|
We’ve got a real mixture of updates and reminders in this week’s issue, please share any of the opportunities on offer.
We do our best to keep the content and structure of our PEN website up-to-date in these fast-changing times and your suggestions on how to improve the website are always welcome.
Community Services Co-production Re-launched
On the 4 June, the Community Services Co-production Group held an event to relaunch the recommissioning of services for people in receipt of adult social care. Community services include personal care, enabling, day opportunities and PAs/ Microproviders.
The Co-production Group is a group of practitioners, care providers, VCSE organisations and professional lived experience representatives who have been working together for 18 months to look at how they can inform the recommissioning of community services.
The Group had conducted some wider engagement work with people with lived experience to get the views of those who are seldom heard. The themes gathered, which captured what is important to those people, shaped the event.
The event attendees came from a range of different partners: care providers, VCSE organisations and the VCSE Assembly, professional Lived Experience, Carer’s representatives and Devon County Council, Integrated Care board and Devon Partnership Trust practitioners.
We ran workshops which gave attendees the opportunity to explore some of those themes further. Groups came together to discuss and feedback on strengths-based/ goal-focussed working, the role of the VCSE sector, carers and replacement care, and people’s experience of mental health and wellbeing support.
The Community Services Co-production Group will shortly be reviewing the feedback and looking at next steps. More information (including the event slides and workshop feedback) can be found here: https://www.devon.gov.uk/providerengagementnetwork/document/community-services-supporting-independence-empowering-lives/
|
Department for Work and Pensions Disability Services Upskilling Sessions
The Disability Services Advocacy Team deliver upskilling sessions for external charities and organisations on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance Child (DLAc), Industrial Injuries and Disablement Payment (IIDB), and Access to Work (AtW).
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Upskilling Session 9 July
This session covers what Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit is, the eligibility criteria and the whole customer journey from making a claim to receiving a decision. There will be Q&A at the end of the session.
Register here: 9 July 2025 2pm-3pm https://IIDB-Session-09-07-25.eventbrite.co.uk Password: DWP2025
Access to Work Upskilling Session 9 July
This session covers what Access to Work is, what it can support with, eligibility criteria and the customer journey. There will be opportunity for Q&A at the end of the session.
31 July 2025 1.30pm-3pm https://AtW-Session-31-07-25.eventbrite.co.uk Password: DWP2025
For more information on these sessions happening in July and August, please find links to the posters below.
SEND Session Links July August 2025
External Sessions August 2025 - Registration Required
Social Care Institute for Excellence Conference Co-production Week 2025 30 June - 4 July
The week celebrates the benefits of co-production, shares good practice and promotes the contribution of people who access care and support in developing better social care. The theme this year, ‘Innovation through co-production’, explores how co-production can improve innovation and how to better demonstrate the impact and difference it makes. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) aims aim to uncover new insights into how co-production fuels innovation in social care, sharing ideas and learning across the co-production community.
Co-production Week will showcase innovative projects supporting unpaid carers, including those from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s Accelerating Reform Fund, with potential to transform their experience of social care and demonstrate the value of investment in this area.
The conference features six interactive workshops showcasing:
- SCIE’s Impact Resource measuring the difference co-production is making with a case study across East Riding Council
- A closer look at the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in care and support- with questions around how we can ensure AI supports ethical, personalised care that enables people to live their lives, their way
- Two innovative projects supporting family and friend carers through the Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF), for which SCIE has been delivering hands-on support
- Innovations in commissioning, spotlighting lived experience roles
- Equity, diversity and inclusion and the need for more diverse voices to innovate and co-produce
- Plus a plenary discussion posing key questions and debate on what sparks innovation
More information on each workshop is available on the Eventbrite booking link below.
Book your conference tickets here
The Care & Occupational Therapy Show on 16 July
We will be at Westpoint in Exeter on the 16 July and hope you will join us there. The Care & Occupational Therapy Show is the leading Care event in the South West hosting incredible CPD-accredited seminars, industry leading Keynote speakers, live product demonstrations, and networking opportunities.
Speakers include:
Speakers include:
● Dr Jane Townson OBE, the CEO of The Homecare Association
● Helen Wildbore from Care Rights UK
● Sue Sheath, the Director of Regulation and Quality Improvement for Barchester Healthcare
All of the speakers and live demos have been CPD-accredited making your time at this event more than worthwhile! Add the 16th July to your calendar and get down to Westpoint for a day of learning, networking, and collaboration!
