Welcome to the final Joint Working Journal entry of 2024! We’ve now been at this for a full year and are super grateful for all the positive feedback we’ve received since launching in January.

The last Steering and Advisory Board (SAB) of the year was SAB1, which met on 17th December. SAB1 covers three regional programmes—‘Communities and Older People, ‘Carers Partnership’, and ‘Dementia’. Here are some key highlights from these programmes of work:

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Communities and Older People

The past few months have been bustling with activity for the Communities and Older People Programme. Much of of the focus has been preparing for the ‘Working Together’ Showcase Event highlighted in our previous journal entry. The team presented a comprehensive ‘whole system approach’ using fictional characters and crafting a narrative based on numerous case studies gathered over the past few years. This presentation illustrated how the Regional Integration Fund (RIF) projects collaborate to help individuals stay well at home for as long as possible.

In addition, we’ve been diligently working the development of our regional strategy. Engagement sessions were held to help agree a title and vision for the strategy. These proved to be incredibly valuable, and in the new year, the strategy working group will convene to finalise and share the new title and vision.

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Carers Partnership

In our last SAB1 update, we brought you news of our new recruit Rebecca Platt, who has been in post as Carers Liaison Officer for almost two months and is already making great strides in terms of strengthening relationships with unpaid carers, services, staff and volunteers.

Rebecca chaired her first Carers Liaison Forum meeting on 12th December, where attendees had the chance to view a short film highlighting the success of the ‘Unpaid Carers – Turning Vision into Action’ event that took place on 17th September:

Discussions then followed about how the feedback gathered at the event will be put into practice as this programme of work continues to take shape.

A new governance structure to deliver the programme has also been agreed, comprising three workstreams: ‘Access to Services’, ‘Information, Advice, Assistance and Awareness’ and ‘Young Carers’, with an additional task and finish group responsible for developing a future commissioning model for services currently funded by the Regional Integration Fund (RIF).

We’ll bring you more on how this area of work is progressing in our next SAB1 update.

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Dementia

You may have seen the recent communications around the Welsh Government Dementia Action Plan, which included a public survey that closed last week. The current Dementia Action Plan for Wales was introduced in 2018, and Welsh Government are now analysing the feedback gathered via the survey to determine the key areas to focus on throughout the forthcoming engagement process for this vital piece of work. All contributions will help shape the next iteration of the Dementia Action Plan for Wales.

When the national engagement work is underway, we’ll be devising our approach for engagement for the Regional Dementia Strategy for West Glamorgan, ensuring key themes align with the national picture.

The Baglan Listening Campaign continues to gather valuable feedback about dementia support and services within the community. The approach will be rolled out in Swansea in 2025, concentrating on the north of the city.

Finally, plans are underway to welcome Rhian Bowen-Davies, the new Older People’s Commissioner for Wales to visit our region in 2025. The Commissioner intends to visit all regions as part of her role in order to hear first-hand from people with lived experience of dementia and their loved ones. Projects funded via the Regional Integration Fund (RIF) will be approached in the new year and we’ll work together to arrange the Commissioner’s visits.

That’s all from us for this year. Thanks again for reading, and we look forward to bringing you more on the progress of our SABs in 2025 😊