Making information easy

My Care in Birmingham, is the City Council’s new website dedicated to providing easily accessible information about adult social care services.
The site has user-friendly pages to help local people identify their social care needs.

It is being rolled out in stages; the first – information and advice pages – is already in place.

Next will be an assessment section allowing individuals to completed an online assessment of their care needs. 

My Care in Birmingham

Views sought on social care makeover

Shropshire Council has embarked on a major countywide review of the way it delivers adult social care services. 

Care services in Shropshire have not changed much over the past 30 years. Based on extensive consultation with residents, advocacy groups, the NHS and other organisations,  the council seeks to reflect the changing needs and expectations of people, and adapt services accordingly.

Under the heading of Live life: your way? the council wants to develop a new joint vision that will underpin services in the future.

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Chance to win £1,000s in dementia design challenge

The Design Council, in partnership with the Department of Health, has issued a nation-wide challenge to design products and services that make life simpler and more enjoyable for dementia sufferers and their carers.

Participants could win a share of £360,000 plus professional support to make their idea happen. 

Deadline for applications is 5.00pm on 30 September 2011.

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Spotlight dementia on film

A video campaign to raise awareness of dementia has been launched in GP surgeries across Worcestershire County.

Produced by NHS Worcestershire with support from the Alzheimer’s Society, the video is being played in doctors’ surgeries as part of the Living Well with Dementia strategy launched earlier this year. 

The video tells viewers how dementia affects individuals, what to do if they experience symptoms and where to go for support locally.

Contact: Susan Pinfold-Brown, Dementia Programme Manager, telephone 07587 885 115, email: suan.pinfold-brown@worcestershire.nhs.uk .

Fund for innovation open

The 2012-13 Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund is open to applicants seeking funding for projects offering innovative approaches to health and care.
Applicants are invited to submit proposals to the Department of Health.

Fifty seven projects benefited from funding under the scheme in 2011-12, to the tune of £3.5 million for the year.  The projects, from cancer services to mental health projects, are now benefiting patients across the country.

Applicants are required to register online by noon on Friday 7 October 2011, and the closing date for submitting applications is Friday 21 October. 

Full details here.

Supporting the PA market

A framework for supporting the development of personal assistants (PAs) and their employers has been produced by DH. 

Working for personalised care: A framework for supporting personal assistants working in adult social care, examines the roles of national and local government, communities and individuals. It identifies potential obstacles and barriers and provides good practice examples for overcoming them.

The framework sets out a strategy to accelerate and support growth in PA employment as part of the drive to personalise adult social care. It provides an outline for a delivery plan which will be developed over the coming months.

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Responses to NHS consultation available

Responses to Government’s consultation on modernising the NHS have been published.
The consultation, Liberating the NHS: Developing the healthcare workforce, ran from December 2010 to March 2011.  This was followed by the NHS Listening Exercise.

DH has published a summary of replies received, and a full formal response will be published in Autumn.

Summary of responses to the consultation