Inclusion for South Asian and Chinese communities
West End Friends is our project which focuses on inclusion for the South Asian and Chinese communities. We work with people aged over 50 to ensure they get the same access to services, health care and activity as anyone else living in Newcastle’s West End.
We have workers that are well networked into these communities, they are multilingual and understand the cultures within different communities. We have recently introduced an Engagement worker for older Asian Men who will develop social opportunities for Asian men and ensure they also have the same access to services and health care.
West End Friends operates a 3 Tier service designed to meet the needs of those who:
- – Are unable to access the community independently but needs support to address social isolation.
- – Have concerns about independent living or failing health.
Each person has a ‘pathway’ through the service to ensure their needs are assessed and appropriately addressed.
Level 1
The person referred would receive a phone call and through the conversation assess their interests, they would then be offered a choice of some appropriate social activities.
On their first visit to the activity they would have a one to one chat with the co-ordinator who would welcome them to the group and draw up a plan of social activity with that person.
They then have a 6-week review with the co-ordinator to ensure their needs were met and if anything else can be done to support them. They will be invited to sign up for the SEARCH newsletter and will continue to be invited to any evaluation and service review events.
Level 2
The person referred receives a phone call from the co-ordinator and a home visit arranged.
Here an assessment would be carried out to ascertain if the person is able to access group activity with support, if they have their own support that could help with this, if they may need matching with a volunteer who could help them to access the group activity.
If they are housebound then a befriending volunteer may need to be introduced to do social visits and activity within the home.
Level 3
The person referred receives a phone call from the co-ordinator and a home visit arranged.
Here an assessment would be carried out to assess the person’s need for support. The Co-ordinator will explain that initially the service is offered free of charge for up 8 weeks allowing time for initial referrals to health or housing related services etc. Support to access these services and understand the information will be provided.
If the person has needs that last beyond the 8 weeks, the co-ordinator will support them to look at options such as a Social Care assessment to find out their eligibility for paid for services, or a referral to our Advice and Information service to access Personal Independence Payment or Attendance Allowance, which can be used to purchase ongoing support to meet their needs.
Our Search@Home service employs Home Help and Home Help+ workers who can often meet the needs of those level 3 Referrals on a longer term basis.
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