Welcome to entry number 8 of the West Glamorgan Joint Working Journal! The official start of summer is upon us and the sunshine has been a real mood-booster 🌞

We’ve had an eventful few weeks in the partnership space, including a meeting of Steering and Advisory Board 2 (SAB2), a Regional Partnership Board meeting and the very first Volunteer Managers Forum session. Here’s an overview of how it all went..

---

Steering and Advisory Board 2 (SAB2)

SAB2 covers three regional programmes of work –‘Well-being and Learning Disability’, ‘Dementia’ and ‘Emotional Well-being and Mental Health’.

The latest edition of our Newsletter, which was published during Learning Disability Week 2024 (17-23 June), gives a detailed insight into the progress of the ‘Well-being and Learning Disability’ programme. The theme of ‘Transport’ was identified as the first priority to be taken forward as part of the implementation of the Learning Disability Strategy, and the 9th July will see people with a Learning Disability come together with public transport service providers to discuss the challenges they face when using transport. You can find more information and reserve a space on this workshop by visiting Ticketsource.

Work around the Strategy’s second priority ‘Getting the Right Care and Support’ is also gathering pace. People have told us they want more flexible support and more say in the care they receive from Health and Social Care services, so that’ll be the focus of this programme of work over the next 12 months.

Latest news in terms of the ‘Dementia’ programme is that training is now available for individuals, community organisations and businesses. The ‘Dementia Plus Awareness Training’ is being delivered by Dementia Friendly Swansea, who also run the Dementia Hwbs across our region (funded via the Regional Integration Fund, administered by us in West Glamorgan).

We’ve also seen developments across GP surgeries as all practitioners are now using ‘Read Codes’ to categorise different types of Dementia. Over time, this will provide more robust and consistent data which will help improve services.

In terms of ‘Emotional Well-being and Mental Health’, edition 5 of our Journal included an update on a recent Welsh Government visit to the Congolese Development Project. The digital story we recorded on the day was played at SAB2 and is available to view here:

SAB2 members also received an update on the developments of the priority areas of ‘Developing a New Commissioning Model for Third Sector and Not for Profit Organisations’ and ‘Improving Access to Services (focusing on Communications and Engagement and a Single Point of Access/No Wrong Door approach)’.

---

Volunteer Managers’ Forum

Wednesday 19th June saw the launch of the new Regional Volunteer Managers’ Forum at Llys Nini Animal Rescue Centre in Penllergaer, Swansea. Participants gathered from a range of volunteer-involving organisations across our region, and each individual provided an overview of what volunteering looks like in their organisation. A series of discussions followed which helped establish the overall direction of the Forum, and the feedback so far has been great! The plan is to meet twice a year going forward – we’ll bring you more on how the Forum takes shape in a future edition of our Journal.

---

Regional Partnership Board (RPB)

West Glamorgan RPB met on Tuesday 25th June and the main focus was the progress of the Carers Partnership Programme. Gaynor Richards (Chair of the Carers Partnership Board) presented a video update on the delivery of the Regional Carers Strategy. Members were very impressed with what’s been achieved to date and commended everyone involved, particularly the Unpaid Carers themselves who volunteer their valuable time, skills and experiences to ensure the Strategy continues to deliver meaningful outcomes for our region’s Carers.
Our Annual Report for 2023-24 was also approved by the Board and is available to view here.

Thanks for reading – we’ll see you after the next SAB 😊