Short Debate on Loneliness in older people and Befriending Services

 

Loneliness, isolation and befriending

 

Thank you deputy Presiding officer

I have given 1 minute to Bill Powell

 

 

Speaking about loneliness in a chamber of Assembly Members

 

Most being time poor

 

Rushing between meetings, assembly events and their constituencies

 

No time to be lonely but for many elderly people the reality is very different

 

There is no single cause of loneliness and isolation

 

But most people who are lonely and isolated will have some of the following characteristics

 

Elderly, partner either deceased or in a nursing home, mobility problems,  family living away, friends either incapacitated deceased or moved.

 

This is also not a case of people who have been anti social just becoming lonely and isolated.

 

One case study is Charlotte, not her real name.

 

A former trade union activist, living in Cardiff, a regular attender at the AGE cross party group

 

Following the loss of her husband she has suffered from loneliness

 

A more outgoing, sociable and active person it would be difficult to meet

 

 

According to the TNS Loneliness Omnibus Survey for Age UK in April 2014).75,000 over-65s in Wales describe themselves as ‘always or often lonely’ 46%, almost half  say that their TV or pet is their main form of company.

 

This is the saddest statement I have made in this chamber.

 

Loneliness is a huge issue that affects people all year round with nearly a third of older people in Wales saying they would like to go out more often.

Without the benefit of the Welsh Government free bus pass scheme that number would be substantially higher.

Anyone catching a bus in the day will notice how many bus passes are shown as people get on the bus.

 

 

The research also reveals that one in seven people aged over 65 are feeling cut off from society.

 

Loneliness can be seriously damaging and recent studies have shown it has double the impact of obesity and that the feeling of extreme loneliness can increase an older person's chances of premature death by 14 per cent.

 

Being able to take part in community life, with good access to local services and facilities, is a lifeline for many older people.

 

If an older person cannot get out and about locally they are at risk of poor health, less social contact with others and a reduced quality of life overall.

 

Increasing opportunities for older people to take part locally can do much to boost independence, combat social isolation and loneliness and promote health and wellbeing.

 

 An age friendly community is one that has the capacity to support older people to enjoy the best possible quality of life. It includes facilities, services and amenities that are accessible and that accommodate the needs of older people to help them to fully participate in society.

 

Community centres, luncheon clubs and day centres all give opportunities to socialise.

 

The Welsh Government’s Strategy for Older People in Wales identifies a key challenge ‘to develop communities that are age-friendly while ensuring older people have the resources they need to live’.

 

The Strategy acknowledges that as the number of older people in our communities is growing, and recognising the health and wellbeing benefits of social connectedness, it is vital that communities become more age friendly and facilitate participation of people of all ages.

 

It also highlights the importance of older people being full participants in society.

 

However, many older people come up against barriers that prevent their participation, and what should be an enjoyable stage of life can become a time of loneliness and isolation.

 

With local authorities facing budget cutbacks, many of the essential facilities and services that older people rely on are under threat.

 

 The decline in local services over recent decades has caused real problems for many older people, particularly those who face additional barriers such as declining mobility, poor health, low incomes or limited social contact. Older people living in rural areas can face acute challenges in accessing facilities and services.

 

There are many social barriers that can exclude older people from their communities –

 These can include:

 

• physical access problems for people with mobility impairments such as steps, and access for wheelchairs and mobility scooters;
   
• pavements in a poor condition and street ‘clutter’, which can be hazardous for older people and can pose an increased falls risk;

 

• a lack of public toilets in the right place – adequate public toilet provision is vital to enable older people to maintain their dignity and participate in community life;
• a lack of places to meet in the community, which can increase social isolation;
   
• reductions in the number of facilities such as public libraries, which can enable older people to engage activities, and access computer.The ability to Skype or facetime grand children and great grandchildren can have a hugely beneficial effect on the lives of the elderly.
   

Important as Social care is in dealing with the problems of mobility and personal care

 

There are other equally important means of supporting the  elderly such as the contact the Elderly’s service model.

