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Council News
Reading Buses Scandal!,
Reading's 'green buses' are not green
after all .... |
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Have you got a problem
with a service in our Ward? (broken or blocked drains etc.)
Please tell us and your ward
Councillors will arrange to have it fixed! ...
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Councillor Surgeries
Our next Councillor Surgery will be held at the Readibus in
Budgen's Car Park, Peppard Road Emmer Green on
17 July
2010 between 10.30am and 12 noon. |
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Buddy Scheme Launched |
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Cllr launches ‘Buddy Scheme’ for Older
Residents
“...whether at 65, 85 or
105 we shall all come to a point where
we find it difficult to look after
ourselves – and many of us will be
living alone".
Once again all
seats were taken at St Barnabas Hall in
July 2009, as residents listened to
presentations on a range of subjects,
including a history of the Royal
Berkshire Hospital, equity release
schemes, Reading Borough activity
programmes, development of the
Caversham Active
Retirement Club and aspects of
Crime and Policing in Caversham.
Cllr Mark Ralph, who set
up the Caversham 50 PLUS+ Forum with
Geoff Chivers, now Chairman of Reading’s
50 PLUS+ organisation, introduced the
audience to his concept of a ‘Buddy
Scheme’, to be run as a pilot by
Neighbourhood Watch coordinators in
Peppard Ward.
He said, “As you
all know, we have an ageing population
and are living longer lives. Over the
next few decades there will be an
increasing proportion of those in
retirement, relative to those at work.
That means reduced potential for
taxation and increased pressure on
funding for public services.”
Press Report
“At the same time,
whether at 65, 85 or 105 we shall all
come to a point where we find it
difficult to look after ourselves – and
many of us will be living alone.”
“Furthermore,
while we are living longer, our savings
will have to last a longer period of
time. “
Nationally, 2.2m
pensioners are already living below the
poverty line, 17% live on less than
£5,000 per year and 12% cut back on
food.
“This means that
many of our older people stay at home
and aren’t seen regularly. The first
time they ‘hit the radar’ of the local
authority is when they have an accident
such as a fall.”
In these
circumstances the emergency services
have to become involved: PCSOs break
into homes, ambulances are called out,
residents are taken to the hospital A&E,
onto a ward and later to
rehabilitation. When people get home,
Community Care has to provide a high
level of support: wake-up, dressing,
meals on wheels, nursing/provision of
medication, preparation for bed and day
care services. All very labour
intensive and expensive.
“My proposal,” said
Cllr Ralph, “is to establish a ‘buddy
scheme’ in which older, single people,
living on their own, link up with
someone of a similar age and gender
nearby.”
The idea is to make
regular contact, once or twice a week -
nothing intrusive, just a telephone call
to check there are no issues.
“Particular areas of focus will be to
identify whether there are concerns to
do with Safety, Security, Health or
Wellbeing” said Cllr Ralph, “but it
isn’t entirely straightforward.”
Cllr Ralph is in
contact with both the Police and
Community Care to identify the correct
questions to ask and the numbers to be
called if a problem is identified.
“Some concerns have
been expressed” he said, “regarding the
numbers that may require support. But
my contention is that it is better for
individuals’ quality of life and better
for the Local Authority if issues can be
pre-empted and high cost intervention
avoided.”
‘Next steps’ were
identified as follows:
- Simple, non-intrusive questions need to
be agreed that will quickly identify
issues
- Police and Community Care contact
numbers have to be agreed, with back-up
for out of hours issues
- Clear parameters need to be identified
to ensure that problems are identified
and support accessed – without
subjecting people to intrusive,
over-zealous neighbours
- Appropriate systems must be developed to
ensure privacy is protected at all times
- The scheme must remain ‘supportive’
rather than ‘intrusive’ or a ‘source of
irritation’
- Thames Valley Police and over 25
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators have
agreed to run a pilot in Peppard Ward
Thames Valley Police and over 25
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators have
agreed to run a pilot in Peppard Ward
Cllr Ralph is
working with Community Care and Thames
Valley Police to identify and resolve
some of these problems before handing
the system over to the Police and
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators for the
Pilot scheme to begin. He warns, “I
fully expect the Pilot to identify
further issues. What we have to ensure
is that solutions are found.”
If anyone with
experience of Social Services or
supporting older people is interested in
contributing to the development of this
scheme, please contact Cllr Ralph on
0118 948 1615 or email him at:
mark.ralph@reading.gov.uk .
It is expected that
participants will be identified by
Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators but
details of a contact at Reading Police
Station will also be available, for
anyone interested in participating in
the Pilot.
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