West Yorkshire Police share top tips to help households beat bogus callers

Not all burglars break into homes – some will try to trick their way in. They are known as ‘distraction burglars’  or ‘bogus callers’ who may be smartly dressed and claim to be from the council, the police, gas, electric or water companies and their only aim is to get into homes to distract people and steal their money or valuables. About nine bogus caller crimes are reported every day in England and Wales. Most callers are genuine but bogus callers can often seem plausible and this distressing crime regularly sees them take advantage of the best intentions of vulnerable and elderly people.

Crime Reduction Officer, Joanne Rostron from West Yorkshire Police explains the effect this crime can have on elderly and vulnerable people and shares with us a typical case study involving bogus callers:

Silverlinks: enabling older people to manage life changes

Ken Watson, Silver Links volunteer chats with Iris Beadnell (photo courtesy of YEP)

We all know that home is important. It is the place where we spend most of our time.  Living in the most appropriate accommodation can make all the difference to being able to live independently and well. Unfortunately, as we get older our home may not suit us as well as it used to. How would you make the decision to downsize or move?

Silverlinks is a project that supports older people, who are over the age of 55, facing this tough decision about their housing and care for future life. Barbara Bailey, Silverlinks Project Development Officer, tells us more about the project.

Contemplating the Care Act…

Sukhdev Dosanjh, Chief Officer for Social Care Reforms.

 

Just in the way of a small reminder, you may recall that the Care Act (2014) reforms are being implemented in two phases. Phase 1 of the care and support reforms will come into effect on 1^st April 2015. By way of a reminder, these consist of a new national minimum eligibility threshold, enhanced carers’ rights and entitlements, advocacy and support, enhances safeguarding arrangements, and advice and information responsibilities.

United against Dementia

Saturday 7th February was a special day for Leeds Dementia Action Alliance as Leeds United were unveiled as the newest member of the Alliance.

(Pictured, Maggie Graham – Leeds Dementia Action Alliance, Cllr Adam Ogilvie – council lead for Adult Social Care,  Paul Forbes – Leeds United Foundation, Mick Ward – Head of commissioning, Adult Social Care and Alan Scorfield -Leeds United Foundation Senior Executive Officer)

This followed a recent event at the end of January at Elland Road Corner Flag Café where representatives from both Leeds United Football Club and the Leeds United Foundation gathered with senior representatives from Leeds City Council, the Alzheimer’s Society, Leeds Older People’s Forum and many other organisations from around the city, to celebrate the achievements of over 60 local organisations working to help Leeds become a dementia friendly city.

Dignity in Care

Dame Joan Bakewell, Dignity in Care Ambassador said:

“Dignity Action Day highlights a more respectful way of behaving towards vulnerable people. The very old and the very young clearly need our respect, but it wouldn’t do any harm to spread the dignity message across the population then we can all benefit.”

Dignity Action Day was held on 1 February this year, a time when everyone is encouraged to celebrate the upholding of people’s rights to dignity and provide a truly memorable day for people receiving care. Dignity Action Day aims to ensure people who use care services are treated as individuals and are given choice, control and a sense of purpose in their daily lives.

We chatted to Kim, an older Leeds Resident who receives care and support to be able to live more independently in the South of Leeds who talks about what Dignity in Care means to her.

Thinking about my information

This week we are looking at use of personal information as part of the Joined up Leeds ‘big conversation’.

Not that I entered the communications profession for an easy ride but some topics are more sensitive to talk about than others, as is finding the most appropriate way, places and times for people to find out about and understand what is being talked about.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter if not everyone knows about something. There are times when people do find out about things but they might not be interested. There are however times when people need to know the implications of something as they might need to make a choice that affects them or others.

Use of people’s healthcare and personal information is one of these topics. There are many organisations involved in this which makes it an even more complicated process.

Joined up Leeds – talking about your information

The different organisations and departments that make up the NHS and the council in Leeds hold various bits of information about us. At the moment that information isn’t together in one place. This means the people who look after our health and wellbeing often don’t get the full picture of who we are and how they can help us.

From 1st -14th February there will be a big conversation in Leeds about how people would like health and social care services to use their information.