People are encouraged to be involved in the design and delivery of their care and support as equal partners
Gaining feedback on our Family Centre support
We asked individuals who receive support from our Family Centres for feedback on their experiences. At the time of writing 77 people have completed our survey during 2021-22 to share their views. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Really couldn’t have asked for a better family worker and am so happy and pleased with the progress we’ve made as a family.
- 93% of respondents agreed that the team contacted them within one week of receiving their details.
- 100% of respondents felt that team were friendly, honest, respectful and professional.
- 96% felt that they were listened to by the team and were able to work together with us on different areas of family life.
- 90% of respondents felt able to move on with their lives with confidence, knowing that the Family centre team were there to help if they needed it.
Very friendly, made me feel at ease and was able to give an open, honest, supportive relationship with myself and my children.
I feel I now have the confidence to move forward in my life thanks to the Family Centre and my support worker
We will continue to gain feedback on our performance to develop and improve our services still further.
Eryl Wen Family Centre
We consulted with individuals who access our Eryl Wen Family Centre in Llandudno, as well as professionals and other individuals who work with us. Respondents felt that the location of the site was convenient for them, and a part of their community, and the consensus was that Eryl Wen should continue to house the Llandudno-based Family Centre. Work has started on building improvements and these should continue into 2022-23 to provide the best possible space and facilities for families who visit us there. We will keep you posted on progress.
Feedback on our domiciliary care service for older people
We run an ongoing survey to give people receiving a reablement service the opportunity to feed back on their experience. The service provides six weeks of intensive support to individuals who have returned home from a hospital stay, or who are recovering from illness or an accident. The aim is to help individuals to regain independence and confidence in their own homes, to the point where services can then be ceased or reduced, according to ongoing need. During 2021-22 people who benefited from the service were asked a series of questions about the care and support they received.
- 96% agreed that they, their family, friends and social worker were involved in agreeing and planning their support.
- 97% told us that their expectations of the service were met.
- 92% respondents felt that we agreed their outcomes with them at the start of the service.
- 90% agreed that they had met their personal outcomes at the end of the period of intervention.
- Everyone who expressed cultural or religious wishes were provided for (38%), with the remaining 62% not applicable.
- 99% felt that the support they received was flexible, for example around times and duration.
- 90% agreed that the support received was consistent, that is, the same team of staff providing support.
- 100% of respondents felt that the support they received enabled them to do as much as they could for themselves.
- 100% felt that our staff were pleasant, kind and courteous.
- 15% of respondents would have valued another type of support as part of the package, including shopping, cleaning, laundry, and more time to chat.
Absolutely above and beyond. The team were amazing, so lovely with my Mum….
Beyond my expectation, everyone was so kind, caring and helpful. Also very encouraging; I honestly couldn’t praise the team highly enough.
The ladies were so respectful to us whilst in our home, plus communicated what they had done and were so understanding of what we were going through.
Feedback from the friends and family of Llys Elian residents
In February 2022 we contacted family, carers and friends of people who live in Llys Elian to obtain their views on the service their loved ones receive there. We received 28 responses to our survey and the scores and comments were overwhelmingly positive.
All respondents rated the care and support as good or excellent:
I feel the team give all they have got towards the residents. They take the time to chat and calm them when needed.
The care received has made an immeasurable difference to the health and well-being of my relative.
Llys Elian is an exceptional place with amazing staff and a wonderful ethos and approach.
Asked what was good about living there, respondents talked about the homely and cheerful environment, friendly staff, and the quality of the care, food and activities:
Care, empathy and support for my Mum, along with fantastic food and activities…an outstanding establishment! Well done to all at LE!
We were pleased to see that 100% of respondents would recommend Llys Elian to a friend or relative:
When all is said and done I think it’s one of the best run homes in the area.
I would recommend Llys Elian over and over again.
It was clear from the additional comments that Covid restrictions with regard to care home visits has been a tough experience for many residents and their families, and they are looking forward to spending more quality time with their loved ones in the coming months.
Feedback on our Community Wellbeing activities
In May 2021 we asked individuals over the age of 50 and the people who support them to tell us what activities they would like to access, either online, or in their local community, to support their health and wellbeing. In all, 77 people responded to us, from across the county; here’s a flavour of what they told us.
