Services for older people in the west of Newcastle

ANNUAL REVIEW2 0 1 6 - 2 0 1 7

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Thank you for taking the time to see what Search has been doing in 2016/2017 and join us as we peek into the future. This is the 38th year of Search working with older people in the west of Newcastle and we plan to reach more people and improve more lives in the next year.

Search has faced two main challenges in the last year, the continued reduction of funds caused by austerity and the increase in demand for our services as other statutory and voluntary organisations shrink as a result. Our response has been to seek new sources of funding, create new links with existing groups and to be brave in trying new ideas.

At our heart Search is a community-based organisation with strong relationships with its local community in the west of Newcastle. During these times of significant economic change, the neighbourhoods and individuals we work with are seeing great challenges. We plan to overcome the obstacles ahead and lay the foundations for future growth and success so we can all get the most from later life.

OUR PURPOSE WHAT WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE

HOW WE WORK

Promoting and protecting the welfare and well-being of older people.

For local people, communities and organisations to know they can rely on Search for high quality services that are accessible, inclusive, and responsive to their needs.

Inclusive: giving older people a voice by a wide and varied involvement in the charity.

Trust: building and maintaining trust in Search by being honest, reliable and open.

Down to earth: working for the best interests of the older person and respecting the right of the individual to self-determination.

Purposeful: keeping focussed on activities and services which maintain independence and promote the well-being of older people.

Partnership:working with older people and collaborating with other organisations to achieve our objectives.

Sustainability: working to ensure the growth of the organisation, acting in an environmentally friendly and ethical way.

Learning: consistent use of research and evaluation to ensure the voice of older people is fully utilised.

Not for profit: Search exists only to help older people in the West of Newcastle.

WELCOME TO THE 2016 TO 2017 SEARCH ANNUAL REVIEW

THE BIG NEWS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2016/2017

LunchlinksLunch Clubs are a mainstay of services for older people but have come under threat as austerity reduced their funding. Search along with Mental Health Concern and Keyring won a contract from the Council to provide the lunch links service, with Search taking on responsibility for this in the west of Newcastle from May 2017. The hard work winning the contract in 2016/2017 is partly due to our ambition to imagine new lunch services that promoted socialising, support and good nutrition. Traditional lunch clubs will continue but this year we began the work of planning the transition and development of novel services. We hope more people will enjoy shared meals and also benefit from all the other social and advice support Search provides.

Work at the BOC, West Denton and Wicker Chair GroupThis year saw new groups emerge across the west of Newcastle thanks to Chain Reaction. From Spital Tongues to Westerhope, older people came together for a variety of reasons. The Post BOC group in Westerhope was unusual in that it picked up where other organisations left off. People with extreme breathing problems receive 6 weeks of statutory support a year at the ‘BOC’ group. Chain Reaction at Search realised they could fill the social and health gap the participants experienced once their help had finished. Now the ‘Post BOC’ group supported by Search provides weekly socialising, exercise classes and activities that help to maintain the health and social networks that otherwise would have been lost.

Chain Reaction Development Manager PostOne of the big achievements of the year was to secure extra funding to help Chain Reaction fulfil their mission. Chain Reaction is about helping older people who need extra assistance to get out and about in their communities and lead full lives. Two problems lay in the way of meeting our objectives. One was to encourage new referrals as many people in the city were unfamiliar with the support available and some older people were going without the help they needed. The second challenge was to manage the growing number of Connector workers whose job it is to do the supporting. This funding from the North Star Foundation will fund a Chain Reaction Development Manger starting April 2017 who will ensure the success of Chain Reaction continues.

Outer West Activities PostThe Outer West of Newcastle by being less geographically concentrated has not seen as many groups and activities as other more populous parts of the city. A breakthrough in 2016/2017 was to find funding to pay for a new worker to focus on increasing the number of groups of older people and individuals to receive the support they need. The worker starts in August 2017 and is another example of 2016/2017 being a year where we are laying the foundations for future success.

