Wokingham Borough Connect
 Working together to improve home support services
We’ve been meeting with a group of residents who receive support and providers to talk about how we could make sure residents receive excellent quality home care and support, that enhances their lives.
There were lots of great suggestions of how things could be better. Now the Council’s Commissioning Team are going to meet with support providers in the borough and will ask them to think about what practical things they can do to address some of the issues raised:
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How can we give people the choice of who supports them?
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How can we make support more flexible, so it enables people to live the lives they want?
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How can we help people feel happier and safer at home?
We will be updating you after the provider event on what happens next.
 LAST Spaces on free PA Recruitment training
There are a few last places left on our training session.
We believe that people employing their own personal assistants (PA) should have control of how they are supported to live the lives they want to lead, starting with how they choose their supporters. However, during our Direct Payment workshops earlier this year, you told us it isn’t always easy to find the right PA and many people don’t know where to start.
In response to this feedback, we’ve been working with Tricia Nicholl from Social Care Future and Gloriously Ordinary Lives to create a free training session to help people with PA recruitment.
We now have a date for the pilot session:
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When: 10am to 2pm on Wednesday 12 March
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Where: Council Offices at Shute End, Wokingham
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Who: We have places left for 10 pairs – we suggest you come with someone who knows you and will also be involved with your PA. This could mean an individual and their mum, a couple looking for a PA for their adult child, or you with one of your existing support workers
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What: We will look at how you can find people to support you to pursue your interests and goals, as wells as meet your health and care needs. By the end of the session you will be clear what you need from a personal assistant and have started your own personalised job advert and plan of where to advertise
You must book a place if you would like to try the training ‘How to find great supporters’. Please email us at getinvolved@wokingham.gov.uk and say training in the subject header to book or ask for more information.
 Simply Readable Update
The Council’s Digital Innovation team has been working with the Learning Disabilities community to make written information more accessible. They are excited to see how many people care about this project!
Through recent workshops with Optalis and CLASP, residents have said what works and doesn't work when trying to read Council information. Their feedback is helping the team learn how to make information clearer for everyone in the community.
All the feedback has been used to create a tool called Simply Readable that translates documents into Easy Read. Residents have now looked at two Easy Read documents that were created with the Simply Readable tool to check they were clear, and said they were good.
Next, Sarah from the Digital Innovation team is going to present Simply Readable to His Majesty’s Treasury communication group. She and her colleagues are going to continue to improve the tool and measure all the benefits it brings. They are also working on training for staff on how to use Simply Readable so they can make their communication to residents clear.
 Keep Safe in Wokingham campaign February 2025
This campaign is dedicated to promoting safety for all our residents through a series of learning events through February.
The events are targeted at different audiences including parents and carers, people of all ages and local practitioners. There will be a line-up of speakers and partners who are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of everyone in our community. To find out about the topics that will be covered and to book your free place, click the button below
 World Autism Awareness Day Celebration
Save the date for Wokingham Borough's World Autism Awareness Day celebration, where there will be support, activities, workshops and more.
- Wednesday 2 April
- 2pm to 7pm
- The Oakwood Centre, Woodley
We will share more information in future newsletters as more details are confirmed, including how to book your place.
We'd like to thank the Centre for Ageing Well for their free imagery library which we have used for this newsletter
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