 

The Contact the Elderly model is based on a simple yet very effective concept: free monthly tea parties for older people, supported by a network of volunteers, within local communities.

 

The social gatherings bring individuals together and develop fulfilling friendships and support networks – and thereby help to reduce loneliness and isolation.

 

Contact the Elderly recruits volunteer drivers, hosts and group coordinators to help arrange the monthly tea parties for small groups of older people

 

Once a month, each older guest is collected from their home by a volunteer driver, and is taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group for tea, chat and companionship.

 

The group is warmly welcomed by a different host each month, but the charity’s drivers and older guests remain the same. This ensures that over the months and years, acquaintances turn into friends and loneliness is replaced by companionship

 

Simple changes

 

• Decisions about changes to services and facilities must take older people’s needs into account through effective engagement and consultation.
   
• Local authorities must ensure that streets are safe and accessible, with good lighting. Pedestrian crossings must allow sufficient time to cross roads, there must be a means of crossing the road in a mobility scooter, signage should be easily visible, and pavements must be well maintained and be free of obstruction.

 

• The vital role of library services in facilitating digital inclusion must be protected and extended to ensure that such services are accessible to older people.
   
• The Welsh Government’s Community Toilet Grant scheme, which provides local authorities with grant funding to encourage local businesses to open their facilities to the public, must be better publicised and promoted if it is to form part of a co-ordinated sustainable solution to toilet provision.

 

• The Welsh Government to consider supporting befriending projects across Wales when the current funding ends in 2016. If the projects end, the experience and knowledge of staff and volunteers will be lost.
   
• In my experience a large number of older men attempt to overcome loneliness by going to the pub and drinking all day. Others both men and women overcome loneliness by drinking at home.

 

We need a better understanding of  how many older people need support to fight their addiction to alcohol.

 

Befriending

Befriending is a simple yet strategic way to tackle social isolation. Research during the late 1990s made the clear link between older people living in isolation and the emergence of befriending. Befriending schemes seek to address the fact that older age brings challenges which, without support, can be daunting and lead to social isolation – which means loneliness or lack of contact with other people.

 

The outcomes of befriending schemes include:

• Reduced loneliness and increased wellbeing through improved social interaction.
• Increased confidence and ability to meet the challenges and opportunities of ageing.
• Increased understanding and use of rights and awareness and uptake of services leading to greater independence and choice for older people.

 

The research found that most befriending schemes rely on volunteers to help deliver the service ‘because they are a cheaper means to service provision, and because they are felt to have skills and attributes which a paid befriender could not bring to the role and it concluded that while befriending is not a mechanism for ‘tackling the root cause of disadvantage’, it can ‘ameliorate the worst aspects of isolation and exclusion from community participation’ and can ‘make a valued and valuable contribution to people’s lives’.

 

In 2013, the Welsh Government’s Social Research division published a report entitled ‘Let’s Start Assessing Not Assuming’.  While it needs to be stressed that this is not a policy document, it is arguably the most informative and comprehensive assessment of social isolation and appropriate interventions to tackle the problem in Wales.

 

The report states that ‘Social isolation is a risk to independent living because it has been associated with higher rates of morbidity and mortality, posing a similar risk to health as other common factors such as smoking or heart disease.

 

In terms of defining social isolation, the Welsh Government report finds that ‘while clear definitions exist in the academic literature, they do not seem to have been successfully transferred to policy or practice.

 

There is a general understanding of situations that can lead to social isolation – such as living alone, bereavement, poor access to local transport and facilities, for example.

 

Key findings from the report were:

• Social isolation is identified within the Strategy for Older People in Wales but the strategy stops short of identifying befriending specifically as a way of tackling it.

 

• The same is true of the Older People’s Commissioner whose 2013-2017 Framework for action highlights loneliness and social isolation as issues, but does not mention befriending as a solution.