Advice Work in Cruddas Park SurgeryTraditionally people have come to our Advice drop in on Adelaide Terrace but this year with the support of Newcastle CCG we also ran 1 day a week Advice sessions from Cruddas Park GP Surgery. Some of the clients were referred by GPs and nurses who recognised their patients were in financial dire straits. Some of the clients were people waiting to see a GP who Cheryl Smith our Senior Advice worker introduced herself to. Amazing results transpired as long standing benefits and debt problems were resolved through Cheryl’s intervention. We look forward to continuing to work with Newcastle CCG.

OUR SERVICES

ADVICE AND INFORMATION

Search gives advice and information for older people, including welfare benefit checks, to ensure everyone receives their entitlements. Many older people in the west of Newcastle struggle financially, live with poor health and are unaware they are entitled to pension credits or attendance allowance. Search makes the difference by providing a shop in Adelaide Terrace where older people can just walk in and get immediate help. There are very few organisations like Search. As well as a daily drop-in Advice surgery we provide home visits to more frail older people who are house bound. One of our more innovative initiatives is visiting Sheltered housing and community groups to give benefits and other advice.

The Information and Advice project does not only provide benefits or pension help they are often a port of call for older people in distress. Older people in recent years have become vulnerable to scams and unscrupulous companies and landlords. During the financial year 2016/2017 our workers helped older people experiencing a wide variety of problems, housing issues, utility companies, bogus tradesmen, phone companies and psychics pestering people for money.

The Advice service drop-in runs between

10 am and 1 pm, Monday to Friday and has assisted hundreds of people and gained £972,159.71 in annual benefits. This represents a significant gain not only for the individuals concerned but for the local area as a whole as older people tend to shop and spend locally.

Dee, our long serving senior advice and information worker retired in April 2017 after an impressive 18 years in post. She will be sadly missed but we hope that she has a long and happy retirement. Our new senior advice and information worker is Cheryl Smith who has been in post as an advisor for 2 years.

We have been awarded funding to continue our advice work within GP surgeries as part of the CCG Innovation fund for another 12 months. This has seen Search deliver an outreach session within Cruddas Park surgery for a 12 month period in which GP’s could refer patients for advice regarding benefits, housing and debt. We have also successfully worked in partnership with the Ways to Wellness staff and hope that this can continue through the next 12 months. We have delivered awareness raising sessions within local sheltered accommodation and at coffee mornings and at lunch clubs. One of our big successes has been providing two advice sessions for the South Mountain Chinese Association of Older People.

Dee Johnson surrounded by colleagues

This year saw a number of Cooking clubs taking place. Community nutrition workers enabled small groups to cook easy, healthy recipes and enjoy the chance to sit down together for lunch. Sometimes when a husband or wife passes away, the remaining spouse has to take on new challenges in the midst of all the other changes. The Cooking clubs have proved a great success.

Search has regularly provided a dozen or so weekly and monthly groups that have become almost part of the fabric of the area. Our regular activities programme continues to be popular and valued with ongoing groups such as Knit and Natter, Singing for your Brain, Film Club, Crafts, Tai Chi, Easywalks, Flower Arranging, Tea Dance, Computer Club and Gentle Exercise.

ADVICE CASE STUDY

Mr A is single and lives alone. Mr A suffers from chronic anxiety and depression and also has other related complex issues. He is in receipt of pension credit. Due to the effects of his health condition Mr A was extremely socially isolated which was compounding his low mood. He was unable to walk to a bus stop or get on public transport without experiencing great panic.

After getting into contact with Search, the Advice and Information worker worked with Mr A to complete an Attendance Allowance form and he was successfully awarded £55.10 per week. This also entitled him to a further severe disability premium of £61.85 per week. As a result, his income increased by £6081.40 per annum.

