Day Care Disability Travel Vouchers

Domiciliary Bathing Computer Classes

Foot Care Information and Advice

Independent Living Support Traders list

Wheelchair hire Advocacy Service

Insurance Arranging Dementia Day Care

Charity Shop in partnership with Age UK Enterprises

Mission Statement Vision

We exist to promote the welfare of the older residents in the Borough of Maidstone We believe:

That older people are entitled to the help that they need to improve their own sense of well being, to promote independence and to have control of their own lives:

That ‘Ageist’ or negative attitudes can lead to low expectations by older people or carers about what can be achieved:

That older people should remain free to choose the services they require.

In working with partners to achieve our vision.

Our objectives are: To provide a wide variety of services aimed at improving the quality of life for elderly people at a price they can

afford.

To work in partnership with others to this end and seek to educate and influence key decision makers on issues relating to older people.

To support older people in their homes to promote their independence and offer temporary access to services where appropriate.

To provide companionship for our clients at our day centres which offer a range of specialised services. When clients need more specialist care than we can provide, we refer them on to other agencies working to secure the support they need.

In support of our beliefs we offer the following services: And Our Staff and volunteers in particular their:

Loyalty and commitment working together as a team to provide services to clients Honesty, openness, fairness and sensitivity to the needs of our clients in all that they do Effective and efficient use of our limited resources.

Our Staff and volunteers are:

Loyal and committed to working together as a team to provide services to clients Honest, open, fair and sensitive to the needs of our clients in all that they do Effective and efficient in the use of our limited resources

Services and Activities from Age UK Maidstone

April 2013-March 2014

We were very busy in this last year, not only continuing with our established services but researching and funding new projects and services.

Day Care

Bathing in the Home

Foot Care

Computer Classes

Dementia Day Care

Independent Living Support

Wheelchair Hire

Day Centre Trips

Seated Exercises

Trusted Traders

Handy Man

Advocacy Service

Information and Advice Service

Training Room Facilities

West Kent Be-friending

Information and Advice

Advocacy

Home from Hospital

Chairman's Report 2013/2014

I have just completed my first year as Chairman of Age UK Maidstone, having taken over the role from Mrs Pat Thomas who let the organisation with great foresight and enthusiasm. I hope that I can carry on in the same way and lead the charity forward. We have also lost three of our senior board members over the last year but have recruited some new trustees who, I am sure, will bring new energy to the board. We are now working from our offices at 7 Mill Street, although, until October 2014, when the lease ex-pires, we are still responsible for our previous premises at 11 Mill Street, having to pay empty property business rates. This commitment ceases in October. We have undertaken a review of many of our services to ensure that they are cost effective. To this end, we have brought in a pre-payment system for the Day Centres and our foot-care service. It is hoped that our clients understand the need for this to ensure that our services remain available. Computer courses are on-going at our Mill Street offices and, going forward, we will be offering courses at our Harbledown House Day Centre once the cabling is installed. Our Independent Living, Bathing and Foot-care services continue to be popular. Our advocacy and Information department is increasingly busy. This is a confidential service available either at our offices or at the client’s home, to ensure that the clients get any benefit or support to which they are entitled. Dementia is a huge concern amongst our clients. All staff and volunteers have undergone training to understand the issues arising from Dementia. We have our dedicated Dementia Day Centre in Bearsted where we can offer respite to clients. This is a “full cost” service, although people can receive funding from Kent County Council towards the costs. Clients are encouraged to take part in varied activities including art workshops which have been included at the Centre at weekends. Age UK Maidstone offer a range of insurance cover, quotations are available from our offices. There is a dedicated telephone number for this service. Advice for changing energy suppliers is also available. We continue to administer the disability travel voucher scheme in partnership with Maidstone Borough Council. Age UK Maidstone is supported by Kent County Council, Maidstone Borough Council and Golding Homes although, due to financial cuts in the public sector funding, budgeting for the future remains a challenge. As always, it would be impossible to achieve our success without the help and commitment of the staff and volunteers. I would like to express my thanks to each one of them, who are invaluable to the organisations. There are many people to thank for their commitment over the year, too numerous to list but I must mention:

The Chief Executive for his hard work and for guiding me through my first year as Chairman. Each member of staff for their on-going support.

