Learning Disability Partnership Board

Wednesday 16 December 2015, 11am 3pm

Ely Community Centre, High Barns,
Ely CB7 4SB
Minutes

1.0 People at the

meeting
Neil Adams

Natasha Barlow

Speak Out Leader, Young

People, Co-Chair
Service Manager LDP
North & Fenland, Locality
Lead
Independent member

Jane Bridgland

Carer Representative

Sally Cleghorn

Administration Officer,
Cambridgeshire Alliance
Circle Support (supporting
Tracy Stevens)
Rowan

Claire Bailey

Jacqueline Chilvers
Bridget Cusack
Paul Davies
Debbie Drew
Tracy Gurney

Service Development
Manager, LDP
Carer Representative
Head of Learning Disability
Partnership, Co-Chair
LDPB

Russell Henke
Bintou Joof
Bill Jones
Elspeth Jones
Siobhan MacBean

Michelle Mansfield
Claire Mathieu
Boris Mayger
Beth McCabe

Speak Out Leader, High

Support Needs Committee
Student social worker,
VoiceAbility
Speak Out Leader, City &
South
Speak Up Spectrum
Leader
Service Development
Manager, Childrens
Disability Services
Speak Out Leader,
Fenland
Young Peoples Project
Worker, VoiceAbility
Carer Representative

Joseph Simon

Development Officer,
Cambridgeshire Alliance
Service Development
Manager LDP, CCC
Service Development
Manager, LDP South
Temporary Speak Out
Leader, Hunts and East
Cambs
Speak Out Council
Coordinator, VoiceAbility
Carer Representative

Tracy Stevens

Independent member

Des Trollip

Rowan

Anthony

Carer for Natasha Barlow

Lee McManus
Keith Mead
Sean Nightingale

James Sheard

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1.0 People who said they could not come

Anna Bainbridge, Anita Hewson, Charlotte Taylor,
John Ellis.
2.0 Speak Out Leaders Report
The report was sent out before the meeting.
2.1 The Speak Out Council met on December 10 in
March town. The theme was Lessons for Life.
They did 40 interviews about what people thought
about libraries, life skills and employment.
The next meeting is on 11 March in Cambridge.
James hopes Dan Zeichner MP will come.
2.2 Neil has done a lot of visits to schools. Hes done
a survey called Preparing for Adulthood with 40
people.
2.3 Elspeth said the Speak Up Spectrum has got more
members than before but they want more. In 2016
they will work on the theme of relationships
BM asked when she will show the video on
employment. Elspeth said there are still a few things
to do with it.
2.4 Russell reported that the drop kerb campaign has
finished. Cambridgeshire County Council has done 8
of the 12 tasks that the HSNC asked for. Next year he
will work on the theme of objects that help us
especially wheelchairs and accessible vehicles.
He was on Cambridge TV and talked about his
worries about having fewer people to support him.
2.5 Sean has worked on the Safe Places, Safe Cards
scheme in Huntingdon. He said this was his last
meeting as Sean A is coming back next year.
Neil thanked Sean for all his hard work and the Board
gave him a round of applause.
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2.6 Michelle asked him if the Safe Places scheme will

be in other areas. Sean said hes starting in
Huntingdon. The big companies were harder to
contact.
2.7 Bill said the drop ins are providing feedback on
employment and education. Hes spoken to the LD
nurse at Addenbrookes about access.
Lee asked about the Speak Out Council work on
employment.
James said that most people (27against 7) voted for
the right job over any job.
2.8 Michelle said the drop ins give plenty of feedback
about hate crime. She has worked on some
safeguarding issues as well. Shes pleased that the
Minor Injuries Unit at Wisbech will stay open.
3.0 Carers Feedback
3.1 Carers talked about the financial cuts. Debbie
referred to the wording and said it was not in the spirit
of Valuing People. She is worried that the words could
be misused.
Beth asked Tracy to feedback these comments. Tracy
said the consultation is still open.
Michelle asked what if something was in a persons
care plan but it is not being carried out. Who can they
ask about it?
Claire B said they should come back to the LD Team
and take it up with the agencies.
Action: Claire to speak to Michelle at the end.
3.2 Joseph said the National Autistic Society knows of
6 people who have been affected by the change from
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DLA to PIP. It is very important to have support at the

assessment.
Claire B said the changes to PIP seem to be affecting
people with disabilities you cant see like Aspergers or
ME more than physical disabilities. It is important to
take up to date medical evidence with you.
Debbie added that those on Lower Rate DLA seem to
be losing the most.
Claire B said this will also affect carers.
Michelle said the Board needed more information
about the changes.
Siobhan said the Councils website has some good
fact sheets. Elspeth said the web wasnt accessible for
all.
Action: Siobhan to send Beth the link to the fact
sheets.
4.0 Health Sub Group Update
Lee spoke on behalf of John Ellis.
He explained that the Health Sub Group works
with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
and Cambridgeshire County Council to discuss
the health problems for learning disabled and
autistic people. It meets every 3 months.
VoiceAbility will work with Cambridgeshire and
Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) to
produce an Easy Read leaflet for people with
mental health issues
Health check. GPs must do these. The group is
trying to improve the quality and there is now a
form for GPs to work with. Anyone can have a
copy of the form.
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 The most important issue is the Transforming