With the extra money, Mr A can pay for taxis rather than public transportation. This has been a dramatic development in Mr A’s life as it has allowed him to leave the house and take part in activities without the extra stress and anxiety that previously trapped him indoors.Search also assisted him to obtain a blue badge so that his friend can take him out without him experiencing extreme panic.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

The heart of Search is its work in reducing the isolation many older people experience in the west of Newcastle. Our Community Activities project is where the groups and events are organised that bring people together. 2016/2017 saw lots of new and interesting community activities such as Carnival Arts and our work with BalletLORENT. We continue with our innovative work to collaborate with local older people on novel and interesting opportunities.

One of the new developments has been the ability to draw on the work and skills of the Chain Reaction team at Search. Their Pioneer workers have helped set up new groups that are beneficial to new and existing Search members. As well as benefiting from this overlap to help groups we can also refer individuals who need more one to one support to access activities by our Chain Reaction colleagues. A good example of a joint endeavour is Sporting Chance, a new regular activity involving indoor sports that anyone can have a go at, e.g. table tennis, walking football, skittles, quizzes, coffee and a chat.

GROUPS

Carole Currie at the computer club

A memorable event in 2016 was the ‘Remembering Adelaide Terrace’ series of exhibitions. Search worked with the St James’ Centre for Heritage and Culture and Tyne and Wear Museums to organise some sessions at community venues where residents looked at photos of Adelaide Terrace from its past and helped us to record information about the history of the area.

TRIPS

The ever popular coach trips took us to Durham Botanical Gardens, Chesters Roman Fort and Hexham, Saltburn on Sea, the Blyth Tall Ships Festival and Alnwick. We also had a January trip to Boundary Mills to conquer the January blues and a visit to the unique Borderline Books.

SOCIALS

The Evening Socials at Search give older people the chance to really let their hair down. Lots of social occasions are too distant or on too late and deter many people. Our Evening Socials are a winner with their location on Wingrove Road and 6 pm to 9 pm timings. They are welcoming to everyone and at £2 per ticket are sold out quickly. The big three socials this year were the American Music Night, the Halloween Disco and Girls Aloud to celebrate International Women’s Day.

On the 4th of July 2016 we celebrated American Music for Independence Day at Robert Stewart Memorial Church Hall. Elvis, Dolly and Aretha got everyone up and dancing. Partygoers dressed with cowboy hats and stars and stripes and we all enjoyed line dancing later in the evening. New friends to Search can come along on their own and not feel out of place, as there is always a friendly face to sit and have a chat or dance with.

Our volunteers are essential on the night helping to welcome people, make refreshments and clear up at the end of the festivities. We could not manage without them.

Ballet L’Orent dance company based in Newcastle contacted Search. They were looking for experienced knitters to inform the research and development process that would inspire their Autumn performance of Rumpelstiltskin. One of the aims was to tell the story of yarn, this could include people knitting on stage during the performance. We organised a number of workshops where Search people, including many from the Knit and Natter group talked all about wool. Our knitters had so much knowledge about types of wool, different knitting methods and they reminisced about winding wool with their own Mothers. Dance moves were then created based on the different methods and we had a lot of fun throwing balls of wool around and winding wool in pairs to music.

“I didn’t feel like joining in at first but by the end of the session I think I was the one having most fun.”“I came along today with lots of problems but now I feel loads better.”

Some of the groups have gone to being involved in the rehearsals and will be on stage for the final performance. The participants have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in something creative and completely different from their usual group.

“They are really helping us shape the ideas for the scenes we want to include the knitters in. We are learning so much, they as individuals contribute to this creative process, with their skills in knitting and weaving which we are able to build into unique movement language and narrative for our production of Rumpelstiltskin, often down to their adventurous and gregarious personalities.” - Debbi Purtill, Associate Director, BalletLORENT

PROJECTS AND EVENTS

CASE STUDY

VOLUNTEERING IN 2016 TO 2017

Volunteers are central to Search, without volunteers Search couldn’t work. The past year saw our volunteers do a huge variety of tasks. Our groups as a whole and the reception office on Adelaide Terrace rely almost entirely on their dedication and enthusiasm. Most of our regular groups are run or supported by volunteers, including those experienced in walk leading, knitting and crafts and flower arranging. Volunteers provide essential support to the groups by greeting new members and making them feel welcome, taking registers, organising refreshments or organising tasks and activities. Some of our volunteers are first aiders and helped us ensure safety on trips and at events. The ages of our volunteers vary from 50 to 83.

