In January, HRH The Princess Royal was welcomed by Hft and Bradford Teaching Hospitals to celebrate the success of our supported employment initiative – Project SEARCH.

The Princess learnt about the employment training and mentoring that we provide over the course of an academic school year for people with learning disabilities. The most recent graduates have been gaining experience in a number of different roles including portering, maintenance, and A&E at the hospital.

HRH was introduced to some of our current and former interns, supporters and family members and listened to their positive experiences of Project Search, which has a 70% employment rate after graduation.

The Princess gave an address to over 150 guests emphasising the importance of supported employment as a way of helping the people we support to improve their self-esteem, learn new skills and realise their potential, while earning a wage.

Andrew Horner, Regional Manager – Bradford, said: “We are delighted that the Princess, who is a dedicated Hft Patron with a longstanding interest in improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, was able to join our celebratory reception.”

Fusion belongs to you! It’s a great way to share your news and stories. Tell us your news at communication@hft.org.uk

SHRPPA project : Thelatest

Project SEARCH is given the Royal nod

Partnership Forum First national meeting of 2015 Diversity placements

reap rewardsRead more on page 2

March 2015, Issue 19 Newsletter for Hft employees

Find out more on page 3

Read more on page 3

The Princess Royal with Aneesa, a person we support from Bradford

from Robert Longley-Cook

Update

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March 2015, Issue 19

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As we reach the end of the financial year, our budgeting process brings the financial challenges of the next year into sharp focus. When we combine this with a general election, I’m very mindful of the changes a new Government may bring around social care funding and policy and how we can prepare for these.

As many of you will be aware, restructuring is underway in a number of our services to introduce a Registered Cluster Manager role. This will respond to new requirements from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and help address some of our financial pressures. Service redesign is unavoidable in the current climate and inevitably causes significant disruption and unease amongst teams, but it is essential to ensure we have the best organisational structures in place to deliver Fusion effectively across our services.

The importance of working collaboratively with partners will be critical moving forward. In January we welcomed HRH The Princess Royal to Bradford to mark our involvement as a key partner in Project SEARCH. Our support from HRH is much valued and provides the opportunity to celebrate some of our successes. On that note, it’s not long until we launch the 2015 Fusion Awards. More than ever I want to keep recognising all of the good work that is taking place across our services so let’s see if we can beat the 131 nominations we received from staff last year.

Robert

with Stephen ShepherdStephen Shepherd is a Support Worker from London, a Partnership Forum Representative and leader of Choir Unlimited.

On life before Hft: I’ve had many different jobs, including labouring, painting and security, but I spent most of my life working in grounds maintenance before joining Hft. I’ve volunteered ever since leaving school, and have taught sports to disabled adults.

On life outside of Hft: I enjoy the simple things in life. I value any quality time I spend with my wife, daughter and my wider family. Music is one of my greatest passions; I sing, write lyrics and perform whenever I have the chance – it’s a real thrill.

On Pride: I’m a proud parent, but I’m also very pleased that I started Choir Unlimited. It’s an inclusive community choir for the people we support and others with a learning disability. We perform to lots of different audiences, and it’s a great way for the people we support to make friends and work together – it’s a fulfilling achievement.

On the ideal dinner guest: Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. He has written the scores for many of the world’s most successful musicals and it would be interesting and educational to spend time with someone who has been so influential.

Sea View Manor, a supported living service in Kent, was recently awarded £400 after hosting a series of successful diversity placements with trainee Police Officers.

The Chief Constables Property Fund is given out to local charities, and Hft was selected because of the valuable experiences it provides officers who want to gain an understanding of learning disabilities in the community.

The service has been hosting these placements for nearly four years, and since September, six officers have completed two or four day assignments shadowing support workers.

In January, after the award announcement, Kent Police visited Sea View Manor where they presented the cheque to residents Tim, John, Jerry and Support Worker, Nicky Bonfield.

Nicky said: “These diversity placements have been very beneficial to the Police as well as our service, and this is a greatly appreciated surprise. It’s wonderful that the Police are invested in supporting different communities, and have enjoyed their time at Sea View Manor. We hope this positive relationship with the Police continues.”

Diversity placements reap rewards

Trainee Police Officer John Woodward and Ben, a person we support

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The SHRPPA project is moving forward into 2015

The National Partnership Forum meeting took place at Head Office in January.This Forum is made up of members of elected staff from all over the organisation who reflect the views of their colleagues – to help inform decision making regionally, locally and nationally.

Remember that Partnership Forum representatives are there to make sure that your voice is heard.

If you don’t know who your Partnership Forum rep is, you can find out from your line manager or via the Partnership Forum page on The Hub.

