid foundation on which to build later. This work will take approximately 6 months to complete and will cover areas such as relocating and upgrading our data centres to ensure a secure and scalable site to host our systems. We will review and improve our network so that connectivity is faster and more reliable. We will be upgrading our security and resilience, providing greater protection from external threats. We will also be reviewing our structures and processes, providing an IM&T team which you can rely on.

Andy James Programme Sponsor

Engagement & Preparation (December 2014 - April 2015) Once the foundations are in place we will start the detailed planning activity and engagement with you to prepare ourselves for the next phase. This phase will last around 3 - 4 months.

Andrew Keegan Programme Manager

Delivery (April 2015 - March 2016) We will be out and about across the business delivering a whole range of improvements ensuring that you have access to the right technology and the skills to feel confident in the use of it. We will introduce mobile working supporting you to carry out your role whereever you may be be. We will be reviewing and developing our reporting capabilities so you have the information you need, when you need it and in the format you need it. In short, this phase has something for everyone whatever your role in the organisation.

Vicky Thornley Programme Coordinator

How Will Programme Swift Help You? “Staff should be given the opportunity to grow in confidence when using computers.”

Angela Yearby, Training Manager, Warwickshire Learning Disabilities — We will ensure that everyone is inspired to use the technology required for their role. We will profile needs, map skills and deliver training so that we are all capable and confident with managing our information and technology.

“We need a solid network to support our clients effectively; we are a paperless office, so when the network is down, it causes major issues with us caring for our clients.”

Deana Kirkby, Ops Manager, Rightsteps Wakefield (Mental Health) — We will analyse, redesign and upgrade our network. This will make connections quicker, more reliable and give us a stable, robust and scalable platform.

“We need to use technology to enable us to deliver services more effectively. Connecting our systems would allow employees to spend less time on data analysis and more time providing care.”

Jay Stewart, Head of Operations, Substance Misuse Programme Swift will connect and integrate our systems, saving time on data input and reducing duplication and errors.

Integrating our systems will mean that information can be accessed more efficiently across the business leaving more time to do what we do best.

What Next?

We recognise the importance of keeping you informed, so we have created an IRIS page with lots more information about the projects, regular updates and the opportunity for you to let us know how we’re doing: tellswift@turning-point.co.uk

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TP People

Meet...

Uur Reevy Road Learning Disability Service in Bradford

What’s the service and how do you support service users?

We are a large residential care home for people with learning disabilities. We have 24 beds here, which is unusually large given the way services have developed over the years to have a greater focus on supporting people in the community.

We also help our people move into more independent living, but we also have lots of people living independently with us.

What’s the philosophy there?

We try to do things a bit differently here.

For example, we don’t have signs outside the home explaining that it’s a ‘service’.

From the outside, it just looks like an ordinary home. We don’t have clinical waste bins on display, or posters telling people what to do. We have well-tended gardens, flowers and trees instead. Within the home, we encourage our service users to talk about it being ‘their home’ rather than a ‘care home’. We also involve everyone in all the decision making, using all the various communication tools we have, such as picture boards and assisted technology buttons. And we listen to what our service users have to say about where they live, so we can take that into account.

What does that mean for the home?

Well, for a start, we have three separate areas of the home now – all the result of listening to what our residents have told us. We have a snooze room, a boudoir – which is a beauty room complete with leopard-print wallpaper – and a sensory garden. The key thing for me is that, with it being such a large home, it would be easy to fall into being very task-oriented, with things happening at certain times and involving certain people. We don’t want to be that way, so we make sure the rota is built around the service users’ activities and commitments, rather than the other way around. That takes a bit of effort on our part, but it helps the feeling that this is their home and meets their needs.

How do you manage that?

It’s all about flexibility. As staff, we have to make sure we are flexible and can adjust when and how we work to support our residents. The rota is different every week – as service users’ activities and needs are different every week.

Similarly, we have cooks here but the meal times are different every week.