All of our volunteers for their dedication. Our partners for their financial support.

A g e U K M a i d s t o n e c o n t i n u e s t o g r o w o f f e r i n g a d v i c e a n d p r a c t i c a l a s s i s t a n c e t o

t h e o l d e r p e o p l e i n t h e M a i d s t o n e b o r o u g h .

Bryan Vizzard is our new chairman

Chief Executive’s Report 2013/2014

My eighth year as Chief Executive for Age UK Maidstone has seen us continue to grow as an organisation through the launch of new services with turnover rising to

£1,113,845 for the year. During the year we started a Handy van service and a Befriending service in partnership with the Age UK’s in West Kent as well the Simon Paul Foundation, the Centre for Independent Living Kent. We now run or work in partnership on sixteen projects to support the older residents of the Borough. Nine of these projects have started within the last five years. Our continued growth brings increasing challenges. Our staff and volunteer team now number around 160. Our core care services receiving 689 referrals in 2013/14. All of our projects are developed in response to the needs of our client group as recognised by ourselves or our partnership organisations. The population of Maidstone over the age of 65 is 29,319 with 3,651 of them being aged 85 and above. The financial picture looking forward remains challenging. Kent County Council continue to provide a grant for our Day Care service. Our key grants from Kent County Council were due to end on 31st March 2014 however it is expected they were extended for a further year until 31st March 2015. As part of Age UK’s in Kent consortia we have begun to prepare for what is expected to be either a new grant process or a competitive tender. Maidstone Borough Council are committed to continue to fund the Disability Travel Vouchers for this financial year and have now included this as part of the council’s core business. Our partnership agreement with Age Concern Malling for the funding of Social Opportunities was impacted upon by internal issues at Age Concern Malling that resulted in us suspending applying for their grant until the Board was satisfied these had been resolved sufficiently. Our Board was in a position to do this in March 2013 and will be applying for their grant for the financial year 2013/14. We continue to attract volunteers with over 100 volunteers working with us during the year. Without their support we would not be able to run our transport service or provided day care to the numbers that we do. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to add my gratitude to all our Volunteers for their work and support. I would also like to thank the Board for all the support they have given me. In particular I would like to thank our previous Chairman Pat Thomas who stood down at our last Annual General Meeting and our new Chairman Bryan Vizzard who has hit the road running. Without both of their continuing energy, encouragement and in particular good sound advice I do not think we would have had such a successful year.

Paul Coles is our Chief Executive

Deputy Chief Executive 2013/2014

I was very pleased to be promoted to this post in the last quarter of the financial year, I was previously the manager at The Goodman Centre. I am looking forward to the coming year with many changes to our services ensuring we continue to offer a high level of service, I think it’s really important that our services are person centred to the client. My aim is to look at setting up new services to help and support clients to assist them to stay in their own homes longer. I think the way forward is to ensure we work in partnership with other organisations. DAY CARE FACILITIES We continue to run 12 centres across the 5 day week. We have increased the numbers of volunteers, we are offering a wider range of services throughout our day centres. We have given Golding homes 6 computers they have been placed in at Harbledown House and hope to run computer lessons in the near future. The summer outing was at Hastings, clients enjoyed fish and chips. The winter trip was at Dobbies garden centre in Gillingham, clients enjoyed afternoon tea and browsing around the shop. We have no change in staff members. FOOTCARE AND BATHING The staff of both departments continue to provide excellent service to their clients. We have recruited a new Foot care nurse who has recently qualified as a podiatrist. Both our services are registered with CQC, we have updated our policies and procedures and clients files. The inspector was pleased with the standard of service we provide for our clients. INDEPENDENT LIVING SUPPORT SERVICE The service continues to be busy with a large amount of positive feedback. The staffing hours are

down on the year before, this is because we had staff off long term sick, and had difficulty

employing gardeners. We have learnt from this and ensured we don’t have the same issues in the

future. We are planning new projects for the year ahead and if successful this means will be

increasing our staffing levels. Our organisation currently employs 59 members of staff.

