Celebrating a successful first year of Social Care Future

The voice of the resident was clearly heard at Wokingham Borough Council’s second Social Care Future Big Gathering in Woodley last week.

The event brought together more than a 100 people and organisations to celebrate the progress made since the Social Care Future movement was launched last July. 

The majority of those attending were people with ‘lived experience’, meaning individuals who have first-hand experience of using the councils’ adult social care services, whether for themselves or for a loved one, along with several organisations, including Citizens Advice Wokingham, the NHS, the Link Visiting Scheme, Involve Community Services and Thames Valley Police. The new Residents’ Reception also came along to take part, providing advice and signposting to support, and the opportunity for a free health check. 

The event was also attended by the Wokingham Borough Mayor, several councillors and senior staff from the adult social care teams who were there to take part in discussions and listen to feedback and ideas from residents on the day. 

A year of real successes 

Since the Social Care Future Movement was launched last year, lived expert residents and organisations have been working with the council closely to establish priorities, identify what’s working well and what needs to be improved. 

Over the past year there have been some real successes including: 

• Strengthening our Social Care Future Working group made up of residents and community organisations, supported by the council, who can champion the social care future aspirations and provide steer and advice
• Creating and adopting a Social Care Future Charter which sets out a vision for the future of social care in the borough and how we will work together to bring about positive change 
• Run a series of co-production workshops, community conversations and events looking at a range of topics people told us mattered to them, including how people find support, understanding direct payments and what support unpaid carers need
• Launched a fortnightly Social Care Future newsletter and a Direct Payments newsletter. Aimed at keeping people informed about the latest news and advice, and opportunities to get involved, 
• Launch of the new Residents’ Reception outreach project, which brings a range of community organisations and support together to host drop in session at convenient locations across the borough. This came in response to ideas from residents attending our Front Door workshops which looked at how to make it easier for people to access services and support, especially when they were unsure what might be available to them 
• Approval to remove time restrictions from Disabled Bus Passes from December in response to feedback from the Community Conversations, allowing holders to travel free at any time, helping them get to work or attend activities including medical appointments, education and leisure 
• Establishing pilot schemes which have seen residents with lived experience become involved with sitting on interview panels for key roles in the councils Adult Social Care service, and on panels linked to the procurement of new care services for the borough 

In addition to receiving an update on what had been achieved over the year, those attending the Big Gathering could also attend a range of talks on topics which had been raised during recent Community Conversations that were linked to the Social Care Future vision. These included talks about navigating local support, staying safe online, using the NHS App and digital services, creative ways to find great personal assistants, energy saving advice, and an introduction to how to navigate the council’s housing process. 

People attending could also join in with some fun, inclusive workshops which were chosen to let people try out new community activities including boxercise, drama therapy and a drumming circle. 

Giving people a real say 

 “It was great to see so many familiar and new faces come along to this celebration of Social Care Future.” Said, Wokingham Borough Mayor, Cllr Adrian Mather. “I’m incredibly proud of what’s been achieved over the past year. We’ve already seen real positive changes in how social care is being delivered across the borough and will continue to build on these successes as we move forward. 

“The social care future movement is all about sharing power with people as equals and giving people a real say in the things which directly affect them. These are the people who have the best understanding of what is working well and what needs to be improved. Being able to work together to openly discuss the challenges we face and how we can tackle them is incredibly important if we’re going to enable people to live the lives they want to live. 

“We’ve already seen some great improvement happen as a direct result of these conversations, including the new resident’s reception and the changes to disabled bus passes, but we need to continue to make sure peoples voices are heard. Social Care Future is a long term commitment from the council and the community and I’d encourage people to find out more and see if they can get involved in the journey ahead.” 

Get involved

Find out more about Social Care Future and how you can get involved: 

• Read about our vision to change social care in Wokingham and the Social Care Future Charter on our website. 
• Sign up to receive our fortnightly Wokingham Borough Social Care Future Newsletter to find out the latest news and progress on delivering the vision, along with events and opportunities to get involved and help shape local services 
• Email us at GetInvolved@wokingham.gov.uk to find out more about how you can get involved

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