Learning Disability Partnership Board

Wednesday 23 March 2016, 11am 3pm

Orchard Park Community Centre
Cambridge CB4 2EZ
Minutes

1.0 People at the

meeting
Neil Adams
Sally Cleghorn
Nigel Fenner
Tracy Gurney

Russell Henke
Bill Jones
Elspeth Jones
Siobhan MacBean

Michelle Mansfield
Beth McCabe

Speak Out Leader, Young

People, Co-Chair
Administration Officer,
Cambridgeshire Alliance
STEng Representative
Head of Learning Disability
Partnership, Co-Chair
LDPB
Speak Out Leader, High
Support Needs Committee
Speak Out Leader, City &
South
Speak Up Spectrum
Leader
Service Development
Manager, Childrens
Disability Services
Speak Out Leader,
Fenland
Development Officer,
Cambridgeshire Alliance

Lee McManus
Sean Nightingale

James Sheard
Joseph Simon

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

1.0 People who said they could not come

Claire Bailey, Claire Mathieu, Debbie Drew, Keith
Mead, Natasha Barlow, Sean Anderson, Tracey
Stevens, Paul Davies, Boris Mayger.
2.0 Speak Out Leaders Report
The report was sent out before the meeting.
James said they had a lot of negative feedback on the
future of adult support planning. Theyve sent the
results to Lee.
Action: email James for the full result.
The last meeting had 60 guests and included Daniel
Zeichner MP.
2.1 Huntingdon
There are now 21 Safe Places. Sean promoted
the plan on Hunts Community Radio.
Hes raised the issue of the crossing near
Saxongate
Hes worked with the Princess of Wales hospital
in Ely with Patient Advice and Liaison Service
(PALS) to look at services and food. The food
seems alright.
2.2 Fenland
Michelle has been working with PALS at
Wisbech Hospital.
Page 2 of 13

 The Speak Out Council has invited some people

from the Victoria Day Care Centre to the meeting
in June.
FACET has funded the cards for trying the Safe
Places scheme in Wisbech.
2.3 City and South Cambs
The Police Community Support Officer (PCSO)
Police Sergeant visited the Russell St drop in
Bill is on the Addenbrookes working group. At the
last meeting he presented about signage at the
hospital.
Bill and Russell are on the Eastern Region
Forum. They told the meeting access, staying
safe and benefits were the three most important
issues in Cambridgeshire
Bill is also on the Accessible Information Working
Group
2.4 Young People
Neil runs a drop in at Cambridge Regional
College
Neil co-chairs the Preparing for Adulthood
meeting
He will get in touch with Hunts Regional College
and Ely.
Castle School presented at Speak Out Council.
2.5 High Support Needs Committee
Getting into some shops is not very easy.
9 service users got together to talk about
wheelchair services. Healthwatch took their
feedback.
Page 3 of 13

 Lucy Forrest from Assistive Technology

presented with Russell at the Speak Out Council
Russell went to the NHS England meeting
He was on TV to talk about benefits cuts
2.6 Speak Up Spectrum
Elspeth went to the NHS England Learning
Disabilities Innovations event. The access was
not good so VoiceAbility fed back about that
She went to a Task and Finish group on Finance
with Cambridgeshire Alliance.
3.0 Carers Feedback
3.1 Saxongate has raised the cost from 35 to 45 per
person per day. Beth asked if it was approved. Will it
affect people on Direct Payments? She raised it at the
Adult Social Care Forum.
Tracy said she wasnt aware of the increase in
charges because she would have been part of any
approved increases. She said that existing business is
based on old costs.
Michelle is concerned that people havent been
consulted.
Beth said people got a letter in January and the price
goes up on April 1st.
Neil uses Saxongate and is worried about the
increase.
Action: Tracy will look into it.
Action: Beth will send the answer before the next
meeting.