 

 

Since 2012, the Big Lottery Fund in Wales announced it was investing some £20 million in 30 projects operating across Wales via the AdvantAGE programme. 20 of the 29 projects funded via AdvantAGE are befriending projects.

 

So far this has resulted in 29 full time staff, 35 part time staff, 1,141 volunteers and 6,825 beneficiaries.

 

Most of the schemes are finishing in 2016. If this goes ahead then the experience and knowledge of staff and volunteers will be lost; expertise in a much needed area.

 

Everyone hopefully will grow old and what we must ensure is that the golden years are not sad and lonely ones.

 

 

 

celebrating St David's Day/Dathlu dydd Gwyl Dewi

Dathlu Dydd Gŵyl Dewi yn Abertawe

Celebrating St David’s Day in Swansea

Ddydd Sadwrn, Chwefror 28ain, 2015

Saturday, February 28th, 2015

Dyma’r tro cyntaf erioed i bawb yn Abertawe ddod at ei gilydd i gynnal gorymdaith a gŵyl arbennig i ddathlu dydd ein nawddsant.

This is the first time ever that everyone in Swansea has come together to the city centre to enjoy a parade and festival to celebrate our Patron Saint’s special day.

10.30am	Adloniant Llwyfan Perfformio Stryd Portland yn dechrau. Portland Street Performance Stage entertainment begins.
12.30pm	Pawb yn cyrraedd Sgwâr y Castell. Everyone arrives at Castle Square.
1.00pm	Gorymdaith o gwmpas canol y ddinas. The parade will start around Swansea City Centre.
2.00pm	Plant yr ysgolion cynradd a theuluoedd yn gorffen yr orymdaith yn Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau.  Primary school children and families will finish the parade at the Waterfront Museum.
2.00pm	Adloniant cyfrwng Cymraeg yn Sgwâr y Castell. Welsh medium entertainment in Castle Square.
5.00pm	Darlledir y gêm rygbi ar y sgrîn fawr yn Sgwâr yCastell.  The rugby match will be broadcast on the big screen in Castle Square.
7.30pm	Noson o gerddoriaeth Gymraeg yn y ‘No Sign Wine Bar’. An evening of Welsh music in the ‘No Sign Wine Bar’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conservative debate on Local Government

Firstly can I say I agree with the Conservative point four

“Believes that local authorities have a duty to spend public money with care and prudence, in order to ensure that council tax rates are set as low as possible for residents and that council tax rates provide value for money for the taxpayer

Councillors do not sit and think how much can we increase Council tax this year

What happens is a list of increased costs including legislative and demographic changes are calculated

Reductions in expenditure that can be made are identified

Some are accepted and some are ejected because they are unacceptable

Then the shortfall has to be made up from reserves, fees and charges and council tax

I know of no councillor who wants to increase council tax but it is the inevitable consequence of the reduction in the rate support grant.

I can think of no area of public service that provides better value for money than local government.

No Council increases the Council Tax for any other reason than to continue to provide local services.

We also know Council tax is hated by the rich, there is no way of avoiding it. No non domiciled status or offsets to reduce the council tax bill.

Whilst not as progressive a  tax as the rates were and I believe it  should be made more progressive it still means that those who are richer and in the larger properties pay more.

The latest budget has entailed increasing expenditure on health, which the Tories have supported, and this has had the inevitable repercussion of reducing the support to local government.

The Conservative solution, in Education has been to reduce its expenditure considerably and to devolve all money to schools.

This means

End to free school transport

End to Educational Welfare Officers

End of the Education Psychology service

End to Education otherwise than at schools

End to Education support services

Plus other centrally provided services

Or is this another example of a Tory sound bite

Not thought out

Made in the expectation that they will never have the opportunity to exact their damage on Welsh Education

The Conservatives show their support for cuts to local government services

Can I now assume that when cuts are suggested to services such as the Library service

The Conservatives will not support keeping them open but say we want more to be shut in order to save on council tax.

the difficult financial situation facing local government is due to the UK Conservative and their Little helpers the liberal democrats Government’s  austerity measures and its effect on Welsh public expenditure in general and local government in particular

We have seen the repercussions of Government cuts to Council expenditure  in England

Reduce expenditure on Social Care

Leading to the inability to discharge patients from hospital when their medical needs have been met

Increased numbers at A+E as social care collapses

No need to take my word for it

Ask David Cameron’s brother in law

Cardiologist Carl Brookes, who is married to the Prime Minister’s sister Tania, spoke of the ‘extraordinary’ challenges faced by his own hospital trust in Hampshire over the past few weeks.

