Friday 17 January 2014

Friday 17 January 2014

What a start to 2014 - will it ever stop raining!

It may be one of the mildest winters we have had in many years and undoubtedly, it must also be one of the wettest! My thoughts are with those individuals, families and communities that have been affected by flooding and my thanks go to all our partners who have worked with the council to do everything possible to provide support, advice and to keep the roads as clear as possible; particularly in communities affected. As is always the case when Wiltshire faces extreme conditions or an incident communities come together and demonstrate both neighbourly support and their ability to cope and take action. I’ve always believed that Wiltshire has strength in its communities and building on this will help us to be more resilient and able to manage the challenges we face in the future; and there are a few of these…

Let’s start with looking at our growing aging population and their needs and expectations and how we manage this into the future. The government is asking local Health and Wellbeing Boards to take the lead in integration health and social care services. We all know that this makes good sense and that by working together we can provide a better service and one which is centred around the needs of an individual and is provided as near as possible to their home and in their local community. But, to be fully integrated, we will need to work differently and whilst that’s always a challenge - it’s also an opportunity - and the health and wellbeing board is keen to grasp this opportunity and look at what can be done to improve the care provided in our communities and particularly for our growing older population. Just this week we have heard from more than 100 key stakeholders, organisations and agencies on ideas and actions for how we can work differently, and together, to deliver better services and outcomes. All their feedback, combined with a financial plan, will form a Better Care Plan that will be submitted to central government in February. Our plan will be reviewed, and if supported, could result in funding allocation to help us deliver improved services that benefit everyone who needs them.

We all know that working together and sharing goals and actions leads to greater success and our local communities demonstrate this so often. Since returning from the festive break, we have been attending the area board meetings to update on a legacy for Wiltshire and what’s been happening since 2012 when a wave of positive change swept over the county and brought people together to celebrate and enjoy what’s so good about where they live. The challenge was to keep that enhanced community spirit alive and to encourage more people to come together to share interests or host events and to build on the unique cohesion that was prompted by the events of 2012. I have to say that I have been overwhelmed by the scale of activity and the enthusiasm of local communities to participate and deliver projects, activities and events that are helping to build a legacy; from the highly successful PHEW! Scheme in Malmesbury that’s getting more people active and healthy; to the Bradford in Business and Made in Bradford on Avon which is helping to boost the local economy; to the funding support in Pewsey for researching the fallen soldiers from WW1 so that they can be appropriately commemorated this year. There is so such happening and we hope that this year’s programme of events will help this momentum to continue and grow. This year we are focusing on events to support the local economy and I am delighted that the business and sports dinner (scheduled for 13 March) which will bring together local businesses and our future sporting stars in Wiltshire to support a foundation fund to assist them with their training, equipment and costs on their journey to the next Olympics and Paralympics, is almost sold out; a few tables remain and already we know that we should raise at least £20,000 to start the foundation and provide the support and encouragement that we know they need. Just shows that a shared goal and working together delivers results! This year we want to encourage and support all our local communities to do even more together and The Big Pledge, Cycle Wiltshire and the commemorations of WW1 all present an opportunity to do more to improve our sense of belonging and general wellbeing. I will talk more about these key events in future blogs as they will all have an impact on Wiltshire this year.

In the meantime, we’re not even three weeks into January and yet so much is happening - I think Malmesbury area have it right with their PHEW! scheme!

There really is so much to update on - more next week on cabinet decisions and working with communities. Hope the rain stops and that the county starts to dry out,


Jane