| Integrating our services |
We need to integrate our services more effectively within WRVS and with our partners. One frustration that you will often hear from older people, and from their families and friends, is that it's impossible to find out what support is available in their area, and get access to the services they need. Even when information is available they find that to get the support they want they must apply to a number of different organisations, with different processes and rules. These barriers often mean that older people who need support don't get it. In an ideal world what people want is to be able to go to one place, call one number or look at one website to find out and access all the kinds of support they need. To achieve that we'll need to join up our services more effectively within WRVS so that hospital, home, community and emergency services we provide work as one, and older people can access information and the broader range of WRVS services whichever service they come into contact with first. And WRVS will need to work far more closely with other service providers in each local area to agree how in partnership we can provide easier access to older people to a range of support services including ours. In every area of England, organisations that have an impact on local life are brought together in Local Strategic Partnerships. Their job is to assess the needs of local people, including older people and agree the best way for all partners to work together to improve life in the local community. Similar bodies exist in Scotland, where they are called Community Planning Partnerships, and in Wales, which has Local Service Boards. WRVS has hands-on experience of older people's and the community's needs, but we often do not have the right resources in the right place to participate in Local Strategic Partnerships and the equivalent partnerships in Scotland and Wales. In the future we want to be more plugged into these local partnerships so we can help assess the needs of older people in the area and judge where we can best provide support, and where we can work with other to improve the options available to older people. If we are more active in these local partnerships we may also find it easier to get funding for our services from the NHS and local government. You can see examples of the benefits of closer partnership working in the case studies below.
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