It also emerged that the trust, which is made up of three hospitals, is so stretched that it has asked IT workers and other non-medical staff to help out on the wards

He said: ‘There are problems with access to adult services – we are seeing a lot of frail, elderly people who need special care. If the back door is blocked, it makes it difficult to get in the front door.’

Reply to Bevan Foundation blog "Time to talk about tax and the NHS "by Victoria Winkler on 19th January

What are taxes for?

It was a joy to read Victoria Winkler’s article titled “Time to talk about tax and the NHS” on the Bevan Society blog. Since being elected in 2011 most of the discussions I have heard in the Senedd have been around reducing taxes in order to grow the Welsh economy rather than the need for taxation to pay for public services.

Taxation exists to pay for public services, too many people believe that we can have the same quality of public services as Scandinavia but have a taxation system which is more like that of the USA. It is not by random chance that those with the highest tax levels have the best public services and those with lowest tax levels the poorest. It is because taxation is necessary to raise the money to pay for the public services we all need.

Quality public services, be they health, education or infra structure come at a substantial cost to the public purse and the only way of paying for them is via taxation. Taxation can be on income, profit, consumption/ expenditure or value of land and property or a combination of all of them but if people want quality public services these are the taxes needed to pay for them.

Whilst as Victoria points out nobody likes to pay taxes and some, both individuals and companies, are expert at reducing their tax payments,  quality public services mean that if some people do not pay then either public services suffer or others have to make up the shortfall. Every time tax cuts are made they are shown as beneficial and they appear to be to those who are paying less tax. The affect of these reductions on government income have on public expenditure on services such as health and education completely ignored until the cuts start affecting people.

The more difficult a tax is to avoid the more unpopular it is with the rich and powerful. By far the most difficult taxes to avoid are the property taxes (non domestic rates and council tax). There are no tricks such as using internal company transactions or having non domiciled status to avoid paying the tax. The buildings be they residential, manufacturing, commercial or retail are not movable and the tax becomes liable on the property and has to be paid.

If we desire quality public services then we have to, via taxation, pay for them. This is not the start of a campaign for higher taxes but it is a continuation Victoria’s linking of taxation with expenditure. Remember the old adage you only get what you pay for.

 

Senior Manager's Pay

Senior managers pay in the public sector cannot be looked at in isolation from the private sector.

Senior managers in the private sector are paid substantially more than those in the public sector.

This includes the former publicly owned utilities which have moved into the private sector.

Some have remained such as water including Welsh Water or Dwr Cymru as monopoly suppliers. The energy industry has moved from a monopoly to an oligopoly. This means that according to game theory, the decisions of one firm therefore influence and are influenced by the decisions of other firms in the industry. Which means senior salaries and senior salaries tend to follow each other.

The investigation by the Public Accounts committee included both public authorities and those who receive the bulk of their money from the public purse.

On recommendation 2 senior management pay in local government used to be easy.

Depending on the type and size of an authority a salary band existed for the chief executive. Following that the other senior staff were paid a percentage of the chief executives salary. This covered directors and assistant directors with staff below that paid on the APT scale.

Like most things that have gone wrong the change can be traced back to the Tory Government of 1979 to 1997.

The government wanted to remove the salary restraint and to bring market forces to bear and to allow local authorities to attract chief executives from the private sector.

What we have seen, certainly in Wales, is almost all the Chief Executive posts going to people already in Local Government, and often working for the same authority.

