30 Years and Counting
Winter 2013/2014
On 14 October 2013 there was an event to
celebrate 30 years of the All Wales Strategy.
The All Wales Strategy was written by the
Welsh Office in 1983.
The aim of the All Wales Strategy was to allow
people with a learning disability to live normal
lives in their communities.
It said that people with a learning disability
should:
have choices
be treated as individuals
get help and support to live in the
community.
The All Wales Strategy helped people with a
learning disability to start moving out of big
hospitals like Hensol and Ely.
(More on page 2)
LDAG News LDAG News LDAG News Easy Read
Easy Read newsletter
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Page 2 LDAG News Easy Read
People started living in the community with
support for the first time in Wales.
The Learning Disability Advisory Group (LDAG),
Mencap Cymru and All Wales People First all
helped to pay for the event.
Learning Disability Wales and All Wales Forum
of Parents and Carers helped to plan the
event.
People with a learning disability, families and
people who work with people with a learning
disability all came along to the event.
Roger Banks and Sophie Hinksman chaired the
day together.
The Deputy Minister for Social Services
Gwenda Thomas talked about some of the
changes in Wales over the last 30 years for
people with a learning disability.
She also talked about the future and the
Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Bill.
(From page 1)
(More on page 3)
Gwenda
Thomas
Roger Sophie
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Page 3 Winter 2013/2014
This is a new Welsh law about how people get
help and support to live their lives.
Cardiff People First talked about their project
on what it was like to live in Ely hospital.
Pauline Young talked about being a parent to
a son with a learning disability.
People at the event had the chance to tell
their own stories about living in Wales over the
last 30 years.
Everyone also had chance to talk in small
groups about different parts of community life
like:
jobs
transition
hate crime.
People talked about their own lives and some
of the problems they face.
They also talked about how to make things
better.
(From page 2)
(More on page 4)
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Page 4 LDAG News Easy Read
Each group wrote down what people
thought.
These notes will be put into a report for the
LDAG to look at and think about what they
need to do.
In the evening there was a meal and a disco.
Jane Hutt AM for the Vale and Minister for
Finance talked about the Nimrod project.
The Nimrod project started in 1981 with
services working together in the community.
By 1986 the Nimrod project was supporting 150
people with a learning disability in Wales to
live in the community.
The All Wales Strategy was written in 1983
because of the work that the Nimrod project
had started.
(From page 3)
(More on page 5)
Jane Hutt
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Page 5 Winter 2013/2014
Jane Hutt is a trustee for Vale People First.
She talked about how much People First in
Wales has grown over the last 30 years.
Jane also said that the Independent Living
Framework is as important as the Social
Services and Well-being Bill.
The event was a chance to look back at the
last 30 years.
It was also a chance to think about where we
are now and where we want to be in 30
years’ time.
(From page 4)
Now? 30 years?
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Page 6 LDAG News Easy Read
Easy Read Health Wales
The Easy Read Health Wales website helps
people with a learning disability and their
families to find accessible information about
health and well-being.
The website has lots of Easy Read information
about things like having a blood test or how to
make sure you do not get constipated.
The website is in English and Welsh.
There are videos to help people understand
the words on the main pages of the website.
If you need help to find or understand
information on the website you can phone the
helpline on 0808 808 1111.
Easy Read Health Wales is paid for by Welsh
Government.
The website was made as part of a project
about accessible information.
(More on page 7)
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Page 7 Winter 2013/2014
Learning Disability Wales, All Wales Forum of
Parents and Carers, Mencap Cymru and All
Wales People First worked together on the
project.
The project ended on 31 March 2013.
Welsh Government is paying some money so
that Samantha Williams can keep the website
up to date and make sure people know
about it.
Samantha Williams is the Information Officer
for the LDAG.
People with a learning disability often have
worse health than other people.
Health services do not always make changes
to help people with a learning disability get
good healthcare.
One way that people with a learning disability
can stay healthy is to have good quality
information that they can understand.
(From page 6)
(More on page 8)
Samantha
Williams
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Page 8 LDAG News Easy Read
A small group of people from the LDAG are
looking at why people with a learning
disability have worse health than others and
how to make it better.
The group will tell the LDAG what they find
out.
You can have a look at the Easy Read Health
Wales website here:
www.easyreadhealthwales.org.uk.
Please tell Samantha Williams what you think
of the website.
You can also speak to Samantha if you have
any Easy Read information about health to
add to the website or you would like some
posters and cards to tell other people about
the website.