During the January meeting the Forum discussed the current financial position of Hft, the restructuring of some operational elected teams and the implementation of SHRPPA.

Michelle Ewing, Partnership Forum Lead said: “It was a productive meeting, and we hope that the breadth of skills and expertise across the Forum will lead to even better partnership working, greater communication and informed decision making across Hft throughout the next financial year and beyond.”

Meeting notes are available on the Partnership Forum section on The Hub.

Update from the Partnership Forum

The Fusion Awards are coming...

The SHRPPA Project is making good progress and over the next few months the team will support the chosen provider to set up the system for Hft. The coming changes will see SHRPPA payroll and some HR functions being implemented during May and June. So it’s really not long until we start to see some of the benefits this new system will bring! Until that time the team will be building and testing the new system to ensure it is set up correctly and meets everyone’s needs.

The next big step will be to roll out the system for Operations and HR – starting with the pilot site in August.

We’re running a pilot so that we can all be confident that when the system is rolled out into each Division, it will be in good working order and will allow you to be up and running from day one after training.

The South West has been selected as the pilot site due to the diversity of services it provides. Once this has been successfully piloted, the project team will then roll the system out to all other areas, Division by Division with the aim of completing this process by the end of 2015.

Look out for more updates on the project soon!

Members of the Partnership Forum Meeting with Robert Longley-Cook

Last year, we celebrated the first ever Fusion Awards – and we are delighted to announce that the Fusion Awards will return later this year.

All around the country, you are doing remarkable things that demonstrate how each segment of the Fusion Model helps the people we support to live more fulfilled lives.

We want to highlight the work you do which goes above and beyond your day job to bring the Fusion Model to life.

Check out the Fusion Awards section on The Hub which explains what we are looking for, and keep an eye out for details about how you can apply or nominate for this years awards shortly.

You can also watch videos of the 2014 winners and nominees, and see photo-graphs of last year’s event.

You have the chance to show the whole organisation the creative ways in which you are supporting people – good luck with your nomination!

4FUSION is printed on recycled paper

March 2015, Issue 19

T he Family Carer Support Service (FCSS) is working on a brand new resource to help families and individuals navigate the Care Act 2014.

The Care Act will come into force in April 2015, and the ‘Guide to the Care Act for family carers’ will be helpful to staff too as the new law will affect the ways in which we support people and their family carers.

The Care Act has a stronger emphasis on personalisation than any previous law, and family carers are given ‘parity of esteem’ – they are treated equally in law to the person they support.

Rhianon Gale, FCSS Manager, said: “We know that many family carers don’t get the support they need and are entitled to; it is important that as staff, we take every opportunity to let family carers and individuals know what their strengthened rights are and how to get support to help them and their relative to live fulfilled lives.”

Staff and family carers are welcome to contact the FCSS about the Care Act or any other issue on 0117 906 1751. The team will provide further updates once the ‘Guide to the Care Act for family carers’ is published.

Spotlight on: The FCSS

The Gloucestershire Domiciliary Care Agency (DCA) was rated overall as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) with an ‘Outstanding’ rating in the Caring category.

The CQC report highly praises the commitment of staff in providing personalised support to individuals.

David Hansen, Divisional Director for Central West said: “Hft is extremely proud of the recent CQC report for our services in Morton-in-Marsh, which highlights the professionalism of the team, led by Judy Guest, who deliver great services to the people we support there.”

Here are a few comments taken from the report:

We won the Technology Award and were commended in the ‘Personalisation’ category of the ‘Lancashire’s Got Talent’ Awards! The event was to celebrate excellence and good practice in these fields along with innovation, community, wellbeing and partnership working.

As these accolades are awarded by commissioners, Sarah Weston, Innovation Manager, was keen to stress how important they are:

She said: “This recognition reflects that Lancashire County Council understand how PT can really enhance the lives of the people we support and how impressed they were by some of the work we have delivered in the Lancashire area and the innovative solutions that our team have put in place. It’s fantastic to see the hard work of the PT team recognised in this way.”

“The culture of this service put people at the centre of everything that was done”

“People told us with pride about the paid work they were doing, the new skills they had learned and the important relationships they had with other people”

“Staff spoke about people in a positive and respectful way. They showed pride and joy in people’s achievements and were fully supportive of helping people achieve what was important to them”

Great CQC results in WorcestershireThe results are in and we want to offer a big congratulations to everyone in the Worcestershire area and particularly those staff providing support to people in their own homes in Morton-in-Marsh.

Personalised technology (PT) was given the thumbs-up by Lancashire County Council recently when we were recognised by their commissioning services.

PT scoop innovation award

Vince Scaife, PT Co-ordinator, collecting awards from Lancashire County Council