It can be a challenge. But that suits us!

FACE TO FACE Mohammed Habbib What’s your role at Turning Point?

I am a Through the Gate worker in Newham. I work with people coming into the custody suite at the prison to ensure that those with drug treatment requirements continue to receive treatment throughout their time in prison and when they return to the local community. Traditionally, people’s treatments could break down when they reached prison – which meant that when they returned to the community they were further back than when they entered prison. Our work is designed to stop that.

What do you do?

When somebody comes into the custody suite, I go down to carry out an assessment with them, to find out a bit about their background and to see if they have any treatment requirements. In doing this, I work in partnership with the Criminal Justice Intervention Team. We then help agree a course of treatment for the duration of their time in prison.

Of course, our work doesn’t stop there.

When people are due for release, we help ensure their successful reintegration into the community, so we work with housing associations, job centres and other treatment providers to make sure we don’t break the cycle of treatment. I also offer a lot of support on release day, as this can be quite daunting for a lot of people.

How do you relax outside of work?

My time outside of work is spent doing youth work and volunteer work with local kids. I get a real sense of satisfaction from that. A lot of that work involves youth football.

Project workers Shelley Binns and Lucy Brown and team leader Rachel Helliweil.

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To take part in ‘Meet’ contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

INFO POINT

INFO POINT

To take part in ‘Face to Face’ contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

News and Views

Your points of view With next year’s general election fast approaching, we asked you to share your views on health and social care issues. Those shown below were sent in by colleagues from across the organisation and will help shape Turning Point’s response to the release of the Labour Party manifesto.

We’ll be doing something similar for the other major parties, so look out for this on IRIS and feel free to share your views…

Commissioning and contracts I think it is a crying shame that the delivery of services is ultimately decided by commissioners, budgets and targets. I currently work for Turning Point in East Kent, and I think the work we are all doing in delivering high-quality services to those accessing drug and alcohol treatment is second to none. However, I could well find myself working for a different organisation in a couple of years if we were to lose the contract. This creates uncertainty for all involved (top of the list being service users), and evidences to me that commissioning is an outdated dinosaur that needs confining to the history books. This is a barrier to organisations like ours delivering services.

Anonymous

The importance of Turning Point Organisations like Turning Point play a very important role in the communities around Britain. They need more support from the Government and more recognition. The current economic climate is making it difficult to meet the

needs of the people we support. The Government needs to sit down with these organisations and work a way forward together. The reason why there is so much negativity around health and social care is because of a lack of working together to achieve the same goal.

Crispen Nyambe

Learn from…

Tax on unhealthy food With obesity among the population increasing but people also living longer, failing to act now will result in huge issues in 30 to 40 years. As a scientist by primary profession, I believe that certain regulations need putting in place. I personally don’t believe in taxing such

items. I believe shops and supermarkets should be made to increase their prices of such foods – the profits from which could be fed into the NHS. Anonymous Rehabilitation and service delivery The prioritisation of

rehabilitation is vital to allow for the opportunity of a positive, lasting effect on an individual’s behaviour, as well as the community, and it also makes good financial sense. It is important to make appropriate funding provision to make this a real opportunity and to make a difference, both in the short and the long term. In terms of how services are delivered, I believe it is important to offer as many ways as possible for people to have their say, face to face or via technology – and feedback on how their views were considered will ensure it is a meaningful process.

Amanda Cole Health and social care delivery Person-centred care should be at the heart of provision.

The integration of health and social care is crucial, however this needs to be wider to include other areas, such as housing, employment, education, justice, etc. This will ensure that the safety net has as few gaps as possible.

In addition, having a big data approach can only improve prediction and impact that can prevent escalation to ensure the precious resources are protected.

Anonymous

our Camden Health Improvement Practice

Colleagues from our Camden Health Improvement Practice (CHIP), a specialist general practice dedicated to providing high quality primary care to the homeless of Camden in London, adopted a new approach recently to help engage hard-to-reach patients in the community.