Our reception volunteers are the face of Search and are skilled in meeting members of the public. In the last year they provided hundreds of people with information, signposted them to staff or groups and rang round those booked onto activities. They also supported staff with administrative tasks. We had volunteers behind the scenes helping us develop and maintain our database and IT systems as well as collating information and report writing.

VOLUNTEER CASE STUDY

Susan started volunteering at Search in 2012. She was very interested in health and keeping fit and well and was keen to meet like-minded people. She signed up for a walk leader course and went on to support a walking group every week for the next 3 years. She attended nutrition, food hygiene and first aid courses. She still leads a monthly outings group and helps Search with trips, events and publicity. She is excellent at spreading the word and getting new people involved with Search. Her friendly smile and down to earth personality mean that all those in her company want to get involved.

Long term dedicated volunteers like Susan are the backbone of Search. Their commitment means we always have someone to rely on to help out and this makes our work available and accessible to more and more older people in the West of Newcastle.

In its second year, Chain Reaction came into its own with new people and new groups helped by its unique way of working. Chain Reaction offers 3 levels of support, a free preventative service of groups and activities and two more intensive levels of support for individuals that are covered financially by personal budgets from the Council or through self-funding. The mission of Chain Reaction is to reduce isolation and loneliness and help older people live full lives.

The team has established links with the social work teams and other agencies supporting isolated older people in the west and that has resulted in a steady stream of referrals coming through to Search.

By listening carefully to people, the workers were able to identify opportunities for older people to engage with their communities. As a project covering the whole of the west of Newcastle, the workers were keen to ensure they offered a presence across the area. Examples include the Post BOC coffee group in Westerhope for older people with breathing problems. Another success has been the new Sporting Chance group in Scotswood that offers sporting and competitive activities that are especially popular with men. Often older men can become especially isolated and the new group is changing the lives of the men and women who attend it.

Chain Reaction also developed some novel successful community partnerships with other organisations with shared aims including the Council (Carnival Arts), Tyne and Wear Museums (Outreach sessions).

The Search Chain Reaction Pioneers also worked closely with their colleagues in the north and east of the city to organise and run a series of events for older people’s Week in October focussing on ‘Health, Wealth and Happiness’.

The number of people receiving the more intensive levels of support has grown and so has the number of Connector workers who carry out this specialised support. Without this one to one help many older people would have remained cut off from the ordinary lives they want to lead.

CHAIN REACTION

SEARCH IN NUMBERS

Bobby is an 80 year old man with severe COPD and early onset dementia. We met Bobby through the rehabilitation service delivered by the British Oxygen Corporation (BOC). Patients are given a one 6-week placement each year and attend twice a week. Unfortunately, once the support is over they have to manage on their own. This was a huge blow for Bobby as he had regained his confidence, his health had improved and he had made a new network of friends.

Search took the initiative and began offering a Post BOC group for people like Bobby. This involves socialising, drinks and refreshments

but also games, darts and snooker. The group started a health exercise class and meets up for tea and chat afterwards. The health class caters to about 10-15 people each week every Wednesday and Friday.

Although Bobby uses walking aids to limit the risk of falls he has been able to decrease the medication he needs. Most importantly, he can now take his dog for a 30-minute walk and look after his grandchildren when needed. He is feeling confident to plan a short coach holiday after a successful Search trip to Warkworth and Amble.

CHAIN REACTION CASE STUDY

969 people received

support from Search

574 people were newly referred to Search

During 2016/17 Search provided:

different types of opportunity to participate in

community activities (2016:35)

places for individuals (2016:413) to attend

2,910 community activity sessions and events (2016: 2,706)

434 36

WHO USES SEARCH

The majority of participants are aged

between 60 - 79 years .

