ESPOPF

"Empowering older people to be active researchers, thought-leaders and influencers" was the title of this conference at Reading on 20th January 2011 organised by Salford and Loughborough Universities.
David addressed the Conference on "Empowerment or engagement". He described his journey from a passive researcher to an active researcher, his medical research background and his training with OPPS the Older People's Project Support.

Diane spoke on "How older people's research can change policy" She traced the 10-year history of ESPOPF and why the Forum had embraced research. She listed ESPOPF's impressive achievements and its influence on policy, both locally and nationally.
To download the presentations, go to Links on the Website menu and click on KT-EQUAL.

ESPOPF is campaigning on this issue this year as we have become extremely concerned about the problems our members face in getting adaptations which will enable them to stay in their homes, rather than moving to residential care. These problems include:

1 the lack of information about what options are available and where to find out
2 interminable delays in getting assessments from occupational therapists,
3 the interminable application process,
4 the interminable wait for tenders to be produced and contractors selected,
5 the lack of information about help with funding and the difficulties of accessing it,
6 the lack of funding available
7 how to find reputable private contractors
8 scams

Dear Editor
Re Ombudsman Report
I write regarding the Ombudsman's report following investigation into your complaints against the Council.
I am disappointed by the Ombudsman's findings of maladministration but the criticism of the Council can be used as a tool to drive improvement and ensure higher standards for the future.
Having read the report it is clear that the Council should have carried out the process of consultation, including conducting a full Equality Impact Assessment correctly.
The Council must also accept that formal complaints made by Eastleigh Southern Parishes Older People's forum were not handled in line with the accepted standards.

The Ombudsman's Report has now been received. Click on Report to download the full text.

This was an article in Help the Aged's Forum to Forum.February 2010.

The younger generation browse and blog, tweet and twitter, download and upload and post comments and pictures on email and web.

I go online for fresh vegetables, theatre tickets, train tickets, my bank account, medical appointments, repeat prescriptions and missed programmes. I get news from relatives abroad, answers to general knowledge crosswords and information about local events. I cannot envisage a life of isolation and boredom.

So why do 60% of our generation shun the internet which is a life-line for the other 40%? Ignorance? Apathy? Poverty?

The coalition government's disregard of its equality duty has implications for older people (Legal threats to coalition budget cuts, 27 August). A new nationwide system of concessionary travel administered by councils will be introduced in April 2011 and there is considerable concern that only the mandatory free bus pass for older people will be affordable. Other travel concessions, that were discretionary under the previous arrangements, will be scrapped if the government does not provide enough money to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. Many frail and elderly people will be left stranded and severely disadvantaged if alternatives, such as companion passes, travel tokens and rail cards, are removed.
Diane Andrewes Old Bursledon, Hampshire

22nd February 2010
Diane was invited to speak at this LGA Conference and chose, for its title "Planning Neighbourhoods for All"
I am the Hon. Secretary of an Older People’s Forum in Eastleigh, in south-east Hampshire. We have over 3,000 members, who live in 6 villages. The area is semi-rural and very attractive, bounded by Southampton Water and rivers, with country parks and conservation areas. 83% of Eastleigh homes are privately owned, though there are wards of significant deprivation.

April 7th, 2009
Diane was invited to the Launch of the new charity, which will unite Age Concern England and Help the Aged. The main speakers were the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP Secretary of Health and Social Care, Sir Michael Marmot Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London, Matthew Cherian CEO HelpAge India, Dr Nicola Brewer Chief Executive Equality and Human Rights Commission and Rt Hon Theresa May MP Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Click on the link below for the full text of her presentation.

Diane’s Speech to Eastleigh Borough Council 23/1/09

Mr Mayor,
I am speaking on behalf of ESPOPF and the borough-wide Save Our Travel Tokens campaign.

We have taken up the cause of the frail elderly and disabled who will become considerably disadvantaged, if the Council re-affirms in its budget-setting a Cabinet decision to stop providing travel tokens to them.

When you, Mr Mayor, and your fellow councillors, consider this matter, you will either know how much hardship you will cause to these people, in which case it will be a very callous decision if you remove the tokens, or you will not know. In any case, are you not bound now to consider the equality implications?

January 2011
David and Diane Andrewes were invited to take part in a seminar in Galway, Ireland.

April, 2010
David and Diane Andrewes were invited to take part in a conference hosted in Reading by KT-Equal. David spoke on the subject of older people's research entitled, "Empowerment or engagement"
Diane spoke on, "How older people's research can change policy."

September 2nd-4th, 2009
Help the Aged/Age Concern invited David and Diane Andrewes to present a paper on "Older People shaping research" at the Annual Conference of the British Society of Gerontology at Bristol. They took "Pills & Perils" as an example of the differences between service-provider and service-user led research.

April 7th, 2009