You can phone Samantha on 029 20681177 or
send her an email
(From page 7)
Samantha
Williams
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Page 9 Winter 2013/2014
Dr Delia Wainwright came to a LDAG meeting
in June to talk about a project in North Wales
hospitals.
Delia is the Learning Disability Nurse
Programme Manager at Betsi Cadwaladr
University Health Board.
The project was started because there had
been some worries about the way hospital
staff looked after people with a learning
disability.
The aim of the project was to give people with
a learning disability better access to services
in the 3 main hospitals in North Wales:
Ysbyty Gwynedd
Wrecsam Maelor
Ysbyty Glan Clywd.
Learning Disability Liaison Nurses worked on
the project to support people with a learning
disability and their families when they went to
hospital for treatment or had to stay in
hospital. (More on page 10)
Project in North Wales hospitals
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Page 10 LDAG News Easy Read
They worked as Acute Liaison Nurses in each
hospital.
This means that they worked with lots of
different people to make sure that people
with a learning disability got good healthcare
when they went to hospital.
The Acute Liaison Nurses worked with staff
from health and social services as well as the
people going into hospital and their families or
carers.
They made sure people had information that
was easy to understand.
They gave staff training and information about
supporting people with a learning disability.
They visited people while they were staying in
hospital until they went home.
(From page 9)
(More on page 11)
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Page 11 Winter 2013/2014
Sometimes they visited people after they had
left hospital to find out how things were going.
The project found that nearly half of the
people with a learning disability who went into
hospital either had a Traffic Light Passport
already or filled one in while they were there.
The Traffic Light Passport can be filled in with
help from families, carers or support staff.
The Traffic Light Passport is not to be used
instead of having a proper assessment by
health staff.
It is a quick and easy way for hospital staff to
find important information about the patient
and their needs.
It can help staff understand how to
communicate with the patient and the best
ways to support them while they are in
hospital.
(From page 10)
(More on page 12)
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Page 12 LDAG News Easy Read
These are some of the ways the project made
hospital services for people with a learning
disability better:
Staff knew more about what people with a
learning disability need and they felt more
confident to support them.
Services in the community knew more
about some of the problems that staff
working in health had.
Health and social services worked together
better.
Patients and their families or carers felt less
worried about going into hospital and had
better support when they were in hospital.
Here are some of the changes that the
project would like to make:
Hospital care needs to be more flexible. This
means sometimes doing things in a different
way.
(From page 11)
(More on page 13)
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Page 13 Winter 2013/2014
When people go to Accident and
Emergency the information on the
computer should tell staff that the person
has a learning disability.
Better information when people with a
learning disability go into hospital.
Each hospital should have an Acute Liaison
Nurse.
Acute Liaison Nurses should be involved
before a person with a learning disability
goes into hospital or as soon as possible
after they arrive.
Information should be easy to understand.
Traffic Light Passports to be used.
Training for all hospital staff.
Staff should work together with families and
carers.
(From page 12)
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Page 14 LDAG News Easy Read
Joe Powell is the Director of All Wales People
First and a member of the LDAG.
He has been talking about how he became
the first Director with a learning disability.
When All Wales People First decided to try to
find someone with a learning disability to be
the new Director, lots of people got very
excited.
But some people said that it would never work
because they did not know anybody with a
learning disability who could do that job.
The All Wales People First National Council
were sure that someone with a learning
disability could do the job.
Joe Powell said that nobody really knew what
would happen, not even him.
Joe said that we must be careful not to try to
do things just because we think we should.
(More on page 15)
A Director with a learning disability
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Page 15 Winter 2013/2014
It might sound good to have a person with a
learning disability as the Director of every
organisation that works with people with a
learning disability.
But it would not be good to give people jobs
that they were never going to be able to do
properly.
He said that All Wales People First had thought
a lot about this before they decided to give a
person with a learning disability the job of
Director.
Joe had never been a Director before and he
had a lot to learn.
He worked with the other members of staff at
All Wales People First: John Pearse and
Yvonne Boxall.
When Joe first started his job as Director he
was worried that some people would be
unhappy because he was not from one of the
People First groups.
(From page 14)
(More on page 16)
John and Yvonne
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Page 16 LDAG News Easy Read
But everyone was very kind and helped Joe
get used to his new job.
Joe said that he nearly did not send in his
application for the job.
