Minutes:
Brian Warwick – Melksham 55+ Group, welcomed everybody and thanked the Melksham area board for organising the meeting.
The Chairman then welcomed everyone to the Riverside club and the first older persons themed area board meeting.
The Chairman then introduced the Wiltshire councillors who made up the area board, supporting Wiltshire Council officers and Cllr Keith Humphries (Cabinet member for Public Health & Protection), who was attending the meeting.
The Chairman thanked the various stake holders and parish representatives in attendance.
The following Chairman’s announcements contained in the pack were noted:
Update on Melksham Community Campus
Cllr Jonathon Seed advised that contracts had now been exchanged between Wiltshire and Cooper Avon Tyres paving the way for a single site community campus on land at Melksham House.
Town Hall road enhancements
Cllr Jonathon Seed advised that no work would be carried out due to the community campus location being decided at Melksham House. It was thought that some patching of pot holes would be carried out as a short term measure, with a new traffic scheme put in to place when the campus was built.
Update from event on 28 June to discuss future of services for 13 – 19 year olds
The event was held on 28 June to get people’s input into the strategy, a consultation was still open until 5 August.
The purpose of the commissioning strategy is to achieve better outcomes for young people aged 13-19 by:
· Ensuring a good range of high quality services for all young people.
· Providing an early integrated response when young people are vulnerable or at risk, as soon as problems or issues arise.
· Ensuring cost effective services by improved co-ordination and reducing any overlaps and duplication.
New Waste and Recycling Collection Service
As a result of Wiltshire Council becoming a Unitary Authority in April 2009, there had been four different waste and recycling collection services available to residents, depending on where you lived. This costed different amounts, had differing recycling levels and was not a fair service for residents.
From October the council would be rolling out service changes so that everyone receives the same level of service, beginning with fortnightly plastic bottles and cardboard recycling collections using blue-lidded bins in the north, west and east. This service was already in place in the south.
For further information residents can: visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/waste, call 0300 456 0102 or look out for further information coming in due course.
End of Life Care
End of life care ensures that people live well until they die, this is typically care provided to people in the last year of their life.
But it can by difficult to predict when this ‘last year’ starts. Death and dying had become remote from our society, this had become medicalised and so not something that in our society and culture we are used to talking about.
Annually about 4000 people die in Wiltshire. If your GP is full time about 20 of their patients will die in a year. About 2 of those will be sudden and just under one third of people dying will be aged under 75 years.
Wiltshire Council had written a bereavement booklet which would be available in GP surgeries, as we need to look after the health of those who are bereaved, when they are very vulnerable. We have provided skills training on end of life care for a number of health and social care professionals. All these tools cannot improve care without the vital ingredient of communication. This needs to start with the patient and their family, if they can discuss what they wish to happen, then health and social care staff are better placed to be able to deliver the care according to the patient wishes. We also need to ensure that all health staff are equipped to have these conversations with patients.
Further information:
See back of planning for your future care or Wiltshire Council website:
www.wiltshire.gov.uk/healthandsocialcare/deathanddying.htm