Plymouth Community Homes News Issue 13 (1.3mb)

News in Brief PCH News
4
Housing with
Support service
Following lots of consultation
with sheltered housing tenants
and staff, two new job roles
have been introduced in our
Housing with Support service,
previously known as Sheltered
Housing.
These two new roles are Housing with
Support Officer and Housing with Support
Manager. We have a number of Housing
with Support Officers and their Manager is
Charlotte Schraibman.
The Housing with Support Officer role
replaces the Sheltered Housing Officer
role. The new posts will allow us to
provide the service our tenants want in a
more flexible way, giving support where
it is needed and ensuring tenants have
someone to hand when they need it.
This means residents can contact a
member of staff between the hours of 8am
and 5pm. This will improve access to the
service as staff will be available to answer
calls and make visits for a longer period
during the working day.
This will be made possible by staff
working in small teams. The teams will
be more mobile and contactable during
these hours.
Housing with Support Officers will still be
supporting social activities for residents.
Our residents have told us how much
they value living in supported housing and
we want to make sure our service is of
the highest standard both now and in the
future.
The team will have an office base,
allowing more close working with other
PCH staff, for example Housing Officers,
Repairs colleagues and Rangers who
now provide the grounds maintenance
for many of the schemes.
This will help to improve communication,
providing a more responsive service for
residents.
The new team visited all the sheltered
schemes during November to introduce
themselves and listen to residents’ views.
Keep reading future issues to find out how
the service will continue to improve.
Cooking up a
storm in the
kitchen
Devonport tenants have been
cooking up healthy budget meals.
PCH’s communities team, along with
public health workers and the Marlborough
House Residents’ Association, have been
chopping, slicing and sizzling their way to
nutritious eating.
Hayley Kemp, Communities Worker for
PCH, said: “Earlier this year we consulted
with residents at Marlborough House to
see what activities they would like to do to
bring them together.
“They said cooking healthy and
inexpensive food would be a great
idea – and then eating the fruits of
their labour together!”
Hayley worked with Housing Officer
Gavin West on the consultation and is
now working with Trained Nutritionist
Fay Brereton, from the Plymouth Health
Improvement Team (NHS), on the project.
Hayley, Fay and the residents’
association launched the cookery
group in October and it will be running
twice weekly until mid December.
The sessions began with a curried
pumpkin soup and the group has already
got their future menus lined up –
kedgeree, risotto, jalfrezi, stew and
carbonara are just some of the tasty treats
they’ll be whipping up.
Hayley added: “At each session, the group
also does a price comparison with a
ready-made version of what they are
cooking as well as a taste test. The
home-made versions raise the fruit
and vegetable consumption, reduce
food waste and demonstrate that better
food choice is not, as perceived, more
expensive.
“Not only are the home-made versions
healthier but they are also cheaper
Anti-social behaviour surveys
More than 80 per cent of people were
happy with the support PCH gave them
when they complained about antisocial
behaviour, according to our latest
customer satisfaction survey.
September’s survey shows 82 per cent of
respondents were satisfied with the help
and tastier. We pick
up tips from each other – apparently
wearing contact lenses stops your eyes
watering when chopping onions!”
The cooking group has proved popular
and residents have really taken the lead
on encouraging their neighbours to join in.
It’s hoped that once the course has come
to an end the residents will continue
running it themselves.
The residents’ association has already
applied to PCH’s Money Tree Fund for a
cooker for their community room so that
they can continue cooking and eating
together.
they received during their case – a ten per
cent rise on August’s figures.
The questionnaires also revealed that 71
per cent felt they were kept up to date with
what was happening and 76 per cent of
those questioned found it ‘fairly’ or ‘very’
easy to report a complaint.