WSF Latest News

November 2022

The latest meeting of the Forum was attended by over 30 people who heard from Citizens Advice South Lincs.

CA formed in 1939 to support the provision of ration books and also helped prisoners of war and with supporting people using the new NHS service.
Essentially they provide information and empower their clients on the principle that no one should face problems on their own.

Nationally they also have a large research and campaigns dept eg when Universal credit came in there was a six week delay before payment was made. Their campaign got this reduced to 5 weeks.

There has been a high telephone demand especially during Covid which has not gone away but face to face support is increasing. They provide outreach services at Bourne, Holbeach and Deeping St James.

They have supported 2.4 m people nationally and gained £4m worth of benefits.
11736 local people seen with 42000 different issues and helped write of debts of over £900,000

AGM 2022

The Chair advised members that we had recently lost one of our own in June Skelton, who had been one of the founding members of this group. Along with the death of the Queen the group held a few moments silence. The Chair also provided feedback on the transport issue from previous meetings and that a new bus route had recently started and some timetables were available. He also updated members of the Councils 'Warm spaces' initiative
As this was the AGM Election of Officers took place with everyone being reelected.

Maureen told members about the proposed Christmas lunch to be held on 6 Dec.

Speakers
The group then heard from the Wellbeing Service.
The service supports anyone over 18 living in or registered with a GP in Lincolnshire. They can assist with benefits and maximising income. They help people who are socially isolated by helping them find support groups or signposting and also support independence by for instance fitting grabrails, or supplying kettle pourers etc. They also provide a lifeline service for £2.50 pw, which is subsidised by LCC. They can also support your return home from hospital.
You can self refer or be referred by other agencies.

We also heard from Amanda at Lincs Sensory Services who support visually and hearing impaired people of all ages.
They can provide equipment and Amanda shared a lot of the equipment available with the group. They employ profoundly people and can supply BSL interpreters. It was agreed Amanda would run a hearing aid session at a future meeting

July Meeting

With attendance severely hit by the 40 degree weather the meeting went ahead. Liz Lamming from National Energy Action updated the group on energy saving techniques and managing your bills. NEA can also help with water bills but Anglia water are the easiest company to deal with to get help for customers.
She also said she would be available to support anyone who needed help.
The summer trip had gone ahead with a visit to St Ives and Ely, with over 30 people who had a really enjoyable day.

Other issues

Other issues discussed were the closure of Spalding surgery at Johnson hospital and the local into town bus service.
Members were encouraged to take part in the consultation survey and local meetings to have their say about the surgery.
It was agreed that the forum would send a letter to the appropriate people responsible for the bus service to support its continuation.

May meeting

Maisie from The Meadows, Spalding told the group about the day centre provision available.
The Meadows is a local independent charity. They were severely impacted by Covid 19 especially as most of the funds come from paying customers, but are now returning to some level of normality. Essentially The Meadows is a 10.00-3.00 day care services that can include a cooked meal, activities and social events. Alternatively attendees can sit and read or watch or knit etc.
Mini buses with tail gates are available and will pick up from various areas including villages.
Food is sourced locally and dietary needs are catered for. A 5* SHDC food hygiene rating is in place.
They also offer a bathing service which is open to the public as well as existing service users. They also have Hairdressing, physio, chiropody and nurses available (especially for the level 4 booster). They can also deal with one off placements.
Costs are £33 per day which includes lunch and transport. However if you are able to get there yourself it will only cost you £28. This compares to an average of £17 per hour for day care at home.
People can also get involved with the Big Knit in partnership with Age UK. They also hold Bingo nights, tombolas, raffles etc.
Whilst they employ paid staff they are also very reliant on and thankful for volunteers.

