eNews from CPCB

The latest on training and funding in Social Care

Do you work with people who
have a disability?

The Adult Disability Workforce Development Team facilitates two Training Consortia for organisations that work in this area of social care in Cambridgeshire. One is for the Learning Disability Partnership (LDP) and the other is for Physical Disabilities and Sensory Services (PDSS).

Primarily, both Consortia are concerned with promoting best practice in Workforce Development and with raising standards for all Disability Service users and employees. They seek to do this by promoting awareness of the broader national picture. The focus is on proactive responses to new legislative requirements, the sharing of information, and the creation of cost-effective development opportunities.

Information from the Consortia feed directly into the Disability Service Training Programme. Published annually, this presents a range of service-related opportunities, many of which are free to contracted Disability Services. Other areas of social care may be able to take advantage of unfilled spaces for a small charge. Meetings are held bi-monthly in the Cambridge area and last approx two hours.

If you would like further details please e-mail: martine.grzybek@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

July 2010

Click on the name of the training orgainsation for more information:

Learning Offerings in this Region

Basic Life Support Consultancy

13th - 15th: First Aid (Addenbrookes Hospital)
14th - 15th: Requalifying First Aid (Addenbrookes Hospital)

Arthur Rank

7th: Motor Neurone Disease Study Day.
(Bateman Street, Cambridge)
14th: Answering Difficult Questions - What do I say?
(The Education Room, Arthur Rank House, Cambridgeshire)
20th: 'I don't know what to say' - In the Front Line
- Communication Skills for non-clinical staff
(The Education Room, Arthur Rank House, Cambridgeshire)
21st: Palliative Care at Arthur Rank House - An Overview
21st: The Management of a Syringe Driver - Refresher
(The Education Room, Arthur Rank House, Cambridgeshire)

Training 2 Care

7th (am): Mental Capacity (Toft People's Hall)
7th (pm): Diet & Nutrition (Toft People's Hall)
8th (am): Moving & Handling Refresher (Toft People's Hall)
8th (pm): Safe Handling of Medicines (Toft People's Hall)
14th (am): Supervision (Toft People's Hall)
14th (pm): Fire Safety (Toft People's Hall)
15th: Health & Safety (Toft People's Hall)
19th: First Aid (Toft People's Hall)
20th (am): Safeguarding of Adults (Toft People's Hall)
20th (pm): Infection Control (Toft People's Hall)
21st: Moving & Handling Full Training (Toft People's Hall)
22nd (am): Food Hygiene (Toft People's Hall)
22nd (pm) : Mental Capacity Act (Toft People's Hall)
28th: Dementia (Toft People's Hall)
29th: First Aid (Toft People's Hall)

Listening to you: the review of TSI (Training Strategy Implementation)

The Care Brokerage would like to say a big thank-you to those of you that attended the TSI ‘Listening Day’ last Friday at The British Racing School in Newmarket.

Change Consultancy has been contracted by Skills for Care to carry out a review of TSI. They have arranged Listening days in order to provide flexibility to the feedback process and enable those attending to have an input into shaping the agenda for the sessions.

As contractors for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region, the Brokerage attended the morning session. This gave us the opportunity, along with other contractors, to share our views on what we felt had worked well and where systems could be improved.

We hope that those of you that took part in the afternoon session found it useful sharing your views. Your feedback in these sessions is highly valuable and greatly appreciated in this welcomed review.

In due course, we may be asking you for further input via a questionnaire that will be distributed shortly so keep your eye out and be sure to have your say!

Skills for Care Invites Tenders for the Apprenticeship Innovation Fund

Skills for Care is inviting tenders from organisations who can support the development of apprenticeships in social care. The sum of £146,000 has been set aside for the support of a small number of projects aimed at developing innovation and new approaches to the delivery of apprenticeships.

The essential purpose of this initiative is to give individual employers and employer groups - including local authorities - what they need in order to be able to address a range of issues in the development, recruitment and retention of apprentices.

Skills for Care would particularly welcome proposals which demonstrate joint-working and that involve linked funding streams or matched funding.

You can download full details from the 'Apprenticeships' page of our website by clicking right here.

Self-Directed Support: Latest Update

As many of you will already be aware, Self-Directed Support in Cambridgeshire was launched back in April 2009. The first roll-out was to adults with a learning disability. Next was the roll-out to adults with a physical disability, at the end of June, last year. And between September 2009 and April 2010, we saw the roll-out to older people and older people with a mental health need.

According to Clare Bruin, Service Director for Adult Services at Cambridgeshire County Council: 'Self-Directed Support enables individuals to identify their needs, aspirations, and the goals they want to achieve. The challenge for all of us - Cambridgeshire County Council, providers, individuals and carers - is to let go of traditional service solutions and to think of and support innovation and different ways for people to meet their needs. Allocation of a personal budget will enable them to do this.'

Those of you who made it along to the Care Brokerage Event that we held just before the launch may have spoken to one of our guest presenters, Mike Hay. Mike, who is the Head of Transformation at Cambridgeshire County Council says: 'The introduction of Self-Directed Support is quite simply for many people a life-changing event - and perhaps ultimately the most far-reaching innovation we have seen in social care for many years.'

If you want to find out how SDS has been working out so far, we recommend the Self-Directed Support 'Provider Briefings' - the Issue being Number Eight. With reviews of recent events, a local news round-up and suggestions for further reading, it's packed with useful information.

Download a copy by going to: http://www.campetcare.org.uk/PDFs/Provider_8.pdf - get your copy now!

Thank you for reading!

The Care Brokerage Team