HLINks - Housing LIN’s weekly update at your fingertips!
Welcome to #Jeremytalks and our must-read weekly bulletin, HLINks, week-ending Friday, 25th June 2021 to coincide with World Wellbeing Week.
This week Age Friendly Ireland launched its new online resources to future proof housing for an ageing population. Drawing on the expertise of the Housing LIN, the website provides guidance of features to include in a lifetime adaptable and age friendly home, alongside case studies, research, funding information and design templates.
In other web developments, as part of our commitment to the national Health and Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Housing LIN has created a new resource page that’s showcase examples of how local strategic health, care and housing partners have come together to produce their MoUs and agree their action plans.
We have also published a guest blog by Nathan Rhodes from Look Ahead Care and Support on their approach to Psychologically Informed Environments and how it is crucial in delivering high quality support services across a variety of support settings.
And yesterday, close to 200 people signed up to join our latest HAPPI Hour session on appealing adaptations and aspirational future-proofed apartments for later living. We heard from Ed Warner, founder of Motionspot, on accessible design principles and innovative products and from Shirley Hall, the Head of Research, Innovation and Customer Insight at ExtraCare Charitable Trust, on now they have partnered with Motionspot to instal a show apartment in Solihull. We were then joined by Dr Yvonne Fullwood and Millie Brown from the Centre for Ageing Better’s evidence team who shared details about their current The Good Home Inquiry.
You can also take a tour of other news and events on later life housing and independent living with regard to homes and communities, health and social care, design and technology, planning matters and more. We highlight a range of items that we think will be of interest to you, including:
- A new report published by the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium, hosted by the University of Worcester, that outlines recommendations that providers of housing with care should adopt to better support people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing.
- Findings from a new NIHR SSCR funded study by Kent University on delayed transfers of care and how they were reduced by an increase in local home care and care home provision
- A letter from ADASS and partners to the Prime Minister calling for urgent social care reform
- NHSX’ draft strategy on reshaping health and social care data
- A new guide by the Campaign to End Loneliness on bereavement during Covid
Keep up-to-date with the latest on housing and care matters and register here to receive other notifications of your choice, sent direct to your inbox. And remember you can also follow us via our Twitter feeds: @HousingLIN, @HousingLINews and @HLINConsult
Lastly, if you would like to talk to us about any matters highlighted in this week’s issue, share learning about your work and/or discuss how you can engage our highly regarded consultancy services to support you, email ‘Jeremy talks’ at: info@housinglin.org.uk
You can also listen to #Jeremytalks… here
Stay connected and, above all, with further lockdown arrangements delayed for the time being, remain safe.
Jeremy
New Housing LIN resources out this week
How to encourage Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) in support services
To coincide with #WorldWellbeingWeek, we are pleased to share with you our most recent Housing LIN guest blog by Nathan Rhodes at Look Ahead Care and Support.
PIE is a service in which the baseline behaviour of an individual is understood to better recognise service users impact on services and teams, in order to be prepared to tackle complex challenges. In turn, complex needs are discussed in a team setting where staff are less likely to tackle challenges alone and be more able to continue to deliver compassionate and engaged support.
New Housing LIN webpage on Health and Housing MoUs live
As an original signatory to the national Health and Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Housing LIN committed to pull together and share a range of selected documents that highlight the connectivity between health and housing at a national and local level.
We are therefore pleased to announce that we have created a new page on our Health Intel webpages where we showcase examples of how local strategic health, care and housing partners have come together to produce their MoUs and agree their action plans.
Coronavirus Update
With the easing of Covid-19 restriction rules that came into force last month and further relaxations expected from 19 July, check out current and relevant sector guidance on the pandemic on our Coronavirus Info Hub along with a range of Housing LIN practice briefings for the sector and links to other useful information and websites.
And if you missed last month’s launch of the St Monica Trust/Housing LIN RE-COV Study, that ‘state of the nation’ report on COVID-19 and its impact on the retirement village and extra care housing sector, you can now download the presenters’ powerpoints and watch a recording of the HAPPI Hour session.
What else caught our interest?
- Centre for Cities report: An uneven recovery? How Covid-debt and Covid-saving will shape post-pandemic cities
- The Health Foundation report: Local analyses on those clinically extremely vulnerable to COVID-19
Housing, Community, Disability, and Ageing
Age Friendly Ireland launches new resources to future proof housing for an ageing population
Homes in Ireland need to be more universally designed to ensure that our ageing population can live comfortably at home into our later years. Age Friendly Ireland is preparing to support housing for the ageing population and this week launched a new suite of resources and a brand-new website.
Developed in collaboration with The Housing Agency, the Department of Health and Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with consultancy support and advice from the Housing LIN, the website showcases an array of information to support the development of Age Friendly Housing.
The website provides a guidance of features to include in a lifetime adaptable and age friendly home, alongside case studies, research, funding information and design templates.
What else caught our interest?