Louise Macpherson is our Deputy Chief Executive

The Goodman (Dementia) Centre

The Goodman Centre has continued to maintain its excellent reputation in Maidstone and the surrounding areas during the last year; the staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly during

some challenging times and the standards of care remain high. Kaylie Frampton replaced Rachel Cook as Activities co-ordinator in July 2013. Louise Macpherson broke her leg in October 2013 and then later went on to become Deputy Chief Executive so Assistant Manager Jessica Cooke became acting Manager of The Goodman Centre between October 2013 and April 2014. We have had a number of student nurses from University completing their work placements with us. Also students from the local college Sara, Chris and Dan are here on a permanent placement to complete their Health and Social Care qualification.

Christmas Celebrations were as popular as always with clients and staff, we enjoyed delicious turkey provided by Salvatori, entertainment by Barry B and Carol singing by Madginford Primary School. During the year we received a weekly visit from the Jubilee Volunteers; they visited every Wednesday afternoon and spent time talking with clients, running activities such as glass and ceramic painting, singing and playing the guitar and quizzes. They always provided cakes and goodies and were popular with the clients as many of the students were from different countries round the world.

The Goodman Centre saw many Special Date celebrations during the year, these included Burns Night- we had Scottish celebrations where clients enjoyed presentation of the haggis and haggis tasting and in the afternoon Scottish dancing. Chinese New year involved a Chinese Menu week, Chinese lanterns and arts and crafts. Wimbledon week was enjoyed by all with tennis and strawberries and cream. A very popular event was a sweepstake (no money involved) for Ascot, The Derby and The Grand National, with clients choosing a horse and then cheering it on in the afternoon race!

The Goodman Centre is the chosen charity for Halifax Bank in Maidstone; a member of staff- Andrea Lester has had a personal connection with the centre as her grandfather Brian Darbyshire attended here for some time. The Garage at The Goodman Centre has received a repaint and shelves built in by Ian our handyman, it has been rearranged to create more space for food goods and is now organised better, a better use of the space. We continue to receive recommendations and referrals from Admiral Nurses and also the Drs at The Memory Clinic at Priority House who highly recommend us to families and clients.

We have a great team of dedicated volunteers and would like to say a big Thank you

to all of them. We welcome new volunteers Denise, Jack and Laura and also say a goodbye to Jean Winyard a very valued volunteer who spent many years with Age

UK and we wish her all the best.

Day Care Statistics From April 2013—March 2014

During the last year 1769 day care places were taken. The number of mentally frail clients totalled 1115.

Bathing Statistics From April 2013—March 2014 The four bath nurses gave 64 baths per week throughout the Borough,

and the total baths for the year was 3378.

Foot Care Statistics From April 2013—March 2014 The number of clients who received foot care treatment in the home or at a clinic in the last year was 3024. Per week there were 58 treatments.

Goodman Centre From April 2013—March 2014 In the last year 3280 places were taken in total, and the average was 65

attendees per week.

Foot Care and Statistics From April 2013—March 2014 The number of clients who received foot care treatment in the home or at a clinic in the last year was 3024. Per week there were 58 treatments. New referrals come in on a weekly basis, and the service remains popular.

2013-2014 proved to be another challenging year of highs and lows. A newly qualified podiatrist was employed during this time. The foot care team was disappointed when the podiatrist resigned within approximately eight months. The remaining three nurse practitioners have offered clinic visits to all clients who attended the Cranbrook,Staplehurst, Bearsted and Coxheath clinics. However, the majority of clients receiving home visits have been placed on a waiting list pending the employment of another team member. Steps have been taken to employ another nurse practitioner.

Thanks must be given to Sheena Martin and Kathleen Wittwer who have shown great

commitment in keeping the service active.

