Wokingham Borough Connect
 Making home support services better
This week we had the first of two sessions looking at the services people receive to help them stay safe and happy where they live. We had a great mix of people attend, from residents who have a support worker to help them, to workers who are involved in providing that support.
We listened to all the pieces of feedback residents, support workers, voluntary groups and council officers had shared about what is working and what could be better – there were almost 200 pieces of feedback all together! We then grouped the feedback into themes. Some of the things we heard were:
- Having a consistent support team is really important for building trust and relationships
- People enjoy getting out and about with support, but lack of transport can get in the way
- People value having choice about who supports them and flexibility of how and when they receive support
It was really useful to have different experiences and points of view on the room.
Next time we meet, we will be agreeing which of the themes would make the most positive difference to the biggest number of people. This will help us focus as we work together to come up with ideas and make real changes to services over the coming months.
If you like solving problems, or enjoy trying to imagine how things can be improved, we’d love to get you involved. Email us at getinvolved@wokingham.gov.uk to find out more. You will be paid for your time at the workshop.
 Improving our website with your help
We know that people like to get information in different ways. Some people like to speak to someone face to face for advice and help; whilst others prefer to speak to someone over the phone, or go online.
During recent workshops you’ve shared feedback on how we could make our Adult Social Care webpages more useful. We’ve now started a new project to review the website and look at:
- What information you want to find
- How the information is presented
- How easy it is to find the information
We are doing this work with a mixture of residents, voluntary groups, and people from Adult Social Care and the Website team. We have chosen to start with the Carers pages, linked to the learning we had from the recent project we ran.
If you are someone who likes to go online for information and would be interested in being involved in testing, contact us using the button below.
 William speaks to … Patrick Harding from The Joy App
Read the latest update from our guest blogger William
My Name is William Reeves and I am new to the Social Care Future movement. I’m going to be talking to people who are trying to make positive changes in our community. This interview is with Patrick Harding, the developer of Joy, an app that makes it easier for people to find the support they need
What does the Joy app do?
Joy is a software that enables residents to access services to help them feel better or stay healthy. It's a tool that anyone can use to connect to services that might help them. So, for example, if someone is struggling with their balance and might have a fall in the future, a doctor could use the Joy app to connect the patient to a service that helps improve their balance. Or, if someone is feeling lonely, they could use the app to find a service that could help them be more sociable.
What led you to develop the app?
“I developed it because I saw people within my family whom I love and care about often visiting their doctors and being prescribed lots of medicine. When what they really needed was some help to get them a bit more active, feel a bit more connected to their community, or get to know people a bit more.”
How many people actively use Joy?
Across the year, about 300,000 people access and support it. It's a combination of people helping themselves, people they care about, and, of course, medical professionals and people who work in social care.
How much of a success would you say the app has been?
“It's been amazing so far. We started building it in 2019 and launched it in 2020. Initially, the goal was to help 100 people. Now we’ve helped 300,000, there's still a long way to go because we want to help millions of people. I'd say so far, so good, but we’re not done yet.”
After talking with Patrick, I decided to look at Joy myself. What I noticed first was how inviting the site looked. It's bright, full of colour, and easy to find what you are looking for. I clicked on “find a service,” entered my area, and found loads of different services that I could sign up for.
And that’s that. If you wish to find out more about Joy and want to start using this free service, go to the Joy App website
 Influencing national change
Last week we were invited to join an online session the national Social Care Future group organised to talk about the barriers to making changes in Adult Social Care.
They will be using this feedback to work with organisations including the Care Quality Commission, Department of Health and Social Care, and others in the autumn on making changes that can affect the services you receive.
It was really interesting talking to other Social Care Future groups trying to make change from around the country and have the chance to influence changes in regulations and policy. We will be sharing more about this in future editions as things move ahead.
We would like to thank the Centre for Ageing Better for some of the photos we have used in this newsletter which belong to their free Age-Positive image library.
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