Care programme. This means Cambridgeshire
must reduce the number of people who live in
long stay hospitals outside the County. At the
moment there are less than 10 people. Next year
the Care and Treatment Reviews will be done in
county by experts and experts by experience.
The Autism Strategy has been approved by the
Adults Committee.
Addenbrookes and Hinchingbrooke are revising
the Passport and want to make it better known.
John Ellis is retiring on 31 December. Neil
thanked John for his work with the group.
Q&A
Debbie has heard about a plan to reduce the number
of acute (emergency) beds at Hinchingbrooke.
Action: Michelle and Lee will raise this at the next
Health Strategy Group meeting.
Jackie and Tracy asked for the Health Check template
because the checks havent been very good. Lee
asked them to give him more evidence about this.
Siobhan wants evidence for the 14-18 age group.
Action: SC will send everyone the Autism Strategy
again with the health check form
5.0 Safeguarding
Michelle reported the case of a salesman
entering a house of a vulnerable person and
persuading them to buy an expensive bed. Police
and Trading Standards are now involved
A business in Fenland is selling training to
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vulnerable people. This is ongoing but she has

informed all day centres in Fenland.
Police who were following up on a case called at
a vulnerable persons house late at night
Action: James and Sean will feedback to the police.
Russell asked if there was a way for people with
communication difficulties to deal with the police.
James said the PEAL system is not very well used.
VoiceAbility network with police officers who also
attend Speak Out meetings.
6.0 Locality updates
6.1 Huntingdon and Fenland
The main themes are:
Money and benefits
Safe Places
Report hubs for hate crimes
Issues for carers like health and well-being
because carers health affects the people they
care for.
Claire B said some of the successes of 2015 were
Seans hospital leaflets and his volunteer award
Michelles success with parking space outside
Eddies, March
Giving training on working with people with
learning disabilities
Shared Lives Scheme tuck shop has moved to
Fenland District Council premises and is going

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well
6.2 City, South and East
Transforming Lives plan has been tested in East
Cambs. Theres a drop in in East Cambs.
Creating Safe Places is going well.
City and South is developing a drop in at Bar Hill
Tesco
Duty workers have been increased
There are 4 workers daily on reviews. This saves
a 2 week delay. All case work is discussed
across the team
Trying to build up a pool of service users for staff
interviews. It seems to be working well.
Q&A
Siobhan asked how to find out about drop ins.
Keith said they try to keep it really local so adverts are
local only but there is a central list.
Claire B added that there are peer user groups in
March at the Community Caf weekly and monthly at
Huntingdon Community Centre. She has given the
information to local GPs. She has also worked with
Michelle and Sean who signpost people to the LD
Locality Team.
7.0 Lunch Break
8.0 Rowan presentation
Bridget, Des and Tracy came along to explain what
Rowan does.
Rowan started in 1984
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 They believe that art improves well-being

People who come to classes are called students,
not service users
They offer 4 whole days free tasters to be sure
someone likes what Rowan offers
25 Jan 3 Feb there will be an exhibition at
Michaelhouse Centre, Cambridge.
Q&A
Joseph asked if they take people on the autistic
spectrum.
Des said they do but need to balance this with a safe
environment for all students. Carers can come too.
The cost is 40.40 per day or 30 for half a day.
They only work in Cambridge.
After the renovation there will be better accessible
toilets.
9.0 Transforming Lives: Tier Three
Lee spoke on behalf of Charlotte Taylor.
The presentation was sent out before the meeting.
Lee said Transforming Lives aims to be personcentred.
It looks at peoples strengths.
It includes family carers.
It aims at progression. This means that a person
doesnt get stuck in the same care home.
Perhaps they can be helped to move to
supported living.
There are 1,700 people currently supported but
Lee thinks there could be 12,000 with a learning
disabilitycountywide - this includes people with a
mild learning disability.

