Further Information from the Community Housing Cymru Group
Residential Care Inquiry 02.05.12
Community Housing Cymru (CHC) welcomed the opportunity to give evidence at the recent Committee inquiry into Residential Care. The Committee asked us to provide additional information for the following areas:
· How RSLs engage with Residential Care Users
· A copy of the CHC commissioned research on Health and Housing
· Further information on Grŵp Gwalia’s experience on the transfer of Residential Care Homes from Neath Port Talbot Council
Please find the information below:
How RSLs engage with Residential Care Users
A third of RSL board are tenants. Tenants who live in extra care homes would be welcome to apply to join a board if they wished.
The majority of residential care service users are very frail and in poor health, and increasing the client group comprises of people who suffer with dementia or indeed people who have nursing needs. However, there is a plethora of ways in which the housing sector engages with residential clients in order to gain valuable feedback, examples of which include:
- Clwyd Alyn Housing Association (CAHA) have what is a called a Board of Management Quality Assurance visiting regime. This is a formal process where a Board Member visits a resident and asks them about the service and any suggestions for improvement. The reports they produce are then presented to the Residential Homes Advisory Committee, whose membership includes Board Members and other stakeholders, including a resident representative for the particular home. All these reports are then reported to the Care and Support Scrutiny Committee and, completing the governance loop, the CAHA Board.
- Gwalia Care & Support has set up a ‘House Committee’ within each of their homes where residents and relatives have access to senior staff and Board members, who each have responsibility for a particular home. They carry out their own satisfaction surveys and also offer individual residents and groups independent advocacy services which again provide information which we can use to shape services.
- Hafod Care have set up ‘House Committees’ within each of their homes where residents and relatives have access to senior staff and Board members, who each have responsibility for a particular home. Hafod carry out their own regular satisfaction surveys and also offer individual residents and groups independent advocacy services which again provide information which can be used to shape services.
Attached to this brief report is:
· Annex 1 – Health and Housing: Opportunities and Challenges
· Annex 2 - Reflections on the transfer of Residential Care Homes from Neath Port Talbot Council to Grŵp Gwalia
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
Kevin Howell
Community Housing Cymru Group
029 2067 4810