Llandudno and surrounding area
- Top 3 activities: exercise, arts and crafts, stress management/wellbeing courses
- Most popular request: walks
- Preferred days to attend: Tuesday-Thursday
- Preferred time to attend: afternoons
- Preferred frequency: 100% wanted weekly sessions
Llanfairfechan and surrounding area
- Top 3 activities: exercise, arts and crafts, gardening
- Most popular request: pilates and yoga
- Preferred days to attend: Wednesday
- Preferred time to attend: evenings
- Preferred frequency: 100% wanted weekly sessions
Rural area
- Top 3 activities: exercise, arts and crafts, nature sessions
- Most popular request: walks and yoga
- Preferred days to attend: Monday and Thursday
- Preferred time to attend: afternoons and evenings
- Preferred frequency: 77% wanted weekly sessions
Colwyn Bay and surrounding area
- Top 3 activities: exercise, arts and crafts, dancing
- Most popular request: walks and yoga
- Preferred days to attend: Monday and Wednesday
- Preferred time to attend: mornings
- Preferred frequency: 93% wanted weekly sessions
Abergele and surrounding area
- Top 3 activities: exercise, arts and crafts, singing
- Most popular request: walks and yoga
- Preferred days to attend: Wednesday and Friday
- Preferred time to attend: afternoons
- Preferred frequency: 87% wanted weekly sessions
We asked people about online sessions, which would not be dependent on where they live.
- Top 3 activities: exercise, including exercise for stress management, arts and crafts, stress management/wellbeing courses
- Most popular request: yoga, knitting/crochet
- Preferred days to attend: Wednesday
- Preferred time to attend: evenings
- Preferred frequency: 93% wanted weekly sessions
16% of respondents said they would be interested in attending activities delivered through the medium of Welsh. Wednesday and Friday evenings were the most popular days for sessions in the community, with 92% wanting weekly sessions. For online sessions Wednesday and Thursday afternoons/evenings were preferable, with 100% opting for weekly sessions.
People were willing to pay for sessions, with 20% happy to pay between £8 and £12. The barriers most respondents mentioned that would prevent them from attending any session would be a lack of confidence, anxiety and Covid.
This invaluable feedback will allow us to plan sessions for the future, in line with what people want and need, to increase their health and wellbeing.
Engaging with people who use our commissioned services
Despite our continued focus on delivering services within the constraints posed by Covid-19, we have been able to conduct a number of engagement exercises with individuals who access our services during 2021-22. Here is a flavour of the feedback we have received from them.
In September 2021 we spent time with four individuals who live at a care home for adults with learning disabilities, ASD or mental health issues. We asked them what it was like to live there, and how they like to spend their time.
Three of the residents made use of an iPad provided by the Local Authority to keep in touch with their families during lockdown. All had received visitors when able, including children and grandchildren when it was safe to do so. All created e-mail addresses to exchange photos with their families.
In terms of activities, the residents stated that they enjoy things like puzzle books, reading magazines, and baking cakes. One likes birds and has an aviary, and another had just started Slimming World and, with the help of the staff, was trying to cook some recipes.
The residents eat together and create a weekly menu, each of them choosing one of the evening meals each week. Favourites include sausages, curry, and fish and chips.
The gentlemen love football and are fans of Blackpool Football Club. Some staff recently took them for a day trip to Blackpool to have a tour of the club. Through our conversations with the residents we learnt about many more activities and outings that they enjoyed.
During November 2021 we spoke with 21 individuals (or their representative) who receive care and support at home from an agency. Interviews were conducted over the phone and we asked for their views on the relationship with and the service from the provider.
- 95% of respondents rated the service they received good or very good.
- 86% agreed that they received their service from a consistent, regular staff team.
- 100% received services in their preferred language.
- 98% felt that the support staff were kind, respectful and courteous.
- 38% agreed that their support worker arrived on time, with 48% stating that this was sometimes the case.
- All seemed happy that their views, wishes and preferences were taken into account by the support staff and service provider, although some may have felt nervous about asking for something different in case their support was taken away.
- 60% agreed that the service provider was flexible in terms of visit times and duration, understanding the pressures on the support staff to keep to their work schedule.
- 71% were satisfied or very satisfied with the service they received, however 19% were very unsatisfied.
Many of the comments made by the participants were concerning the amount of time spent on calls; many wanted the support workers to spend more time with them, and for a consistent team to visit them at the pre-arranged time.