The nurses, at this moment in time, are not paid a salary only a remuneration. All required paperwork is completed in the nurses own time. In the future there are plans to change everyone to salaried. We continue to offer thanks and appreciation to the various G.P.’s surgeries / health centres and Golding Homes for the use of their premises. These centres allow the foot care service to be delivered over a wide area in the borough. The clients also have a choice of venue which is appropriate to where they live. New referrals are received and processed on a weekly basis. Clients are offered six weekly appointments at which the nurses offer assessment, treatment and foot care education. This holistic care also includes information and signposting clients to other Age UK services.

Fiona Foreman is our Foot Care Nurse Supervisor

Our foot care clinic in the office

Disability Travel Vouchers

From the Beginning of March 2014 Linda Amuro has now retired and Terri Mullins has now taken over the distribution of the vouchers. This year’s issue began in April 2013 continued financial sponsorship by Maidstone Borough Council who have now been supporting the scheme since it began in September 2008 from the previous voucher scheme. Funding is continuing for the foreseeable future The scheme is aimed at people of all ages who would qualify for a bus pass, but are unable to use public transport because of their mobility difficulties. By the end of March 31st 2014 a total of 458 books to clients have been issued with vouchers. 14 clients were waiting who have now got the vouchers and 47 clients either left or died. The vouchers transport participants which include most of the larger taxi firms, independent, cab, and community transport. The user of the vouchers can get to the Hospitals, Opticians and maybe do some shopping for them self to give them some sort of independence.

Age UK Consortia Be-friending Project The Age UK’s in Kent Consortia submitted a bid for a Befriending pilot project in West Kent with Age UK Maidstone. The bid consisted of a partnership of the Age UK’s in West Kent plus Maidstone Mind, Centre for Independent Living in Kent and the Simon Paul Foundation. The bid was successful with the grant being paid in November. Staff were recruited for the project in January and the service was launched in March. Our service is delivered by trained volunteers who will support people to achieve their goals as identified by the Befriending Co-ordinators. This could be for example re-integrating into their community through going to the library. The volunteer could support them in this by initially taking them to the library and then helping them sort out their own travel arrangements to them library and meeting them there. The service was launched in March and has recruited a steady flow of volunteers and clients across West Kent. We hope to benefit at least 15 plus older people in Maidstone as our co-ordinator is part-time. The service is free for the first 6 visits and then it is £5 a session where session could be up to 3 hours. The charge helps to meet the costs of the volunteers travel expenses. The pilot will run until July 2015 and during this time we will be evaluating the success of the project.

Independent Advocacy Service Our advocate Aileen Love writes;

‘From April 13-March 14 advocacy services have had 116 referrals of which 36% have been between the ages of 70-79 and 33% between ages of 80-89.’

In the last year the service has seen an increase of referrals from statutory services; other organisations and self-referrals increase year on year. The oldest client has been 99 years of age and the two hour conversation was written down in large print as they were unable to hear questions and was also partially sighted; it was their preferred way of communicating and it was beneficial for the client as they were able to express their wishes and have choice. A person-centred approach is central to effective advocacy and the provision of advocacy helps older people to feel they are not alone when dealing with a problem. Advocacy is not only about services and systems; it is about standing alongside someone to help them alleviate feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, isolation and victimisation. Advocacy Services deal with various issues and the most common are health, community services and confidence to express wishes and make choices. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to involve people in assessments, care and support planning, and reviews with an additional requirement to arrange independent advocacy. There is also a separate requirement to arrange independent advocacy in connection with safeguarding enquiries and reviews, one of the most important aspects of safeguarding is ensuring that those who are vulnerable are given a voice. The advocacy service sits with the safeguarding sub-committee and worked collaboratively with other organisations and KCC in updating safeguarding information and assisted in facilitating the launch in East and West Kent. A requirement of the Care Act is that Independent Advocacy Services will be required to hold the National Qualification in Independent Advocacy and I have obtained both the City & Guilds Level 3 Certificate and Level 3 Diploma qualifications. At times clients accessing advocacy services have complex situations requiring the expertise that our service provides alongside its specialist knowledge of dementia and mental health and persistence in untangling complicated situations. After a recent complicated case with a mother and son relating to a move to suitable and appropriate housing for their complex needs, the feedback from a Care Manager from Social Services described our involvement ‘without the advocate the move would not have taken place, they now have a better quality of life’.