Salaries have risen substantially above the JNC salary level.

In England over 25 Chief Executives earn over £200,000 per tear with the Councils run by different political parties.

One of the ways that salaries have increased is by the use of consultants who produce comparisons based on the average.

Whilst those chief executives above the average do not generally seek a review those that are below often do.

What happens as the lower paid chief executives increase their salary the average moves up and the chief executives of the larger authorities seek rises to restore their differential. Thus there is an ever increasing average.

These increases are compounded by the advice of consultants on the salary needed to recruit “the best” which again moves the average.

I, whilst I accept I am in a small minority, would like to a reversion back to the JNC scale for chief officers.

The other way chief executives of local authorities have to increase their pay is by payment for additional duties such as returning officer.

Can I commend Swansea Council for including all the chief executives payments within the basic salary?

Turning to senior pay in the education sector.

Again Head-teacher pay used to be graded on the size of school. Another one of the Tory reforms alongside local management of schools was the ability to raise a head teacher who reached the top of one grade on to the next in order to keep outstanding head-teachers at a school and that more than one increment could be given each year for outstanding performance.

It is amazing how many outstanding head teachers we have in Wales.

Further Education Principals, following another Tory folly of moving them out of local authority control have seen their salaries soar.

Again the twin methods of comparison with others and the need for a high salary to attract the best, who often currently or used to work for the organisation and almost exclusively worked in Further Education has led to soaring salaries.

I am not sure that pay committees, I have served on several, however well informed and well meaning will be able to stop the continuing ratcheting up of salaries.

If senior public sector salaries are to be stopped rising and in the future reduced I suggest that as an absolute minimum that recommended salaries for each wholly funded public sector organisation are produced.

It is strange how things change, 25 years ago local authority chief executive salaries and councillors allowances were strictly controlled. Then Councillors payments went to local determination and then returned to strictly controlled by a remuneration panel.

Senior officer and chief executive salaries are now dealt with via local determination but I believe need to be dealt with via a review board.

local authority settlement 2015/16

Local Authority settlement

First, the Local Government Settlement needs to be looked at in the context of the Westminster cuts to public expenditure.

 

By 2015-16, the Welsh budget will be £1.5bn lower in real terms than in 2010-11 and the amount available for capital investment will be 30% lower than it was at its peak in 2009-10. 

The long period of sustained reduction has had an impact on all services, even those that have been relatively protected. The fear is that, in future years, if the Tory Lib Dem coalition continues in Westminster, things will only get worse.

 

The Tories in the 1980s and 1990s engaged in an attack on local government but the scale of the reductions now are far greater than then

 

Whilst I cannot predict with any accuracy what each local authority in Wales will do I can predict what will happen somewhere across Wales

 

Council tax will increase and in many cases by nearly 5%.

Charges for Council services, where they have local discretion, will be increased.

 

Charges will be brought in for services currently free

 

Non statutory services will be closed

 

Discretionary provision will disappear, the 2 and 3 mile limits for school transport will be strictly enforced

 

public toilets will close or the county and county borough councils will try and pass responsibility to community councils

 

Branch libraries will either close or be passed to volunteers to run

 

Opening hours of leisure facilities will reduce

 

Sports pitches will be passed on to local teams to manage

 

Day centres will close

 

Local Authorities will look to pass costs on to health boards

 

People will be paying more for poorer services

 

Opposition Councillors in every Local Authority, aided by Assembly members, will criticize the cuts and support the demonstrations in opposition to them

 

There will be those who see the solution to tens of million of pounds in cuts is the reduction in the number of councillors or in councillors allowances.

 

If all the councillors in Wales were unpaid it would not meet a quarter of the planned cuts in Swansea alone

 

Probably the worst thing that will happen is that all authorities will become similar.

 

Today RCT has amongst the best nursery provision in Britain a continuation of mid Glamorgan’s policy

 

Swansea Council has an excellent record on culture and the arts

 

Education and Social services will take an increasing proportion of the council budgets.

