The potential battle over meals on wheels

by Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications for Independent Age

By coincidence, I heard this week from the chief exec of the organisation that invented meals on wheels and, the next day, from a council that has just scrapped them. WRVS is one of those charities that emerged from government just before the second world war and is now seem as something of a national institution. Its impressive chief executive, Lynne Berry, is busily completing the transformation of the organisation from a vast conglomerate of disparate services to a more focused, directed body. But they still deliver millions of meals on wheels to elderly people each year.

Sue Warr is an (also impressive) manager in Dorset County Council, tackling social exclusion among older people. Dorset has a lot of older people: over 700,000 - well over one quarter of its population (apparently in Christchurch there is a saying that people retire to Christchurch to die and then forget what they came for). Only 189 of them use meals on wheels so the council has a new ‘access to food and nutrition’ project that aims to help more people. Those currently getting meals on wheels will get individual help to identify other ways of getting food and meals.

Dorset clearly takes older people’s issues seriously and Sue described some brilliant work to prevent and deal with social exclusion and loneliness among older people. So Dorset may well be right to think that there are better ways of providing food and nutrition to older people in the county. But I can’t help wondering whether at least some of the 189 people getting meals on wheels were actually very happy with what they were getting and wanted it to continue. It would be reassuring to know that they are happy with the new arrangements. More worryingly, will we see other councils scrapping services such as these to save money, without going to quite the lengths of Dorset to see that the existing service users get a good alternative?

Can we have personalised care in an age of spending cuts?

by Claire Nurden, Research and Policy Officer for Independent Age

I managed to grab myself a seat at one of the most popular fringes at the Liberal Democrat conference relating to older people - “Personalising care: the choices we face”. As a key concept dominating the social care agenda, the subject of personalisation proved popular, with a large number of individuals and organisations flocking in, keen to get involved in the debate.

Concerns about brokerage dominated discussions, with those involved stressing that any right to “choice” must be accompanied by a right not to choose. All agreed that those receiving social care must be given the right amount of support to make the most of the options available to them. The debate also highlighted that any new system will need an increase in funding to ensure the sustainability of a new market place, and to finally make personalisation an effective reality – an interesting prospect given the current political clambering to make spending cuts.

Changing your search engine can raise money for Independent Age

We are now registered with Everyclick. This is a website that has a search engine (similar to Google) and other features. Whenever anyone uses the search or other features (if they are registered with the site) their chosen charity will receive money for every click. It is a really easy way for us to raise money! In fact we have already made £173.25.

It only takes a minute to register and earn us money, follow the link below, click on start fundraising and enter your details. You can then set the Everyclick page as a homepage or add the search item to your tool bar.

http://www.everyclick.com/independentage

All you need to do then is to use the site regularly and the money should come pouring in!

Social care: an opportunity for politicians to improve their image?

by Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications for Independent Age

Yesterday I was at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth for a fringe meeting on social care. Several charities are running these at all the party conferences as part of a bid to make social care a major issue at the next election. It will not be, of course, and most of the speakers seemed resigned to that. It will be health and education - it always is, said Helen Coombs from Ipsos Mori. It will be unemployment, said Baroness Barker, the Lib Dem health spokesperson in the Lords. Social care might just sneak onto the agenda if we work very hard, but if it does not then what happens given that no one can be bothered to put up even the flimsiest defence for the current system? Is it too much to hope that politicians might be prepared to put aside differences and reach a solution, a compromise if necessary, that carries all-party support? Baroness Barker said she hoped there could be an all party 'settlement'. Perhaps there would be few votes in it, but such a show of acting in the national interest would at least win some plaudits from a public with a rather jaded view of politicians. I can't help wondering, though, whether the need to cut public spending generally might mean that reform of social care returns to the back burner simply because there are unlikely to be any savings in it. Quite the opposite. With Help the Aged and Age Concern saying that another £1bn-£2bn needs to be invested but parties of all sides sharpening their knives it may be the worst possible timing to achieve reform.