77% of participants in community activities are

women, 23% are men.

54% of people using our Advice and Information

service are women, 46% are men

of people using our services stated that they have a disability or long term condition.

Ward %Fenham 17Benwell & Scotswood 14Denton 13Blakelaw 12Wingrove 8Elswick 8Westgate 7Westerhope 7Woolsington 5Lemington 4Newburn 2Kenton 2

Most of the services Search provides are most intensively used by people who live close to Benwell, Elswick and Fenham. What’s unusual about our relatively new Chain Reaction service is how much more evenly distributed it is across the west of Newcastle:

54%

54% of people using our Advice and

Information service are from Benwell,

Scotswood and Elswick.

45%

45% of people attending our

Community activities are from Benwell,

Scotswood, and Elswick.

22%

81.8%

6 0 7 9

7 7 5 4

2 3 4 6

22% of people using our Chain Reaction

service are from Benwell, Scotswood,

and Elswick.

38 volunteers with valuable roles (2015:31),

who donated

6,992 hoursof their time (2016: 6,448)

answers to enquiries through our Advice and

Information service (2016: 2,984)

The 5 most regular attenders at Search used

the service 1.8 times a week!

3,992

SEARCH IN NUMBERS

HOW DO WE KNOW IF WE’RE DOING WELL?

A good way of measuring the positive impact our work is having is by asking the people who use Search. Here are some of the comments from questionnaires and other contributions across the year.

“Diven’t sit there in the lurch, git yersel straight down to Search”. - Extract from a poem by a friend of Search

“It shortens the amount of time I spend in the house on my own, it’s a cure for boredom.”

“Silver active closed so they told us to transfer to Search-best thing we ever did.”

“It helps me feel less depressed because I’m not alone.”

“Search helps me keep in touch with what’s going on locally.”

“I get to try things I wouldn’t have done on my own-I can still surprise myself.”

“It simply keeps me well-in mind and body!”

“I think it really helps to have the local office where you can just go in and know there will be someone there to talk to, listen and help if you need it.”

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2017

Year 2017 Total £ 2016 Total £

Total incoming resources 265,635 278,616

Total resources expended 263,234 230,286

One way of observing the success of an organisation is how often people use it. At Search we noted the popularity of our groups and activities by how regularly they were attended and looked at the 10 most regular attendees. Here are the number of times the ‘top 10’ attended a group or trip over the course the year:

We directly surveyed a large number of people who use Search and asked them what the main benefits from using Search were. Here is how they responded:

The chart to the left shows the self-reported changes in people’s lives over a 6 month period through answers on evaluation forms.

Benefit % of total respondents

Meeting people 94%Feeling better about yourself/ life in general 66%

Information about other activities run by Search 66%

Information about what is happening in the area 61%

Information about other activities/groups 60%

Feeling more confident 56%Learning new skills 52%Support and help 41%Exercise/becoming fitter 38%Information and ideas about health/diet/exercise 38%

Information/advice about benefits, housing problems etc. 29%

90

51

55 53

91

85

94

94

9761

HOW SEARCH WORKS

THE FUTURE

Lunch LinksThe Council has awarded Search the contract for providing meals and lunches for older people in the west of Newcastle. As funding for lunches has decreased we are looking at ways of delivering meals that offer the things people value about traditional lunch clubs but with new elements that promote socialising and choice. We are going to continue to support the traditional lunch clubs at Bishop’s Court and Westgate Road Baptist Church. The next step is our Buy and Bite groups: people living in the same area will share a taxi to take them to a local supermarket such as Morrison’s. After enjoying a meal together in supermarket café the group can then have assisted support to buy their weekly shop and

return home together if they wish in the shared taxi. Buy and Bite is the first of many new ideas in the pipeline that will provide good food and good company.