This was not because he thought that
someone with a learning disability could not
do the job.
It was because he had a bad time in another
job when he was young and this made him
think that he could never have a proper job.
Richard Mills from Research Autism and
National Autistic Society told Joe that he
thought he could definitely do the job of
Director.
But he said that Joe would need the right
support to do the job properly.
He said that any Director would need support,
not just someone with a disability.
All Wales People First already had a clear plan
for how to find and support the new Director.
(From page 15)
(More on page 17)
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Page 17 Winter 2013/2014
Members of Caerphilly People First looked at
all the applications for the job and decided
which people to interview.
The plan was for the new Director to work for 2
days a week for 9 months with the support of
Yvonne Boxall as a trial.
If the trial went well then the new Director
would start working 3 days a week with the
support of a Personal Assistant.
The Director would share the management of
the organisation with the Business Manager
John Pearse.
Yvonne Boxall would become the National
Council worker.
But this plan changed.
Joe did not need a Personal Assistant.
He did not need the full 9 months trial.
He was ready to start working 3 days a week
after just 6 months.
(From page 16)
(More on page 18)
Yvonne
Boxall
John
Pearse
6
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Page 18 LDAG News Easy Read
Joe and John also felt that it was important to
keep Yvonne as part of the management
team as she has worked for All Wales People
First for such a long time.
They asked Yvonne to join them as an equal
member of the management team and she
said yes.
Joe has learnt a lot from Yvonne since he
started and is very glad that she said yes.
The People First groups were also very glad to
hear that Yvonne was joining the new
management team.
Joe knows he still has a lot to learn and that
this will take time.
He has loved every minute as Director of All
Wales People First.
He loves meeting People First members and
staff.
He is proud to work for an organisation that he
believes in.
(From page 17)
(More on page 19)
Yvonne Boxall
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Page 19 Winter 2013/2014
He likes being able to tell people what People
First members think.
Joe’s own story has helped him to explain why
services need to change to make life better
for people with a learning disability.
Joe had some very bad experiences in care
when he was young.
He says it is wrong that some people with a
learning disability are still being treated badly
today.
He is proud to be working with the LDAG to
make life better for people with a learning
disability and their families in Wales.
(From page 18)
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Page 20 LDAG News Easy Read
In 2009 the Deputy Minister for Social Services
Gwenda Thomas asked the Data Unit Wales
to put together lots of information about
people with a learning disability in Wales.
This was because the old advisory group had
told her that this information was needed to
help services plan for the future.
This information was called the Learning
Disabilities Minimum Data Set.
Welsh Government paid for the information to
be put together by the Data Unit Wales.
The information came from the local
authorities in Wales.
The information was on the InfoBaseCymru
website.
You could look at the information in different
ways. For example, maps and tables.
(More on page 21)
Information about people with a learning
disability living in Wales
Gwenda
Thomas
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Page 21 Winter 2013/2014
There was information about:
where people with a learning disability live
what services they get
how much money social services spend on
services for people with a learning
disability
children and young people with a learning
disability.
The money from Welsh Government for
putting together the information ran out some
time ago.
Data Unit Wales decided not to put together
the information for 2012 to 2013 and took it off
the website.
Samantha Williams LDAG Information Officer
had a meeting with people who work at Data
Unit Wales to talk about the information.
She told them how important it was and why
she thought they should put it back on the
website.
(From page 20)
(More on page 22)
Samantha
Williams
Page 22 LDAG News Easy Read
She has told people before about the website
when they have been looking for information
about people with a learning disability living in
Wales.
But most people did not know about the
information on the website.
She said that if more people knew about the
information on the website then more people
would have a look at it.
Data Unit Wales said they would put the
information for 2011 to 2012 back on the
website so that people can have a look and
decide if they think it is useful.
Samantha Williams will talk to the members of
the LDAG about this and let Data Unit Wales
know what they think.
You can have a look at the information here:
http://www.infobasecymru.net/IAS/themes/
learningdisabilities(adults)minimumdataset.
(From page 21)
(More on page 23)
Page 23 Winter 2013/2014
For more information or to let us know
what you think, phone Samantha
Williams on 029 20681160 or e-mail:
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
@LDAdvisoryGroup
Please let Samantha know what information
you find useful and if you think it would be
better to show the information in a different
way. For example, a report instead of tables
and maps.
You can phone Samantha on 029 20681177 or
send her an email
[email protected] to let her know
what you think.
(From page 22)
?