Swan Edinburgh Meeting 8.11.09
There was 17 people at the meeting; support workers from different organisations; Garvald , Penumbra, Deaf Action along with the parents of a service-user supported by Enable.
1) We decided on aims and objectives for the group:
2) Swan Edinburgh will be in Facebook :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?ref=name&id=100000476495453 ) ,
Blog: ( www.swanedinburgh.blogspot.com) ,
and twitter: (http://twitter.com/SwanEdinburgh)
3) We also have a website www.swanedinburgh.org.uk and Email swanedinburgh@yahoo.co.uk.
4) An Email list will be organised and anyone is welcome to join. –Please put a request on Email.
5) Some people offered help to get media contacts. Press releases will be sent to the media as frequent as possible to keep the issue in the media.
6) A leaflet with campaign information will be sent to the voluntary organisations which are involved in the tendering.
7) We will get in contact with other organisations and workers who have experienced tendering around Scotland.
8) We will amend the press release emphasizing the right of service users for real choice, quality of service, maintaining established relationships with staff etc.
9)We will liaise with the Learning Disability Alliance to co-ordinate the campaign.
10) Parents of one service users expressed their surprise that the campaign has been so slow to take off. We explained that we only recently discovered that most of Edinburgh voluntary organisations lost the tender. The Council was very secretive leaving us no time to act before the decision on the tendering.
11) Demo against Direct Payment Freeze and the tendering of Social Care Services will take place on the 11.11.09 – 16:30 Opposite Edinburgh City Chambers. We will do our utmost to help service users to participate and express themselves i.e. Support, banners, music instruments. We will also hand over leaflets of our ongoing campaign.
12) Next meeting will take place on the 15th of Nov 7:30 at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh.
There was 17 people at the meeting; support workers from different organisations; Garvald , Penumbra, Deaf Action along with the parents of a service-user supported by Enable.
1) We decided on aims and objectives for the group:
I) We demand Edinburgh Council reverses its decision to freeze the direct payments for all service users till March 2009. Direct Payment is a right and the council should process all old and new applications with no delay.
Direct Payments rates should be according to the person needs and set at a sufficient level to allow people to have real choice of service.
II) As the process of the tendering was very secretive, we demand complete transparency of the decision making by the council. We demand to have information on how the successful bidder were chosen, do they match standards of staff training, supervision. What is their background/experience in care so far etc.
III) We are against the use of competitive tendering for care services. It has proved to have very negative results for care standards when tried in other places.
Direct Payments rates should be according to the person needs and set at a sufficient level to allow people to have real choice of service.
II) As the process of the tendering was very secretive, we demand complete transparency of the decision making by the council. We demand to have information on how the successful bidder were chosen, do they match standards of staff training, supervision. What is their background/experience in care so far etc.
III) We are against the use of competitive tendering for care services. It has proved to have very negative results for care standards when tried in other places.
2) Swan Edinburgh will be in Facebook :
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?ref=name&id=100000476495453 ) ,
Blog: ( www.swanedinburgh.blogspot.com) ,
and twitter: (http://twitter.com/SwanEdinburgh)
3) We also have a website www.swanedinburgh.org.uk and Email swanedinburgh@yahoo.co.uk.
4) An Email list will be organised and anyone is welcome to join. –Please put a request on Email.
5) Some people offered help to get media contacts. Press releases will be sent to the media as frequent as possible to keep the issue in the media.
6) A leaflet with campaign information will be sent to the voluntary organisations which are involved in the tendering.
7) We will get in contact with other organisations and workers who have experienced tendering around Scotland.
8) We will amend the press release emphasizing the right of service users for real choice, quality of service, maintaining established relationships with staff etc.
9)We will liaise with the Learning Disability Alliance to co-ordinate the campaign.
10) Parents of one service users expressed their surprise that the campaign has been so slow to take off. We explained that we only recently discovered that most of Edinburgh voluntary organisations lost the tender. The Council was very secretive leaving us no time to act before the decision on the tendering.
11) Demo against Direct Payment Freeze and the tendering of Social Care Services will take place on the 11.11.09 – 16:30 Opposite Edinburgh City Chambers. We will do our utmost to help service users to participate and express themselves i.e. Support, banners, music instruments. We will also hand over leaflets of our ongoing campaign.
12) Next meeting will take place on the 15th of Nov 7:30 at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh.
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