CQC wants to encourage people to share their experiences of care – good and bad, as this information supports their monitoring and inspection activity, to act when they find poor care and highlight good care.
Declare Your Care has been a year-long, cross sector campaign (Hospitals, Care homes, GP Practices, care in your own home). It launched nationally in February 2019 and has run throughout the year focusing on key population groups which we know have lower awareness of CQC.
On Tuesday 14th January, we launch the fourth and final spike of our #DeclareYourCare Campaign focusing on people with a learning disability, their family, carers and advocates.
Four areas of Greater Manchester have been working to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. The programme has worked with people and families and has focused on people who were most at risk of ending up in institutional settings. They concentrated on work supporting young people, preparing for adulthood, and working with providers to prepare for people coming home.
The webinar will talk about the programme and explore the work done in two of the four areas, Rochdale and Wigan.
Webinar: Social work with adults with learning disability – putting good relationships with people who use services at the centre of practice
Friday, 11th October 2019
10.00 – 11.00
This webinar will be delivered by Dr Godfred Boahen, who is a qualified social worker and works for the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). The organisation is made up of about 20, 000 social workers who have come together to advocate for social workers and the people who use services.
Recently, the government asked the BASW to find out the skills, knowledge, and values that are needed to do good social work with adults with learning disabilities.
Together with adults with learning disabilities, carers, social workers and their managers, BASW co-produced the Capabilities Statement for Social Work with Adults with Learning Disability
In this webinar, Godfred will talk about how they involved adults with learning disability in creating the Capabilities Statement and what they thought was important. Godfred will explain why his organisation believe that what they found shows the importance of good relationship between social workers and adults with learning disability that they work with.
If you think people have to be able to read or speak to have a sight test – or you think people with learning disabilities can never be prescribed glasses – join us to become Eye Care Aware and find out why the myths around communication and eye care are being busted by our eye care team!
Lisa Donaldson
Lisa Donaldson is SeeAbility’s Head of Eye Health and is an optometrist with a special interest in paediatrics and learning disabilities. Lisa leads the SeeAbility team providing sight tests to children in special schools.
Scott Watkin
Scott Watkin BEM is SeeAbility’s Head of Engagement is very well known in the social care sector and has good links with many learning disability organisations. He has living experience of learning disabilities and sight problems.
Aylee Richmond
Aylee Richmond is a Senior Eye Care Advisor at SeeAbility. She is a qualified Vision Rehabilitation Worker and helps people to make the best use of their available vision.
Webinar: The Love Project – Exploring support for people with Learning Disabilities to find loving relationships.
Click here to view the webinar:
It will look at findings from the perspective of people with learning disabilities, support staff and family members. It will look at the barriers people face in developing relationships and discussions around how they can be addressed.
Dr Claire Bates is the founder of the National Supported Loving Network which promotes good practice around sexuality and relationships for people with learning disabilities and autism.
Claire is also a researcher at the University of Kent’s Tizard Centre and conducts research in areas such as sexuality and relationships for people with learning disabilities.
United Pride Friends: Being Out, Proud and Autistic
Friday, 21st June 2019
10.00 – 11.00
A new group for members of the LGBT Community with Autism and Learning Difficulties, United Pride Friends, has been set up in the North West.
The primary purpose of our group is to provide a befriending service, giving members a safe place to meet new people and make friends.
The group aims to build the confidence of its members through workshops and social events, as well as providing educational sessions where we will discuss topics that affect this community such as safe sex, dealing with homophobia and ableism, and coming out to friends and family.
This webinar will talk about what United Pride Friends is, what it does and why it was set up. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end.
Our presenter
Michael Chick
Michael Chick came up with the idea of starting the group. He is a gay man from Wigan in the North West of England and founder of United Pride Friends.
Michael found that although there are service for LGBT people available, there are little to none for those who are LGBT with autism. He faced other issues due to being autistic with learning difficulties, such as homophobia and discrimination both in the private and public care sectors.
Michael wanted to challenge this discrimination so set up United Pride Friends.
Gig Buddies – serious fun – Delivering serious outcomes for people with learning disabilities doesn’t need to be dull!
Friday, April 26th 2019
10.00 – 11.00
Stay Up Late’s Gig Buddies project matches people with learning disabilities with a volunteer who shares the same cultural interests to help people build stronger informal support networks and make new friendships.
In this session Paul will explain how it works, and how it’s delivering some ‘serious outcomes’ for people in a way that doesn’t feel at all serious, in fact it feels like an awful lot of fun!
Paul Richards
Paul is a founder, and the director of the charity Stay Up Late. The charity grew out of the experiences of the punk band ‘Heavy Load’ that he played bass with for 15 years. Heavy Load were also the subjects of the feature length documentary movie of the same names (which Mark Kermode rates as one of the top 5 music documentaries of the 21st century!).
Stay Up Late also pioneered Gig Buddies, the innovative volunteer befriending project which relieves social isolation through a shared love of the same cultural activities. The model is now being shared across the UK (and Australia).
Paul previously worked as the registered manager of a group home for people with learning disabilities and was the Involvement Manager’ for Southdown Housing Association. More recently he was the National Co-production Adviser for Think Local Act Personal.
Paul’s passion is ending inequality for people with learning disabilities and when he’s not working he can be found spending too much money in record shops or walking on the South Downs with his family. He has 4 kids and a dog and lives in Hove. His catch phrase is ‘Keep It Punk!’