Expanded Chain ReactionWith the employment of a Chain Reaction Development Manager we now have the ability to grow the Chain Reaction service. Many people need one to one support to get out of their homes and live full lives. The new manager will be overseeing the growth and support of those older people who need more intensive assistance. Some of this will be paid by the local authority and some will be self-funded.

Continued over page.

Search depends on a group of volunteers called Trustees who usually meet monthly to make decisions about the running of Search.

Wendy Dale, the current Chair of the Board of Trustees explains what Trustees do and why Search needs people that devote their time to the legal and organisational work necessary to keep Search supporting older people:

Trustees are enthusiastic volunteers committed to the work of Search and its future. It is a serious responsibility, as Trustees must ensure Search operates within the law and fulfils the requirements of a charity and a company. Trustees decide the long-term strategic plan for Search and decide on the annual business plan. There is a special meeting every year where the Trustees share ideas about the future and contemplate any threats to its services. Trustees meet monthly and receive reports from the Chief Officer (Johanne Mears) about the progress of the organisation in terms of meeting the goals set in the plans, and hear about any obstacles encountered. There are sometimes difficult decisions to make particularly as funding is limited and grants have fixed time periods. Working together however can be fun; we share responsibilities and use our expertise to benefit the organisation. Trustees are appointed for a 3-year term and can serve up to a maximum of 3 terms to ensure that the

board is vibrant and open to new ideas. One Trustee left this year to have a child and another replaced her. The work of the trustees in this year included:

• Staff appointments• Planning for a fundraising event • Exploring opportunities for demonstrating

the impact of the services• Exploring different funding streams• Developing a pro-active approach to the

media• Attending a Stakeholder event and

representing Search at other events• Agreeing an approach to pension auto

enrolment• Reviewing all organisational policies• Supporting funding bids

Current Trustees are:

• Wendy Dale (Chair)• Ruth Taylor (Vice Chair)• Linda Woodcock (Treasurer)• Alison Blackburn• Ann Honey• Haley Hudson• Meg Woollam

This year we say goodbye to Kasia Kurowska who has retired to look after her new born baby and we welcome two new Trustees Meg Woollam and Alison Blackburn.

We want to express our gratitude to the organisations who have supported Search with funding over the last year:

• Ballinger Charitable Trust• Benwell and Scotswood Ward Committee• Big Lottery Fund• Elswick Ward Committee• Fenham Ward Committee• Newcastle fund at Newcastle City Council• Newcastle and Gateshead Clinical

Commissioning Group• Kellett fund at the Community Foundation

Tyne & Wear and Northumberland• North Star Foundation• The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation• Garfield Weston Foundation• Christ’s Hospital in Sherburn• Classics in Corbridge• Proctor and Gamble Employees Charities

Fund• Sainsbury’s Denton Burn branch• The Fogo fund at Community Foundation

Tyne & Wear and Northumberland• Wingrove Ward Committee

We would like to say an especial thank you to Lord Beecham who made a personal donation to Search to mark his 50 years in public service. The money has funded a video promoting Search to newcomers and garden equipment for our beautiful garden.

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74 Adelaide Terrace, Benwell, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 9JN

THANK YOUTHE FUTURE CONT.

C O N T A C T U S

More work in the Outer WestAs a result of a grant from the Henry Smith Charity we have been able to employ a new Community Activities Development Worker to focus on new groups and activities in the outer west of Newcastle. The outer west will benefit from the new worker finding opportunities to bring people together and reduce isolation.

Good links with West End BefriendersSearch has always enjoyed a very good relationship with our neighbouring project, the West End Befrienders. This organisation has a focus on working with BME groups and individuals in the west end and our work regularly overlaps. We look forward to strengthening our ties over the next year.

More IT for older peopleThe digital world can be perplexing for some older people. Search wants to reach out and help older people make the most of the Internet that now plays a big role in everyone’s lives. This is especially important as Government and shops shift their everyday business onto the internet. Our aim is to share skills so no older person is excluded by the rush of changes.