26 May 2022 – VAI Health & Wellbeing Network Meeting Outcome
Welcome to a round up of this month’s borough-wide Health & Wellbeing Network Meeting, complete with agenda items, summaries and presentations for anyone who couldn’t make it on the day. If you would like to watch a recording of the meeting, you can access it here: https://youtu.be/JtG4fymrwkU
1. Hyperlocal Vaccination Programme (Navinder Kaur, VAI)
Navinder reminded us that whilst current hospitalisations are very low (due to Covid-19 infections), it’s still important to cast an eye towards Autumn and Winter as we may see an increase and so should keep vigilant where possible. The VCS has been exemplifying great partnership with one another and Public Health when it comes to information sharing and accessible dissemination to local communities, with translated vaccination leaflets into the top 7 languages of the borough a good example. One particular successful method has been a more holistic/wrap-around event for communities where food has been offered in a more relaxed environment and informal discussions around vaccines can be broached, rather than a topic-centred events which have been putting people off engaging. Navinder advertised an event at Finsbury Park Mosque on Monday 30th May and 6th June – 6-8pm. Flyer below:
There are also community events at St. Luke’s Community Centre (EC1V 8AJ) throughout June as shown below:
9th June – Food Hub – 10-12pm
13th June – Lunch Club – 12-2pm
27th June – Creative Cooks – 1-3pm
2. Access to Adult Safeguarding (Yvette Ellis, VAI)
Yvette gave an insightful presentation on a free training offer for Islington organisations on Adult Safeguarding, delivered by Islington CS Training and Services Hub. She broke down the access route, where to register and how to join – all of which are found in the attached presentation (Yvette PP – Adult Safeguarding Training) Further to this discussion, Lucy Bingham of Holloway Neighbourhood Group described a similar training offer funded by Islington Council. Details seen below:
How to Access Online Safeguarding Training (May 2022)
If you or one of your employees or volunteers previously had access to “Ollie” our training platform, this is to let you know we are now using a new system called My Learning. In order to access this platform they will need to register for a new account which they can do via this email hrlearning.development@islington.gov.uk They will need to provide their –
- Full name
- Email address
- The org they work for
- In the body of the email they need to state they were told about My Learning from Tony Robinson in the VCS team. This will ensure they get access as My Learning is an internal system for LBI employees.
Once you have received the login details go to: https://mylearning.islington.gov.uk/login
Your password will need refreshing every 6 months.
—————-
Navinder also passed on news from the Islington Safeguarding Adults board, detailing the launch of a new self-audit tool for voluntary sector and community organisations. Details found below:
The Islington Safeguarding Adults Board invites you to a briefing session: “How well does your organisation safeguard adults?” Event details: 08 June 2022 16:00 – 17:00pm Microsoft Teams meeting
In this briefing session the Islington Safeguarding Adults Board will launch a new self-audit tool for voluntary sector and community organisations. This is your chance to hear how audit tool will help you:
- assess and measure how well your organisation is set up to prevent and protect adults from abuse and neglect.
- identify what’s working well in your organisation and what needs to improve
- provide useful assurance to your management board and
- help with your organisation’s risk management.
Delivered by Fiona Bateman, Chair of the Islington Safeguarding Adults Board, the session will introduce you to the self-audit tool, explaining how to get the best out of it and the benefits of using the tool. The session is open to anyone in the voluntary sector or community organisations working in Islington. Register for the event here
3. Communication with vulnerable adults (Leigh Andrews, Change Communications)
In her fantastic presentation, Leigh Andrews of Change Communications described her work with vulnerable adults and the critical importance of appropriate and tailored communication. Through her own extensive research and academically published research, Leigh described the communication needs of rough sleepers as being almost double that of the general population and explained the work Change Communications are doing in Westminster with their homeless service users. The presentation also touches on how linguistic prejudice perpetuates inequality and explains the Accessible Information Standard and how unlocking communication styles contributes to high quality, tailored care for clients. See presentation for more information and contact Leigh directly at leigh.andrews@chgcomm.org
Change Communications PP
4. Local Wellbeing Networks (Charlton Brown, VAI)
Finally, Charlton at VAI briefly discussed the Local Wellbeing Networks project which is the result of a partnership featuring Voluntary Action Islington, Octopus Community Networks and Islington Council. This is born out of the council’s ambition to connect groups and services, increase collaboration and co-delivery and provide a platform for community voice.
The networks consists of statutory service providers, local charities, community groups and residents, all of whom have committed to taking a more active role in their local community, sharing best practice and collaborating for positive social change and tackling local health inequalities. We have the first of such meetings taking place early June, the details of which can be seen below and more information here.
North Locality – Manor Gardens – Tuesday 7th June 1-3PM: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/june-local-wellbeing-network-meeting-north-locality-tickets-344676104507
Central Locality – Elizabeth House – Friday 10th June 1-3PM: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/june-local-wellbeing-network-meeting-central-locality-tickets-344678391347
South Locality – Voluntary Action Islington – Thursday 9th June 1-3PM: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/june-local-wellbeing-network-meeting-south-locality-tickets-344679113507
Voluntary Action Islington’s Newsgroup
Finally, in the interest of partnership and information sharing, I’d like to invite you to be part of our newsgroup communications (if you are not already) which broadcasts a wide range of updates, asks and opportunities from our 600+ members. You can sign up here.
We hope to see you with us for next month’s meeting which will take place on Thursday 23rd June – 10:30. You can register here.
