Month: February 2015
great news for social care for seniors ?
The £6bn health and social care budget for Greater Manchester is to be taken over by the region’s councils and health groups, it is understood.
The devolved power agreement is expected to be confirmed by the Chancellor George Osborne on Friday 27th February.
It will see NHS England hand spending decisions on regional healthcare to local politicians, clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts.
The plan will come into force from April 2016.
It will mean local leaders and ultimately Greater Manchester’s new directly elected mayor will control how budgets are allocated.
It is hoped that by integrating health and social care services, the change will ease pressure on hospitals and help to improve home care services for patients who need it.
A shadow Greater Manchester Health and Wellbeing board will be appointed, it is understood. It would work closely with existing clinical commissioning groups of GPs.
The board is expected to run from April, before control of the budget is handed over a year later.
Integrated social care has been the subject of discussion for some time now. this deal may be a real help in reducing bed blocking and seamless care provision between hospitals and social care.
watch this space !
Lord Mayors Charity
The Lord Mayor, Councillor Susan Cooley has designated ‘Age Friendly Manchester’ as one of the focuses of the We Love MCR Charity during her year of office and invites funding applications from groups and organisations that support this theme.
Age-friendly Manchester is about improving the quality of life for older people in the city and the Age-Friendly Manchester Team works with a range of older people, groups and organisations to do this.
Examples of their work include: …
•Helping make neighbourhoods better places for older people.
•Helping the Council listen to and involve older people in decision making and helping to improve services for them.
•Supporting the Cultural Champions programme, the Older Peoples Forum and age-friendly networks.
We Love MCR will also be supporting the following project themes for 2015:
The objective will be to find new and current Manchester projects and give them increased exposure, alongside multi platforms to help raise the funds needed to accomplish their goals.
Funding applications that support all of these themes, as well as all other projects looking for funding in Manchester, are invited.
LETS STOP BULLYING NOW !
There have been reports of older people being bullied here in Manchester. Bullying is hate crime and should be stopped where ever it occurs . here’s a piece which may help us all to defeat bullying :
Kick out Bullying
Most of us recognise the word bully as something that happens to us at school in our childhood days. This, however is not always correct. As a rule those that start out their career as a school bully carry their actions out later in life. We have two new phrases that reflect the activities of an adult bully. These are:
- Harassment
- Hate Crime
What is a bully? A bully is someone who picks on another person who is vulnerable. The bully feeds from that persons fear. The fear becomes the bully’s blood. They drain it until it’s gone. Sometimes this is known as a “Psychic Vampire. Someone who feeds from emotions and uses that as their strength. Nelson Mandela said “Know your enemies weakness and make that your strength”. A bully’s weakness is your ability to say “Stop or No” Once that is realised by them that becomes YOUR strength and so you have reversed the situation. It is not always so easy to turn around the situation. Do not be afraid to ask for help from someone you trust. A close friend or family member. Someone who you hold in high regard in the community a priest or maybe a teacher. Your landlord or social worker can all be good points of contact.
Today, we have laws that help capture the bully. These are known as Harassment or Hate Crime. Harassment is described as unwanted attention on one or more occasions by the same person. That unwanted attention can be anything that you find offensive or unsettles you. You have the right to report this to the police. To help collect evidence the best thing to do is keep a written diary that could be used in court do not rely on your memory. See it, hear it write it down. Try and get the events witnessed by someone else.
Next there is Hate Crime. This means that you are targeted by the attacker because of your age, race, sexual gender, disability and some other minority groups. Again if you feel threatened by offensive gestures or remarks you have the legal right to inform the police.
You do not have to sit in silence any more. You do not have to sit in pain. You can kick the attacker where it hurts. Get your voice heard let the police or relevant authority (your landlord, social worker) know what is happening. Kick this stuff out of our society. It is not needed. It is not necessary. We can beat this together.
© Ian Sawyer February 2015
A NEW SCAM IN NORTH MANCHESTER
Today, I have received several calls about a current scam which appears to be targeting older residents in north Manchester. We have come across this scam before. The company have now been identified by the police. They offer to check that your property is in the correct council tax band and suggest that you may be owed thousands of pounds. They charge about £170 for this service. Some members were called by a man and others by a lady.
If you are worried that your property may be in the wrong council tax band, you can find out free you do not need to pay a company for the information.
J and L (Homewatch Members) called this evening to say that several residents have called the police about this problem. I have also attached below an e mail from one of our scheme coordinators.