I don’t mind a half hour variation but we are frightened to go out and have a life in case we miss a call.
…the time is what it is, the carer has told me that I have been squashed in between two other calls.
Mental Wellness Team
Over the past year we have successfully transitioned to the Mental Wellness Team, improving the impact of poor mental wellbeing to Conwy residents. The development of the Mental Wellness Team was in response to what people were telling us about mental health services.
Current data is demonstrating that there has been a 40% increased on the demand for Mental Health services both across Health and Social Care. Within the Mental Wellness Team we work to the ethos of ‘No Wrong Door’ so it doesn’t matter what service an individual contacts, we will assist to get that person to the right place.
Wellbeing is a core factor in the delivery of the Mental Wellness Team. Currently we are working to develop green spaces, a Recovery College, hubs both in person and virtual and looking at other ways that we can work at a grass root level, through our work we have seen how much communities have to offer, and it isn’t always about adding more, it is about seeing what is out there and bringing awareness to existing services.
Case Study
A lady in her 20s was forced to leave her professional career due to her mental health issues, which consequently caused a loss of purpose as well as the job she had worked hard to achieve.
She was supported by Primary Care with her diagnosis and medication. The Mental Wellness team supported her to improve her self-esteem and home environment as well as signposting her to advice on benefits and budgeting.
Following that support she is now living independently, expresses improved sense of wellness and wellbeing, has not required any further referrals for clinical interventions and has greatly reduced the risk of needing hospitalisation. Most importantly she has hope for the future.
What’s next?
In the next year we will expand the team and the recruitment process is underway to appoint an Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP). This is a specialist professional role. We will also be appointing a Section 117 Social Worker whose role will be to support the aftercare process of individuals who have been hospitalised under the Mental Health Act and subsequently discharged from hospital.
Utilising funding from the Area Integrated Service Board (AISB), we are recruiting an additional Intervention Worker and Community Support Worker who will provide a period of short-term, intensive support designed to help individuals in a structured, person led, recovery focused way to prevent crisis where possible and facilitating the individual to regain stability.
We have been successful in securing a small pot of funding from the UK Community Recovery Fund to support production work that we were undertaking before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Care Leaver Week
Care Leaver Week occurs every year in October. This is the first year that Conwy have joined in the celebrations. In order to do this we liaised with various activity centres and local businesses to offer experiences for our young people and their own children. Some of the tickets below were donated to the team by the Family Centres. Below is a list of the activities and experiences that were on offer:
- Wendy Couling Magical Worlds in a Box – Mixed Media 3D Session
- Create a Mixed Media shadow box assemblage, creating your own stories using a range of layering collage techniques
- Adventure Parc Snowdonia
- Ninja Assault course
- People Surf Lagoon surf lesson
- Surf Lagoon paddle boarding
- Staffing and mileage
- Welsh Mountain Zoo
- Climbing sessions
- Cinema tickets
- Aspire fitness
- North Wales Active Ltd Gorge scrambling
- Climbing & Abseiling
- CCBC allotment Pumpkin carving sessions
- Llandudno ski slope
- Sugar Den, Abergele Arts and crafts café
- Leisure centres
Care Leavers Website
In addition, we also launched a new care leaver website:
http://www.smallstepsbigfuture.wales/
The website is currently managed by the Personal Advisor Team and contains easily accessible information around benefits, health, identity, education and training, what’s going on locally and lots more. The website also includes videos showing young people how to make a meal and safely undertake DIY tasks.
During Care Leaver Week we used the website to promote daily themes. Here is the schedule from the week:
- Money Monday: We shared information about benefits and grants. Anything and everything money related.
- No take out Tuesday: This was about promoting healthy eating, eating on a budget, meal planning, and meal preparation. This included information on food safety courses.
- Wellbeing Wednesday: This covered a huge range of advice and ideas such as meditation, walking ideas and outdoor pursuits.
- Be true to you Thursday: This is about each individual care leaver celebrating themselves, what they’ve been through and what they’ve achieved.
- Fix it Friday: We shared B&Q links and videos showing some basic DIY tips.
What’s next?
We will be planning to celebrate Care Leaver Week again this year. We will begin to plan much earlier in the process. If Covid-19 restrictions are eased, we are hoping that we will be able to meet our care leavers face to face during this year’s celebrations.