Page 4 of 13

Lee added that there is sometimes a difference

between costs of contracts with the County Council
and with an individual contract between a service and
someone on Direct Payments.
Tracy said this could still affect services which means
they could not carry on.
Beth and James pointed out that this rise could
unfairly affect people on Direct Payments.
3.2 Workplace Pensions
When will people on Direct Payments have to
start paying pensions for their assistants?
There will be an 8% cost increase so will the
County Council help?
Joseph said small employers have until April
2017 to start a pension. An employee has to
earn 10,000
It is up to the employer to set up a pension and
this is a lot of work. Joseph said training is
important.
Neil asked if Direct Payments should be increased.
Tracy said that would depend on each individual
situation. The Council is aware of the issue but it is
impossible to work out how many support staff may
need a pension.
Action: Tracy will feedback to Tracy Smith who does
the Direct Payments.
3.3 If care packages receive a1% uplift why dont
Direct Payments?
Tracy said that this has been the process in the past
but because Direct Payments are a bit different they
Page 5 of 13

are for the amount needed to meet needs identified in

the support plan so the amount should always be
enough. After a short discussion Tracy said she would
reply separately to Joseph.
3.4 Staffing changes at respite services in
Huntingdon.
Tracy said that one staff member had been removed
from night cover. A Risk Assessment was done and
service users said that they didnt need the extra night
staff.
4.0 Health Sub Group Update
More Health Checks are being done. Tracy is
working with the CCG to have someone check
that GPs are doing these checks.
Regular Care Reviews - 80% is the local
authority target and numbers will be coming out
in April for people in Cambridgeshire. The selfassessment has a target of 100% which is
impossible to achieve mainly due to
Transforming Lives as not everyone will need an
assessment
Screening, that means checking for illnesses, is
low for people with learning disabilities. Lee and
the Speak Out Council will discuss how people
feel about this.
Annual Self Assessment the Learning Disability
Partnership has an action plan to improve things.
Information about this years self assessment will
come out in a few months time
Transforming Care Programme is about
Page 6 of 13

preventing people from going into hospital

placements. Its also about helping people to live
in the community again.
Marek Zamborski has replaced John Ellis
Tracy said that LD team works with GPs to improve
things.
LDP advertised a post for someone to raise
awareness of health checks and make sure doctors
are doing them. This post has not been filled.
Michelle said the post had been advertised 3 times but
it is a short-term contract.
Siobhan said that Childrens Services is encouraging
the 14+ age group to have Health Checks.
James suggested that Neil should raise this with the
young people he deals with.
Joseph said sometimes only the Practice Nurse does
a quick check but Lee said Dr Tiffins form is designed
to make sure people get a full and proper check.
5.0 Safeguarding
Michelle said safeguarding issues are raised all the
time.
Bill has had cases where people dont know how to
get rid of friends they no longer want. He has agreed
with the Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) to
keep an eye on the situation.
Joseph explained that some people on the autistic
spectrum have difficulty understanding social rules.
He would be happy to work with them on this.
6.0 Locality updates
6.1 Huntingdon has recruited a social worker and
coordinator.
Page 7 of 13

The locality group has discussed the Staying Safe

scheme.
Hunts and Fenland have produced a booklet on
whats going on in the area.
Claire asked Lee to give Sean N a big thank you for all
his work.
There is a funding bid to the Lions organisation for
work in March on Safe Places.
6.2 Michelle and Sean talked about their concerns that
staff at leisure centres are not trained to deal with
people properly.
James said it was a chance to do some training (coproduction).
Action: Siobhan will find out who does the training
and let the Board know.
Beth said CAIL has also had meetings on coproduction on workforce development but hasnt got
very far.
Action: Lee will speak to Martine Gryzbek to find
opportunities to involve service users in training.
6.3 Ely Leisure Village Sean reported that the road
crossing there is not good. The market is good
though. Is there a town plan for Ely?
6.4 City and South Bill said Rowan is expanding.
VoiceAbility will try and help them to get a new
disabled parking bay.
Meldreth Manor was going to close but it is now under
new ownership.
Page 8 of 13