Please tell all your members about this scam to prevent them becoming a victim.
Many thanks
J (Homewatch Coordinator)
Hi J,
one of the members of my scheme drew my attention to an attempt to scam her into entering an agreement to meet with a man who would get her ‘thousands’ of pounds from the council by getting her a reduced Band. She had the sense to contact the Police when she made the appointment last Friday, for today, Tuesday 10th at 12.00hrs.She also told me about it and I said I would be there in case the Police got tied up Anyway the Police arrived just before 1200 hrs and I spoke to a young PC called Mike. he hid the Police car out of sight, but the man never showed up. Later today J and L called to tell me that they had the name of the people who had contacted my neighbour and also to tell me that the Police were aware of another six at least in New Moston and were going to attempt to intercept this man who was making these calls.
ZEST Heathfield Hall, Heathfield Street, Newton Heath, M40 1LF
Heathfield Hall, Heathfield Street, Newton Heath, M40 1LF is the home of ZEST an organisation that offers a varied selection of activities for over 50’s.
just one is detailed below:
Front Row
1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month
12 – 3pm
Social activity aimed at reducing isolation.
Latest release DVD’s in a local area, no
need to go to town. Light lunch provided.
Cost £1.50 towards refreshments. This is
a large group but there is room for more
members, currently around 20 people
meet each fortnight to enjoy films.
Contact: Laura Cassidy on 234 3724 or email l.cassidy@manchester.gov.uk
PICCADILLY GARDENS 1950
DOWN MEMORY LANE
Does anyone remember these? those were the days when the bin men hoisted your metal dustbin on their backs and emptied it into one of the 8 or so openings . no coloured bins, no problem if the bins where overflowing. they’d collect everything and anything, Of course a lot of the contents would be ashes from the fireplace . I wonder if the wagons ever cought fire from hot ashes?
-
- OLD DEPENDABLE BIN WAGGON
Here’s some great news for Manchester !
Fifteen areas in England today share in £82 million from the Big Lottery Fund to reduce the social isolation of up to 200,000 older people, including £15, 326,869 for two projects in the North West. The money is being awarded through the Fund’s Ageing Better programme. The funding will also help pave the way for support for future older generations.
The consequences of social isolation are poor physical and mental health for individuals, less active citizens and a need for more costly services. The Fund wants to help tackle this and over the six years of the £82 million Ageing Better investment, partnerships in the fifteen areas will test what methods work and what don’t, so that successful approaches can be replicated across the country.
More people are at risk of becoming isolated as the population of older people grows, lacking contact with family or friends, community involvement or access to services. The Big Lottery Fund wants older people to be happier, healthier and more active, contributing even more to their communities.
Benefitting from today’s awards, Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO) is awarded £10,222,679 for Ambition for Ageing, a project that will place older people at its centre, ensuring their contribution to civic, cultural and economic life is maximised and fully recognised across Greater Manchester.
Ambition for Ageing will initially work with 24 local neighbourhoods in the districts of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside and Wigan where older people will be supported by the project to research, identify and invest in local assets based on their needs and priorities. It will also enable older people to identify new activities that the project can support to help strengthen local networks and prevent isolation in their communities.
The project will harvest vital learning from the decisions and investments older people have made locally to create larger, broader programmes, helping a range of local partners in the public sector, voluntary sector and in business learn directly from older people in order to make a wider range of services and activities more age friendly.
GMCVO Chair Stephen Little said: “This is an exciting project which will really put older people in the driving seat. It will give valuable lessons from older people about ways to address ageing and social isolation in Greater Manchester to a partnership between voluntary organisations, the NHS, local Councils and a world class research centre.”
While a partnership led by Age UK Cheshire is awarded £5,104,190 for Brightlife, a project to develop and encourage wider community support and better neighbourhood connections that will benefit up to 6,400 older people across Cheshire West and Chester.
Striving to make a real and positive change in the culture around attitudes to later life Brightlife will design practical and proven measures that will combat loneliness and isolation for vulnerable older people.
Working in partnership with a range of local agencies from across the voluntary, public and private sectors, Brightlife will develop a range of innovative services, such as the creation of a social pharmacy, where older people will be prescribed a social script to enable them to access a wide range of person centred sociable services. The script will complement any medical care and prevent the need for expensive NHS services. It will also increase choice so that older people can be given tailored support for their particular needs.
The project will also create community hubs linking older people in primary care, and their carers, with non-medical sources of support, and develop best practice toolkits’ to provide systems of support for those with particular needs, such as older people with dementia.