Get your FREE ticket now!
https://cots.ecreg.uk/reg/general/invitelaunch.asp?InviteCode=DISCA
What is the Adult Social Care Workforce Dataset?
The Adult Social Care Workforce Dataset (ASC-WDS) is an essential online data collection service that covers the adult social care workforce in England, with around 20,000 care providers using it.
The data collected is vital to the Government, the Department of Health and Social Care, local authorities and the Care Quality Commission as it allows them to plan and fund the sector.
Discover the benefits of using ASC-WDS:
- Record your training and qualifications data
- Provide intelligence to decision makers
- Get access to the Learning Development Support Scheme
- Store and access key information about your staff
Funding eligibility requirements:
- Staff records
- Eligibility checker available
Need support? Skills for Care’s friendly support team are here to help: Call 0113 241 0969 or email ascwds-support@skillsforcare.org.uk.
Take action today! Sign up for an account today at: https://www.devon.gov.uk/providerengagementnetwork/workforce-development/adult-social-care-workforce-data-set/
Devon Partnership Trust invites you to see ‘The Brook’ Learning Disability and Autism Unit in Dawlish
The Brook is a new ten-bed inpatient unit, at Langdon, Dawlish. It is designed to support individuals with a learning disability and/or autistic people.
Devon Partnership Trust would like to invite you to visit The Brook in July so you can see for yourself what it is like. The visit will involve a tour around the site and there will be opportunities to ask questions for the project managers.
There are 5 opportunities to visit:
- Thursday 3 July 10:00am – 11.30am
- Thursday 3 July 1:00pm – 2.30pm
- Thursday 10 July 1:15pm - 2:30 pm
- Monday 21 July 10:00am – 11.30am
- Monday 21 July 1:00pm – 2.30pm
Please click on the link here to open the poster for more information - The Brook July Visits.
Once a person has registered they will send out the travel details so you can plan your journey. Please note that travel expenses will not be covered. People will need to make their own way there and back.
Please be mindful that some of your service users may find this experience triggering and may need additional support from your organisation to attend.
Good News Story - Sundial Care Home Open Gardens event
Sundial Care Home near Sidmouth, Devon, welcomed local green thumbs, garden enthusiasts and members of the community into their beautiful three acre grounds, for the Tipton St John Open Gardens event. The event invites members of the community to explore the village gardens and greenery, whilst enjoying plant stalls, coffee and cake, and browsing small local businesses.
Sundial’s landscaped garden features sweeping countryside views across the River Otter and East Hill, a putting green, and a wide variety of plants and flowers that attract local wildlife. One particular plant the home takes pride in, is their impressive 8-foot, pink rhododendron shrub, now over 20 years old. Planted by the home's late gardener, it has continued to attract attention ever since.
Visitors admired the displays of roses, foxgloves, geraniums, lobelia, fuchsia, hydrangeas, and mature trees, as well as the work of the gardening club, where family members (residents) have been growing tomatoes, sweet peas and beans in the greenhouse.
A Sundial event wouldn’t be complete without a visit from therapy llamas, Harry and George from Llamas4Good CIC. As family members, visitors and other members of the community gathered, the llamas relaxed in the sunshine, grazing on the grass and enjoyed plenty of fuss. The home was also included in the children’s scavenger hunt across the village, seeing visitors of all ages coming and going.
This year’s Open Gardens event also coincided with Care Home Open Week, giving visitors the opportunity to learn more about Sundial and explore the home further if they wish.
“The Open Gardens was such a huge success! Thank you to all who came to visit us to look around our gardens, we are very lucky to have such wonderful views on our doorstep.” – Liz Thompson, Home Manager
Sundial Care Home’s participation in Tipton St John’s Open Gardens event reflected their focus on maintaining caring connections within the local community. Well-led events and opportunities for family members to engage with visitors, neighbours and
local organisations help encourage social interaction, promote independence and a sense of belonging.
To learn more about Sundial Care Home, please visit https://www.sundialcare.com/live-with-us/
Remember to share your good news stories in this newsletter
Has your support helped transform someone’s life? Have you got innovative practice to share? Send us your celebratory photos and words and we will help share good practice.
Revisit previous good news stories
|