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Q&A
Michelle asked for an example from the trial in East
Cambs.
Claire B gave the example of someone in supported
living who is in crisis. Rather than going into hospital
they are given extra support at this point and then the
support is taken away when the crisis passes.
Michelle gave some feedback that people feel it isnt
working. There isnt enough information about the
changes.
Claire said it only started in Fenland on 1 October. It is
all about getting people to think in new ways. Michelle
can advise people to go back to the team.
10.0 Feedback from other meetings
10.1 Adult Social Care Forum
The minutes are not yet ready. Beth spoke about the
short time allowed for everyone to talk about the
Councils plan for Children, Families and Adults
Services (CFA Strategy).
Beth and Graham spoke about this before councillors
at the Adults Committee. They said there had been no
Easy Read version.
Beth has now received an apology from Adult Social
Care about this. There will be an Easy Read summary
at least for future consultations.
10.2 Adults Committee
Lee explained that it is the elected county councillors
who make the decisions on the different strategies.
Lees job is to give the councillors the information so
they can decide.
On the Autism Strategy they agreed but were worried
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that they werent diagnosing young people with autism

quickly enough. Fenland and Huntingdon get missed
out.
10.3 Transport Focus Group
This group met in November to work on the draft
leaflet on Transport for Adult Social Care.
Beth will send Tracy the draft after this meeting.
People will be able to use the leaflet during their
assessment.
Siobhan more people are being trained in Easy
Read at the Council. The license for the pictures
means more people at the Council are allowed to use
the Easy Read photos.
11.0 Break

12.0 Positive Developments

Elspeth said it is great that the local medical
group knows about Aspergers
Debbie is starting work with Dhiverse on
relationships, sexual health and keeping safe for
people with learning disabilities
Siobhan talked about the National Health and
Care Plan review. She said 100 young people
replied and180 family carers and 200 staff.
Speak Out Council Michelle said that they get
very good attendance at their meetings.
Sean reminded everyone about the Safe Places
scheme.
13.0 Finance update
Paul said Learning Disability is probably
overspent by 2.5 million partly because they
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now have to include people from 18.

People over 65 are no longer transferred to Older
Peoples Services
Theyve not been able to make all the savings
they hoped for.
This means they now have to make even bigger
savings and have less money to buy less support.
This is where Transforming Lives is important.
Q&A
Claire M asked how much the increase in population
affects this.
This is usually offset by increased Council Tax taken.
Joseph is it correct that in the end there wont be
any funding from central government?
Paul said business rates might help with this.
Debbie wanted to know what care agencies are
actually paying staff.
Neil asked if it will affect people on benefits.
Joseph suggested VoiceAbility could explain this to
members.
Paul LD has 40% less in the budget
Now they spend 900 per week on every person with
LD. In 2020 it will be 750.
He asked the Board what their suggestions are.
Debbie asked how people could help the County
Council.
Elspeth suggested using tele-conferencing.
Michelle thought there was too much paperwork and
phone calls which people with learning disabilities
often cant understand.
Tracy G how could we improve communication but
still be careful on how much time this takes and
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therefore how much it costs?

Debbie - ask people at their assessment how they
want the council to communicate with them.
Joseph - VoiceAbility could do a consultation.
Beth asked at what point does the LD Team go back
to the Council and say they cant do what the
government says they have to do.
CCC members stressed that they had fed back about
the effect of the cuts.
Staffing is an issue because the pay isnt attractive.
Siobhan encouraged members to report concerns.
14.0 Minutes and Action Log
The Board agreed the Minutes from 23 September
14.1 Beth said she was still waiting for final
information about Disclosure and Barring Service
(DBS). It has been agreed that an Easy Read leaflet
will be done.
14.2 Service Users and carers
Lee suggested a Task and Finish Group about how
Service Users can be involved in recruitment to posts
in the LDP. Training would be needed.
Action: Board agreed. Lee and Beth to arrange.
14.3 Review training for Fairer Charging Policy.
15.0 Any Other Business and Feedback
15.1 Suggestion on feedback could use cards like
they do at Speak Out Council. A summary of feedback
is included in the minutes
Everyone agreed they would use a form at the 23
March meeting. This can always change again.
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Action: James to send form to Beth.

Action: Tracy G will work with Beth and Sally to
include feedback in minutes.
15.2 Lee suggested to the Board that they could have
a Task & Finish group on Saving Money. The board
agreed.
Action: Lee and Beth to arrange.
15.3 Beth said there will be a Cross Board Event on
16 February at Comberton Sports and Arts Centre,
10am 3pm. It will be about information, leisure,
activities and opportunities around Cambridgeshire.
Dates of meetings in 2016
March 23, 11am 3pm
Orchard Park Community Centre, Cambridge
CB4 2EZ
June 22, 11am 3pm
Ely Community Centre, High Barns, Ely CB7
4SB
September 21, 11am 3pm
Orchard Park Community Centre, Cambridge
CB4 2EZ
December 14, 11am 3pm
Ely Community Centre, High Barns, Ely CB7
4SB

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