Recognising the enormous contribution older people can bring to their local communities Brightlife will also increase volunteering and active citizenship for older residents through the Skillshare initiative which will link skills and local businesses resources with the third sector.
Ken Clemens CEO Age UK Cheshire said: “The announcement of our successful application to the Big Lottery Fund’s Ageing Better programme is wonderful news. Age UK Cheshire is absolutely thrilled at the prospect of leading such a strong and diverse local partnership across all sectors within Cheshire West and Chester in the next steps of this exciting programme. All partners are committed to working alongside our older population to identify, design and implement a wide range of innovative solutions in addressing loneliness and isolation. We are looking to generate a local grass roots movement with our Brightlife Programme.”
Nat Sloane, Big Lottery Fund England Chair, said: “Recent research shows that one million people over 65 are lonely. Social isolation is bad for health with links to chronic conditions and increased mortality. With more people living well into their eighties, pressures on local services and budgets will continue to rise.
“There are concerns about a ticking time bomb facing adult social care, but older people have a wealth of experience and skills to offer their communities. We need to tap into this – to help them help themselves and others living alone. Our Ageing Better investment will put them at the heart of the way the projects are designed and delivered to ensure that older people living longer also live well.”
Throughout the Ageing Better investment, evidence will be produced to show the social and economic impact of a range of approaches. Ecorys, working with the Brunel Institute for Ageing Studies at Brunel University and Bryson Purdon Social research, will measure the impact of the funding and share successes and lessons learnt so projects deliver sustainable improvements
Age Friendly Manchester’s BIG DAY OUT
The Harpurhey, Moston and New Moston AF Network are embarking upon a very ambitious project which supports one of the Networks key objectives, to reduce loneliness and isolation amongst older people. The project currently has a working title of the Big Day Out or as I sometimes call it The “Real” Grand Day Out.
The project involves the organisation of “mass days out”, involving older people from across north Manchester. We anticipate being able to fill 3 – 5 coaches for our first outing and aim to sustain numbers as the group attracts new members. We used the Winter Warm events to test the idea and over 80 people have already signed up – many reporting that they couldn’t remember the last time they went on an organised trip out. Some remembered Sheltered Scheme Managers organising trips but this now happens on fewer occasions. Those not living in supported accommodation appear to be missing entirely, especially if they are not engaged in social groups. We envisage the first outing taking place in Spring and have already had an offer from the Lord Mayor of Manchester to wave off the coaches. We are also hopeful that for the launch outing we can set off with police out-riders and a tooting fire engine.
Contact either myself, on normanhartis@gmail.com, or Tracy Annette on t.annette@Manchester.gov.uk if your interested in a great day out with us, and we’ll get in touch with details.
These coaches may bring back memories. But our trips will probably use bright new ones
Now thats different !
When it was built, Concorde changed the face of aviation forever. No longer would passengers have to travel slowly – you could be in New York in around three hours, travelling faster than the speed of sound, and in perfect comfort.
On November 29, 1952, all that became possible when an agreement was signed in London between the UK and France.
Julian Amery, Minister of Supply, and Geoffroy de Courcel, the French Ambassador to Britain, put pen to paper on a treaty which detailed the decision by the two countries to build Concorde.
the Concorde fleet was, at its height, 18 Supersonic aeroplanes. flown by Air France and British Airways. first commercial flights were, I think in 1976. the fleet was decommissioned in 2003, after a crash in Paris added to the commercial viability problems following 9/11/2001 reduced passengers on all trans Atlantic flights dramatically. However there are still 8n aircraft still in first class condition around the world, and we have one here in Manchester. I took a tour around the plane on my birthday a couple of weeks ago. for me it was nostalgia, as I flew Concorde in 1978 to and from Bahrain, and in the 90’s to and from New York, both Air France from Paris and B.A. from London. seeing those airspeed signs going up to and passing Mach2 was indeed a special feeling. travelling at twice the speed of sound, faster than a bullet was quite amazing, as not a tremor or shake to advise you of the speed, just the read- out at the cabin front. I remember the captain announcing that ” there are other planes that fly at this speed, but the R.A.F. don’t serve caviar and champagne at 1,350 miles an hour ! enjoy! ”
But, back to Manchester, I have a ttached a couple of photos showing the millions of dials the pilots had to contend with.
Magic!
THEVOICEOFSENIORS MANCHESTER 