Information Focus Group Meetings
Small Steps = Big Changes
Information Focus Group Meeting
Friday 6th November 2009
Present: Stuart Myers (SM); Beccy McCabe (BM); Gail Humphrey (GH); Amy Littledyke (AL); Saiorse Young (SY); Katrina Douglass (KD).
Apologies: Linda Dickinson; Julie Marshall; Joanne Morley; Emma McLaughlin; Nicola Simmons.
1. SM welcomed everyone to the meeting, gave apologies and asked members to introduce themselves.
2. AL updated the group on the information packs. All members had received excellent feedback regarding the packs and rated them 9.5/10 or higher in terms of usefulness and easy to read. AL said that they will be updated in January 2010 and asked members for any comments or additions to the existing fact sheets. The following were suggestions to be added to the help lines: Family Fund; Happy Days; Cerebra; Gateway Wheelers; Parents Advice Service. Also, the Wacky Warehouse needed adding to the Leisure fact sheet.
It was suggested to maybe look into a new fact sheet titled Health and Therapies. Some consultation work is to be carried out in Nov/Dec with health visitors by the FIS.
A new fact sheet explaining Common Assessment Framework, the child well-being model and access criteria for services was also agreed to be produced.
SY added that she would like all compulsory information that Social Workers give to all families to be made into A5 flyers and be added to tailor-made packs or the team, so that it would be easier for the workers and be less daunting for the families’ receiving them. The group agreed this is a great idea.
3. GH stated that a leaflet may be useful for families which contains information on “where to go next” after the child is first referred to a specialist or diagnosed. This would be used before the information pack was given to families and would include important basic information on where to get help. The group agreed this may be a good idea but would need to be bigger than just Redcar and Cleveland to reach waiting rooms as far afield as Newcastle RVI or Leeds hospitals. It was also mentioned that greater input from health is needed to progress any of these ideas.
4. GH asked if the information packs were available online, and AL and SM agreed to make these available on the families guide and SS=BC site.
5. SM updated the group that the Small Steps website now has lots of information on it, and to pass anything that would be good on it to Emma McLaughlin or bring to the next meeting.
6. SM informed that a text messaging service will hopefully be up and running in the next 2 months. This will enable parents to be kept up to date on news/events/information on a regular basis. Further information will be in December’s Family Focus newsletter.
It was agreed, with the parent’s conference and Christmas approaching, that the next meeting will be in the New Year.
The next Information Focus Group meeting will take place on:
Please note:
If you can’t make this meeting, and you would like to contribute to the meeting, could members please pass their input via Stuart Myers on:
Telephone: 01642 771645
Email: stuart_myers@redcar-cleveland.gov.uk