They also offer a financial advice service and the second half of the meeting covered various aspects of the benefit system, especially those relating to carers and pension credit. Please note even though you may receive a state pension you may still be entitled to receive ‘underlying entitlement’ to Carers Allowance. So whilst you will not receive any additional payment it can open doors to receiving or an increase in Pension Credit and/or reduction in your council tax bill. So if you are looking after someone (living in the same household is often a key ie married to, living with or parent/child) who receives Attendance Allowance, PIP or DLA make sure you check out your entitlement to Carers Allowance. Please note if the person you are caring for has a mental health problem they can be ignored for Council Tax purposes (eg possibly 25% reduction in council tax; and if you are caring for a person with a mental health condition eg dementia the carer can be ignored for council tax purposes (possible 25% in council tax). Therefore if you are caring for a person with a severe mental health condition you may be entitled to a 50% discount in council tax.

Health Care and Support

'At its meeting on 15 March the group were updated on a response from SHDC regarding parks and open spaces as well a website 'connect2support' for information on other groups and organisations. A link to this site is available on our website.

They were also informed of a new initiative called Time to Talk which was a come and chat session, the first of which was held at Baytree cafe on the 19th April.

The main speaker was Jackie from Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust who spoke about appointment choices such as face to face, video, telephone. COVID had obviously impacted the way people saw their doctor or other medical professional but it meant that some people benefitted from these alternative methods so they were being introduced as the norm. There may also be possible access to a computer from within your GP surgery to enable video chats. You should be asked your preference at point of contact.

She also talked about young onset dementia where people in their 30s, 40s and 50 s are being diagnosed with dementia. Also there is an Older Adult Advisory Group which Maureen and one other are already part of but they are asking for more support.

We also heard from Jane and Carolyn from Age UK Lincolnshire and South Lincolnshire. They are able to provide a range of services including handyman, help at home, deep cleaning, lifeline, help and advice, benefit advice and befriending services.
They receive the equivalent of 68 calls a day and estimate they saved the NHS almost £1m through 2021 by avoiding hospital visits and admissions.

They also run a drop in at Lime Court Community Centre, The Big Knit (knitting for Ukraine) and the Hospital Avoidance Response Team (HART) which provides up to 72 hours of care and support to come out of hospital or prevent admission. They also have a team of 'community connectors' based in hospitals to help get people home.
They have a permanent centre on Park Street, Lincoln to which anyone can drop in for a cuppa or other services, but can be contacted on 0345 5564144

Public Toilets

Further to the survey which we carried out at our AGM in 2021 people expressed concerns about public toilets. An extract from a response by SHDC is shown below

'Any concerns regarding public toilets can be reported here –
https://www.sholland.gov.uk/reportit and there are also other issues that can be reported in this way, including anti-social behaviour. If group members witness anti-social behaviour in action then please do encourage them to call 101 at the time to report in what is happening. Any concerns about drug taking being witnessed can be called into 999 at the time. Evidence of drug-taking found in locations can be called in to 101 and reported to the Council for clearing – if on any of the open spaces on the link above.'

Time to Talk

As part of our remit in supporting people aged 55 and over we are launching a new initiative. We are holding 'Time to Talk' sessions which is simply an opportunity to get out, have a cuppa with other people from the group, in an informal setting.
You may have issues you want to share, something that's bugging you to get off your chest or simply to get out of the house.
These sessions will work with the usual cycle of meetings so will be on the third Tuesday every other month;

19th April

21 June

16 Aug

They will be held at 2.00pm Baytree Garden Centre Restaurant where a cup of tea can be bought for £1.80.
Why not combine it with a look around the garden centre?
We look forward to seeing you there.

Talking Rubbish

The last meeting of Welland seniors Forum was extremely well attended to hear from one of Lincolnshire County Council’s recycling team. Over 50 people heard what can and can't be recycled through roadside collections and why other products were not currently recyclable. We were also also informed of alternative outlets for these such as the recycling centre on West Marsh Road and returning soft plastics like bread bags to your local supermarkets.

A christmas get together was held three weeks later which again was attended by nearly 60 people who were well fed by Rumblings and entertained by Trevor. We would like to thank the Arnold Clark Foundation for their kind contribution to subsidise the cost of this event.