A d v o c a c y w o r k s – i t d o e s m a k e a p o s i t i v e d i f f e r e n c e .

Information and Advice This year has been busy with lots of calls relating to the changes in benefits and pensions that came into force during 2013/2014. A total of 65 successful benefit applications have meant that £240,022.12 has now been claimed with our help in the period 1/4/13-31/3/14. A total of backdated payments of £33,575.13 have been paid to the clients who were waiting on decisions. This means a total of £273,597.25 has been claimed with our assistance.

To summarise a breakdown of contacts 01/04/13 to 31/03/14: Email – 62, Home

Visit – 94, Office visit/Outreach 175 –, Referral form – 13, Telephone – 824, letter – 39, TOTAL 1207

I have a volunteer called Anca who is now fully trained to complete Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and other forms either in client’s homes or in the office. She works 1 day a week for us. CASE STUDY Earlier this year a lady called Mrs C came into the office asking for help to complete a Blue Badge application. I could see she had mobility difficulties so I asked her if she claimed any disability benefits – she said she had applied before and had been turned down. I told her I thought she had a good chance of getting an award with my help so she agreed to get the forms and we made an appointment. When she came into the office with her forms she produced medical evidence that backed up her claim and so I filled the Attendance Allowance form in and posted off for her. Within 5 weeks she was granted High Rate Attendance Allowance with just the medical evidence supplied and a letter from her GP that the DWP had asked for. She was so pleased with getting this award and told me she could now afford to keep the heating on for longer. Within another 2 weeks, her Blue Badge arrived. When I carried out a satisfaction review with her she said her quality of life had dramatically improved. She could now park closer to the shops and the extra money she was receiving had purchased some warmer clothes as well. I had arranged for Occupational Therapy to do an assessment of needs on her and she told me that they had put grab rails in her bathroom and given her a perching stool for the kitchen. She said the aids were used daily and she no longer felt frightened to be alone.

Angela Kent is our Information and Advice Officer

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Independent Living Support Service

The Independent Living Support service is designed to assist older people to remain independent in their

own homes. We can provide assistance with day to day tasks such as cleaning, laundry, bed changing,

shopping and gardening. All of the staff are rigorously vetted including DBS and the Protection of

Vulnerable Adults Register.

2013/2014

The service supervisors reported that in the last financial year due to the number of staff members it was

integral to employ another supervisor. The service now has one part-time supervisor and one full-time

supervisor.

During the last year there has been more partnership work than ever regarding the poor state of some

peoples home. It has been noted that a number of clients are unable to cope with daily cleaning and the

upkeep of their homes and so it has been required to involve our advocate, and The Carers Project to get

their homes up to an acceptable standard.

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Staff Hours Worked

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Case Study One client really struggles to live alone and therefore uses a number of our services including ILS for cleaning and befriending. They attend the day centre once a week. The clients family have been so happy with the service that last Christmas they decide to gift us donation of £127.

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Finance Summary for April 2013 to March 2014

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Income

You can see from the graphs that in 2013-2014 income was much higher than the previous year, however you can see from the

expenditure graph we also spent more in 2013-2014

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Below, you can see where our money is allocated and there hasn’t been change since last year

Partners and Partnership Work

We receive strong support from a number of public bodies,

voluntary sectors and individuals

We would like to thank;

Mr and Mrs Pat Thomas Kent County Council

Maidstone Borough Council Golding Homes

Whatman part of GEC Healthcare Maidstone MIND

Maidstone Libraries Community Wardens

The Mall at Maidstone Kent Police Headquarters

The White House Pub