Our achievements
- Following the removal of ring-fencing surrounding Supporting People funding, we are piloting a project at Viscount Court to use our accommodation-based services as a hub for delivering Care & Support services to the local community.
- We were involved with the pilot of the refreshed Quality Assessment Framework (QAF) for Supporting People. We have used the refreshed QAF as a basis for our internal Quality Assessment Audit toolkit.
- We are investigating the potential for developing Social Enterprises within our accommodation-based services to provide an enhanced opportunity for our service users to develop meaningful life skills.
- All of our services have been awarded ‘A to C’ grades following Supporting People QAF assessments. We have an internal self assessment audit toolkit based on the refreshed QAF which enables us to annually self-assess our services.
- We have a dedicated recourse to develop new business and renew existing contracts and a Policy and Procedure Officer and central intranet resource help to ensure policies and procedures are available to all staff.
Initiatives
Floating support
We have developed services which deliver floating housing related support to generic need vulnerable adults, older people with support needs, people with mental health issues, people who have suffered from domestic abuse and ex-offenders.
Drop In sessions
Following feedback from our annual stakeholder surveys, we expanded these services to offer a number of ‘open surgery’ drop-in clinics to allow service users to access housing related support and advice without the need for an appointment.
We have worked in partnership with Community Centres, Drug and Alcohol drop-in clinics and accommodation providers to ensure the open surgeries are held in venues which are accessible to everyone.
Resettlement support
Where our floating support services operate in the vicinity of accommodation support services, we provide comprehensive resettlement services to enable service users to move-on and establish necessary links in the community.
Our most notable achievement is the Service Level Agreement we have in place to provide resettlement support to Winchester Night Shelter. The Manager of Winchester Night Shelter has said, “The presence of the floating support workers has definitely improved the level of service we provide and we are definitely producing better results."
Case studies
The following case studies are recent projects undertaken which demonstrate our innovative and varied approach to Care & Support.
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Singing for the brain
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This project, run by the West Berkshire Alzheimer’s Society, was set up to benefit people suffering from dementia and other neurological disorders in Newbury.
It proved to be a great success and was featured widely in the media and more recently on ITV with Kevin Whatley.
In response to the increasing numbers of dementia sufferers moving into our schemes, A2Dominion felt there was a great need for such therapeutic activities and requested training with the Alzheimer’s Society with a view to run singing groups at our extra care schemes. This led to the formation of three groups in schemes in Newbury, Reading and Surrey, which receive regular referrals from the Alzheimer’s Society.
We have also organised Inter-generational Projects in partnership with Age Concern and local mainstream and special needs schools in Surrey.
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Leopards live in new book
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Residents of Chimney Court sheltered housing complex in Tilehurst captured their memories of the 1930s, 40s and 50s in a book named ‘Leopard in my backyard’.
The book was launched with the help of Mike Swaddling, a freelance writer who spoke to residents and listened to their stories before compiling the book.
Mike said, "At the end of a project like this I feel privileged to have been allowed into so many lives. The book is a fascinating mix of happiness, sadness the excitement and routine, tragedy and heroism.”
£1 of every sale went towards Macmillan Cancer Support with the rest going back into Chimney Court funding.
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Summer Outings
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Working with local churches in Winchester, we arranged several summer outings for vulnerable people in the district.
Working with local churches in Winchester, we arranged several summer outings for vulnerable people in the district.
Funded by the local churches, we arranged for vulnerable people to attend outings to Marwell Zoo, Moors Valley Country Park and Southsea over the last 3 years. We worked in partnership with the Women’s Refuge, Social Services Children’s Department and the Women’s Centre to consider referrals which ensured that individuals and families who would most benefit from the outings were prioritised.
The outings were a huge success and enabled vulnerable people and families to escape their troubles as they enjoyed a day out.
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Trainee police officer work placement
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A2Dominion Care & Support accepted a work placement for trainee policeman Leigh Baker.
Leigh was placed in the Winchester Young Person’s Project and was able to gain first-hand knowledge of the difficult situations young people face and the impact this has on their lives.
During his placement Leigh was introduced to a number of local agencies and witnessed how good inter-partnership working can benefit service users. He also gained an insight into how the difficult backgrounds of some of the youngsters may affect their future prospects, which will be of great use in situations he may face in his future work life.
Leigh found the whole experience to be very valuable and will be recommending it to the police for future work placements. He stressed how much he had enjoyed his time with the Project and explained how he had gained a greater awareness of the issues surrounding vulnerable young people in Winchester and the problems they encounter on a day-to-day basis.
The young people at the project said that nothing had changed in the house despite having a future police officer present – it helped them to realise that police were normal too!
A2Dominion Care & Support hopes this placement has helped to break down the barriers between young people and the police. A2Dominion Care & Support plans to take on more work placements from the police in the future.