6.5 Relationships
The Board talked about different ways of meeting
people safely, using social media, taking part in a
course, speed dating.
Beth said someone from Dhiverse will talk about
relationships at the next meeting.
Red2Green has prepared a 6-week course.
National Autistic Society runs a social club in
Cambridge for adults.
The Board agreed to have a Task and Finish
Group on relationships. Bill, Michelle, Joseph
and Nigel volunteered to take part.
7.0 Lunch Break

8.0 Assessments
This is about when the team comes to talk to you
about what your needs are.
Neil said his experience was quite good. The
social worker talked to him about Direct
Payments, what he does in his daily life and if
there was anything he wanted to change, and
about housing.
Elspeth saw the Adult Autism Community
Support Team. She said there was too much
paperwork with all the different benefits and too
much repetition.
Tracy said it was bad timing that all Elspeths
assessments came at the same time.
Joseph asked if everyone will be re-assessed
Page 9 of 13

under Transforming Lives.

Tracy said generally it is only at Review but because
savings have to be made they have to reassess. The
team should build on what Adult Social Care already
knows.
Michelle said fewer pages and an easier to read
document would make assessments better. Sean
wants them easier to understand. He also said
he had to wait a long time for an assessment.
Nigel asked if transport was the first thing to be
cut.
Tracy said the Council will only pay for transport
where a person cannot learn, or cannot be supported
to learn, to get there on their own, for example on a
bus or getting a lift from a friend or carer.
Nigel said as a provider he would find it helpful to
be involved in peoples assessments.
Tracy said they intend to ask people to say who they
would like at their assessment and that can include a
provider.
Siobhan added that young people have someone from
Education, Social Care and Health at their
assessments.
9.0 Feedback from other meetings
9.1 Task and Finish group on Finance. The full report
on this is available.
Lee reported that more savings have to be made.
Support planning will be changing. Councillors
approved the changes and were informed about the
concerns raised at the Task and Finish Group.
Tracy added that there will be a level of risk in
Page 10 of 13

packages.
Michelle said she will watch to see how this works and
what feedback she gets.
Tracy underlined that they still have to provide for
assessed needs.
Nigel a 40% cut is a major challenge but there are
some positive developments.
Tracy agreed and said it is challenging as well for
those who come to talk to individuals.
Joseph said families are very worried about the levels
of support they will have to give. This might affect their
finances and their health.
Tracy said carers will still be asked if they are willing
to give informal care.
Elspeth thought the changes would increase stress for
parents and carers.
Other ideas for saving money at the Task and Finish
group included Nigels suggestion of using a single
database like Charity Log which would save time and
repetition.
Siobhan said WIKI enables individuals to manage
their own records. This avoids the problem of
confidentiality.
Action: Siobhan will send the link to WIKI.
10.0 Positive Developments
Nigel explained that he represented STENG, a
group of 10 social enterprise organisations. They
are trying to work together more efficiently and
share policies. They have had talks with Total
Transport. Paul Davies has agreed to attend their
meetings regularly.
Page 11 of 13

 Red2Green is working with 2 social workers who

attend their drop in on the first Friday of the
month. Theyve also been awarded 80,000 from
the Cabinet Office to look at how they can
change to deal with the current situation.
James asked Nigel to put VoiceAbility on
STENGs mailing list.
Beth attended the LD Providers Forum. From
June the Forum will send a representative to the
LD Partnership Board.
The Autism Diagnosis Service has been able to
reduce the waiting time for a diagnosis to 6
weeks for adults.
11.0 Minutes, Action Log and Matters Arising
The Minutes were agreed.
Beth explained that sadly she will be leaving because
she has had the offer of a full time job. She will be at
the June meeting.
Neil wished her good luck and Michelle thanked her
on behalf of the Board.
Action Log
Item 21: Lee asked his colleagues about Fairer
Charging training but is waiting for an answer.
Item 27: James and Sean will report on the police visit
next time.

15.0 Any Other Business and Feedback

15.1 Beth gave out the new feedback forms for the
meeting.

Page 12 of 13

Dates of meetings in 2016

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

Page 13 of 13