Thrifty Kitchen News

The Thrifty Kitchen Website is now up and running! Find out more about our cookbook, with recipes from friends, beneficiaries, and celebrity chefs, and a modern take on wartime cooking. There are some sample recipes to try as well.

For updates on the competition, and more recipes, check our Thrifty Kitchen Blog. We've received some recipes already, so please try them and leave a comment.

Why desperation can be a great motivator

Simon Bottery, Director of Fundraising, Policy and Communications for Independent Age writes:

I spent a day last week running two discussion groups in Eastbourne for a dozen or so of the older people we work with. We run the groups to have a better understanding of the issues facing older people, partly so that we can design our services to help them and partly so that we can try to influence the policies that affect older people.

The idea is that we run one discussion group in the morning and one in the afternoon, with both groups having lunch together. This means that as well as helping us understand issues, people get something out of it themselves. They usually say that they enjoy the events as an opportunity to meet and talk with other people. Sometimes participants end up swapping telephone numbers with people they’ve got on particularly well with.

The two groups we ran last week were about health and social activities. Most older people will have health conditions affecting their lives to a greater or lesser extent. However three of the participants, two of whom came with their spouses, had suffered sudden dramatic health. These changed their lives virtually overnight. They went from being active people looking forward to their retirement to struggling to even leave their homes. Like thousands of others they had sought out help where they could – from the health service, local authorities, charities, user groups. The described a lack of joined-up action, particularly in the gap between hospital and home care. One described a four-year struggle to get Attendance Allowance. There are no easy solutions in these circumstances but (another benefit of these sorts of groups) one participant could help another – in this case, signposting someone to a pain clinic they did not know existed.
Another participant described her frustration at being refused a disabled parking badge (after 13 years of having one) because East Sussex County Council had instigated new guidelines to crack-down on abuse of the previous system. Because this participant had honestly said she could walk 50 metres unaided (though not without a lot of pain) she could no longer have a badge. Again others in the group were able to suggest solutions – in this case applying via the GP to be classified as registered disabled and receiving a badge through this route.

The afternoon groups talked about social activities. For those who lived alone it was a real difficulty to find enjoyable ways of staying socially active. They feared, and sometimes experienced, days of being by themselves with no one to talk to. They described the cost of social activities like going to theatre as being beyond them (the discounts they receive are too small to make much difference), though they appreciated what they got for free, such as swimming and bus travel. But for many it was not just the cost but the idea of doing things alone that was so daunting (as it would be for someone of any age). I asked one woman what motivated her to get out by herself and go places. “Desperation,” she said. “If I don’t, I might not see anyone at all.”

New Christmas Cards at our Online Shop

Our online shop is now up and running. We can now accept credit and debit card payments by PayPal, which ensures that your transactions are secure. If you would like to buy charity Christmas cards in support of Independent Age, or a copy of the Thrifty Kitchen cookbook (below), click here.

We have several new designs for our charity Christmas cards this year, including two that feature art by some of our talented beneficiaries, including the image above, Church In Snow, by Stephen Collett. Keep checking in, because over the next few weeks we will be adding some more items that we have selected to complement the Thrifty Kitchen cookbook. All proceeds will go to benefit Independent Age.

The Thrifty Kitchen: Wartime Lessons for the Modern Cook

Independent Age presents a new cookbook full of recipes, which show that you can successfully apply the principles of wartime cookery to create dishes that will delight the modern palate. The book features recipes from Independent Age beneficiaries, volunteers, supporters, friends and a selection of celebrity chefs including Peter Gordon, Delia Smith, Darina Allen, Mark Hix and many more.

To order the book, phone +44 (0) 20 7605 4200 or email thrifty.kitchen@independentage.org.uk.

London Triathlon

On 1 August, Dominic Collins (1 hr 29) and Kevin Sharkey (1 hr 18), both pictured above, and Rachid Samaoune (1 hr 44), took part in the London Triathlon in support of Independent Age. They swam, cycled and ran their way around Docklands to raise an amazing £2695 between them.

If you fancy trying to match or better their times in the London Triathlon 2010 or are interested in any other sporting event, please contact Harriet Steele on: 020 7605 4288 or email events@independentage.org.uk.