The team employed an outreach navigator, Melanie McVey, to support the clinical and non-clinical practice team in identifying, navigating and supporting those hard-to-reach patients in accessing the appropriate care and advice that they need.

Working directly in the community and with partner organisations, Melanie helped the team achieve a number of things: l Increased registration of Camden’s homeless population with general practice; l Support in the reduction of inappropriate A&E attendances; l Support to the attendance of outpatient appointments by our patients;

l Improved liaison with our local hospitals; l Improved liaison with the hostels and day centres for the homeless within Camden.

If you would like to talk to the team about how they went about identifying the new approach and putting it in place, contact Practice Manager Paul Daly via IRIS.

INFO Read @turning-point.co.uk also: How Turning Point Helped Me, POINT on the back page.

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Your Turning Point

Ian’s big day Peer mentor co-ordinator Rob shows paintings in Manchester Cathedral Walk in to one of the North-west’s cathedrals over the next 12 months or so, and there’s a chance you might see the work of one of our colleagues in all its glory.

That’s because Rob Floyd, a Peer Mentor coordinator at our Smithfield Service in Manchester, has spent the past two years painting 18 life-size images that make up the Stations of the Cross – a selection of paintings that depict the story of Christ carrying the cross to his crucifixion – and they are currently being exhibited in Manchester Cathedral.

Rob approached Canon Andrew Shanks of Manchester about hanging the paintings in the cathedral and was delighted when he said yes. Now, the people who run other cathedrals in the area, including Liverpool Cathedral, have asked if they can also hang some of the paintings, which Rob has agreed to. He hopes they will be shared around the north-west in time for next Easter.

If you do happen to see them, and you know Rob, make sure you take a close look – Rob tells us he’s based one or two of the characters on his colleagues!

Farewell to our friend... for now!

We bid farewell to one of our longserving colleagues recently, when Bill Friend, Operations Manager at our Pendelbury House service in Salford, retired after 15 years at Turning Point.

The team at Pendelbury House laid on a farewell party for Bill on his last day, with

people Bill has helped and worked with dropping by to wish him all the best for his retirement.

However, it certainly won’t be the last we see of Bill! He’s going to continue helping support people through Turning Point as an associate.

Enjoy your retirement Bill!

How Turning Point helped me

A service user explains how she benefitted from Camden Health Improvement Practice (CHIP) outreach navigator…

“The outreach worker has been a great help to me. I’ve got a big ulcer on my leg and basically I have to get the bandage done twice a week. I wasn’t managing to get help on my own, but since I was found by Turning Point it’s been much better. Turning Point probably saved my leg. It’s great, it’s really helpful in every way, and as I say, my health has greatly improved since the navigator has been here.”

INFO POINT

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If one of your clients would like to share their experience of how Turning Point helped them, contact talkingpoint@turning-point.co.uk

Ian Devine, a service user whose poems have featured in Talking Point previously, held a concert in May during which he performed a selection of his own work as well some of his favourite Beatles songs.

There was a great turn out to hear Ian perform.

Ian also wrote a new poem, inspired by the concert itself: The Concert Best concert of my life, Everything was so right.

I enjoyed it very much, It had a special touch.

The crowd was really great, 16th May was the date.

I’ll remember it for all time, It was my chance to shine.

Ian Devine 18th May 2014 If you would like to submit a poem to be featured in Turning Point, you can email it to talking.point@turningpoint.co.uk.

A big welcome ....to our new colleagues at…

Bradford Telehealth Worcester Time to Talk Tameside Supported Accommodation Medway Integrated Treatment Service Manchester Short Stay Service

About Talking Point Turning Point is a registered charity, No. 234887 Address: Standon House, 21 Mansell St, London, E1 8AA Tel: 020 7481 7600 www.turning-point.co.uk Talking Point is published for Turning Point by Red & White Publishing www.redandwhitepublishing.co.uk