How will these cuts affect health

Local government provides a variety of services that contribute to the health and well being. For instance, if local authorities are unable to provide timely social care packages for those leaving hospital then bed blocking will occur. If Local Authorities do not intervene with home care provision soon enough then that will inevitably increase the risk of hospitalisation.

 As budgets become stretched then slowing down assessment and the production of a care package for hospital discharge could be the only way of staying within budget.

In order for some people to be discharged from hospital adaptations to their homes are often needed. The disability facilities grant is managed and funded by local authorities.

 Yet if there is insufficient funding available for the work to be done then the patient often cannot be released from hospital despite having no medical need to stay there.

Environmental health workers check food safety in premises where food is prepared. If there are less of them then obviously visits will take place less often and the chance of food poisoning such as salmonella will increase.

Of course, all these are statutory services. But if they are fully protected then the discretionary services would be hit disproportionately hard.

Councils can reduce expenditure on road maintenance and street lighting but doing so increases the chance of accidents occurring and will add to the pressure on accident and emergency departments.

In a country where lack of exercise and unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to an obesity epidemic the last thing that the health of the nation needs is the closure of leisure facilities or a huge increase in their cost.

 Local authority run leisure centres and swimming pools provide an opportunity for people to engage in exercise at a reasonable cost. It will not improve health and fitness if they are either closed or prices are increased to such an extent that they exclude a large proportion of the public.

There are of course efficiency savings and invest to save opportunities such as more 3g and 4g pitches to allow greater use of sports facilities.

Local authorities should be looking to use either the Welsh Government’s invest to save initiative, or their own reserves in order to reduce on going expenditure by investing to save.

Local authorities can collaborate more to save money, especially with back office functions such as payroll. But the savings likely to be achieved will be around the edges.

If we continue to substantially reduce spending in fields other than the health service there will be big trade offs and health could be the loser. Health is not only about treating the ill and injured but also about ensuring preventative initiatives are in place.

 Local government is a major provider of preventative services. Large cuts in local government expenditure and a reduced provision of services could damage the overall health of the nation. We must remember that to keep Wales healthy local government has a major role to play

1995/6 Reorganisation

One of the advantages of reorganizing local government ever 22 years is that there are still people around who were involved at a senior level the last time.

As the Chair of Finance of West Glamorgan before reorganisation and of the City and County of Swansea after as well as being part of the shadow board I was closely involved with the reorganisation that created the City and County of Swansea. This reorganisation involved splitting West Glamorgan and Lliw Valley Councils and merging them with Swansea Council.

The first surprising thing that happened was the number of senior staff who retired. For example despite West Glamorgan being split into two the Chief Executive, Director of Education and the Director of Social Services, as well as all the senior highways staff at Swansea City Council, were not available to the new organisation. There was a loss of a huge amount of experience and knowledge as well as a substantial drain on the pension fund. When we started the recruitment process we were concerned about the number of senior staff left without posts but the worry soon became filling senior posts with suitably qualified staff.

Then there was the need to integrate ICT systems as all the staff needed to be placed on the same payroll and personnel systems.  All purchasing, accounting and payment systems had to be put on the same system. The telephone system needed to be integrated and staff relocated to the appropriate offices. This turned out to be both time consuming and expensive.

On the financial side both Council Tax and rents had to be harmonised within the same Council which meant both Council house rent and Council tax rises for the former Lliw valley residents. Whilst Council house rents could be harmonised over several years Council tax had to be equal on the first bill sent out by the new authority. Whilst the Council tax rise in the former Lliw Valley area was relatively modest elsewhere in Wales in the former Islwyn council area the Council tax rise was substantially larger.

Whilst it was difficult to allocate all costs correctly, the cost of reorganisation was over 5% of the total budget of the new authority.

Having read the “Williams commission” report that the ICT costs of the 1990s will not occur this time and the only costs to worry about will be the staff redundancy costs. As the voluntary mergers occur it will be interesting to see if they really have solved the ICT cost and compatibility problem.