- London Festival of Architecture event recording: Wellbeing in Later Life
- ARCO video: It’s a wonderful life: Life in a retirement community
- Mortgage Introducer article: Equity release for home improvements up 134% since 2020
- The Together Project news: Hand in Hand Together - The ‘Highlights’
- Centre for Ageing Better report: More support needed for health at work post-pandemic if state pension age is to continue to rise
- Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group project: Ageing in place in cities
- SCIE article: Gloucestershire: Combatting loneliness with new housing and support scheme
- Centre for Ageing Better blog: Outgoing CEO, Dr Anna Dixon writes: How far have we come in my five years at Ageing Better?
- LGA guide: A councillor's guide to leading the homelessness sector
- Sanctuary Supported Living item: Resident at Sanctuary Retirement Living’s Lawley Bank Court fundraises for COVID garden memorial
- Erosh news item: Review & relaunch of Erosh Code of Practice National accreditation framework for sheltered & supported housing
Design, Construction, Planning and Technology
Data saves lives: Reshaping health and social care with data
NHSX have published this draft strategy which sets out their vision and a clear action plan to make better use of data to save lives.
While much of the document relates to care homes, and lessons learned during the pandemic, it also makes reference to expanding the use of care technologies to support people with long terms conditions at home.
What else caught our interest?
- ADASS blog: Innovation for Integration by Tunstall Healthcare
- Inside Housing article: Why BIM technology is important for housing associations
- Science Direct article: Health impact assessment in spatial planning in England –types of application and quality of documentation
Health and Social Care, Mental Health and Learning Disability
New study explores why delays in discharge happen and how they might be reduced or prevented
Previous research reveals that unnecessarily long stays can result in increased requirement for social care support following discharge.
With an ageing population, it is now becoming increasingly important to understand the relationship between delayed transfers of care (DTOCs) and community support.
Funded by the NIHR School for Social Care Research and undertaken by the University of Kent’s Personal Social Services Research Unit, this study explores why DTOCs happen and how they might be reduced or prevented, including signposting to a finding on the benefits of extra care housing.
Campaign to End Loneliness have launched a guide for voluntary organisations who are supporting people who have been bereaved during COVID-19.
Bereavement in the time of Covid-19 brings together the latest ideas and learning from leading experts in bereavement care including Cruse Bereavement UK and St Christopher’s Hospice.
The report shares a wide range of practical hints, tips and techniques to help organisations support people through their bereavement journey during a pandemic.
What else caught our interest?
- ADASS letter: Letter to the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State on Urgent Social Care Reform
- Public Accounts Committee and ADASS report on adult social care report: Adult Social Care Markets
- ADASS Briefing: ADASS EU SETTLEMENT SCHEME (EUSS) Members Briefing
- NHS Providers report: Providers Deliver: Collaborating for better care
- NHS England and Improvement Podcast: Closer alignment between housing and health that benefits everyone
- The Guardian article: Social care plans to be announced by the end of 2021, Tories insist
- KCL research: Survey about adult day centres and related priorities
Housing and Dementia
As recognised by the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry report on housing and dementia, there is a growing recognition of the need for housing that suits older people, including those living with dementia.
A report published by the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium, titled Provisions for people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing settings in the UK, describes an online survey to explore the provisions, policies and procedures relating to people living with dementia in Extra Care Housing within the UK. Informed by findings collected through a literature review and online survey, the report outlines recommendations that providers of housing with care should adopt to better support people living with dementia in ECH.
APPG on Housing and Care for Older People Inquiry Report
Did you miss this recent APPG Inquiry report?
Watch and listen again to the launch of the new report on housing and dementia here and be inspired by Wendy Mitchell as she shares her personal story about living with dementia.
Missed our HAPPI Hour sessions on housing and dementia? The recording and presentations are now available.
Wales
For Welsh government guidance on COVID-19, visit: https://gov.wales/coronavirus
Scotland
And for Scottish government guidance on COVID-19, go to https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/
What else caught our interest?
- SFHA article: My view of the sector – Hanover Scotland’s Angela Currie
EVENTS
Sign up to our July HAPPI Hour sessions
Have we got an exciting programme of HAPPI Hour live-streams to quench you thirst next month. Please note the change of the day of our sessions from Thursday to Tuesday!
On 6 July, hot on the heels of Learning Disability Week, we will be joined by NHS England’s Clare Skidmore, Learning Disability England’s Sam Clark and Golden Lane Housing Association’s John Verge in our next HAPPI Hour - Building the right home and support
Then on 20 July we host a HAPPI Hour on Compassionate Neighbourhoods: communities that care with St John’s Hospice’s Patrick Dollard, Ann Brolan from Anchor Hanover and IBI architct’s Maarit Heneinon-Smith.
And lastly, on 27 July we welcome Levitt Bernstein’s Irene Craik, Phoenix Community Housing’s Steve Connor and UKRI’s Julie Glenn to our HAPPI Hour - Fostering innovation in designing for Ageing
And you may be interested in these other events supported by the Housing LIN
In next week’s HLINks
Next week we publish a new guest by Dr Joy Malala, the author of a new report by the Home Renaissance Foundation, The Home in the Digital Age.
The Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.