Creating a stronger information, advice and advocacy system for older people

 Access to information, and the support to make the most effective use of it, is a very important issue for older people. Being able to get hold of good, accurate information at the right time helps them stay independent and in control of their lives. It is also a key objective for both central and local government in relation to the development of preventative services. Yet all too often the evidence shows that this is a very difficult task.

 
A Solutions paper published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) highlights how the Quality of Life Partnership developed ways of working with existing systems to make them more 'older person friendly', efficient, and effective for all concerned. Lessons learnt include:
·          Invest in processes so that older people have a variety of ways of sharing their views and experiences.
·          Persuade local partners that information and advice is not an add-on to the day job. It is the day job
·          Understand that partnership working is much more difficult, complex and time-consuming than working in isolation
·          Realise that some issues may need to be addressed across all age groups
 
The Solutions report can be downloaded from the JRF website at http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/information-advice-advocacy-for-older-people
 
PFA evaluated this JRF funded Quality of Life initiative. What it shows is that the support from the Foundation enabled the Quality of Life Partnership to ‘step up a gear’ and make a significant difference in the City. The money meant that the Partnership was able to:
·          Set up a group that brought all the key agencies, such as the City Council and the Primary Care Trust, together with older people to take an overview of what was needed in the City. This group was able to agree on the services that needed to be developed and improved if older people were to be able to get the information and support that they needed
·          Develop plans for new services and begin to put these plans into place. These include ‘First Contact’ – using a simple checklist to enable people to receive services to stay safe and independent in their own homes and ‘Joining the Dots’ – an initiative to bring together services and support for older people in the community
·          Develop a network of front-line staff to improve their ability to give information to older people
·          Lay down the basis for a clear model of information, advice and advocacy services that can be commissioned by the Council and Primary Care Trust
 
The full evaluation report ‘Seeing it our way: taking an Older Persons Approach to the Strategic Development of Information, Advice and Advocacy in Newcastle upon Tyne’ (Peter Fletcher Associates, May 2009) can be downloaded by clicking on the title link. 
 
Throughout the process, older people, through the Elder's Council, have been involved as 'co-producers', taking an active role in developing ideas and taking forward the implementation. This has been crucial to the success of the work. 
 
This was recognised in the Newcastle strategy for older people and an ageing population: ‘Everyone’s Tomorrow’. This strategy has five key aims. One of them is that older people should be ‘accessing information, advice and advocacy’. To help support achieving this aim the Joseph Rowntree Foundation made a grant of £30,000 to the Newcastle Quality of Life Partnership to support the development of a more strategic approach to the development of information, advice and advocacy in Newcastle was used.