( section under development)

Liverpool Wheelchair User Group  is grateful for the assistance with a European Social Fund Social Risk Capital Global Grant , through Merseyside Disability Federation ( MDF ).

We hope to include the following  useful documents in the near future, for active members of LWUG and those intersested in joining  with us.

• Membership form

under development, but  just drop us a line to say hello- with your name and contact details.

• LWUG meetings past minutes

• Chair Report  for Liverpool Wheelchair User Group 2006-2007

1. This is our second formal Annual General meeting for the Liverpool Wheelchair User Group (LWUG).  I want to take the opportunity to really thank everyone on the Team, particularly Deb Lynch as Secretary and Vicky Blackburn and now Bill Shortall as Treasurer.
 I apologise now if I fail to mention a particular event, activity, or person.   As Chair over the last year I apologise for times, I am sure, of getting things wrong, and probably often, especially in the busyness of life, failing to listen enough. Every contribution is important, but it is in learning to work together, encouraging each other as well as doing, and if/when we get things wrong, dusting ourselves off, learning from the experience, and moving forward, that we will be most effective for wheelchair users, our support services and access to our City.
 We have our times of fun, even celebration, but shouldn’t be surprised at times of challenge, considering what we are taking on, in order to make a difference
2.  Even in the busyness of the moment the current projects and challenges, it is important to briefly remind us of our history. As a group we started meeting in the summer of 2004 under the leadership and chairing of Rick Grainger. The Group has been active since,   although there have been continual difficulties in finding a suitable venue. LWUG had been meeting at Mossley Hill Hospital, more recently a room in the Livingstone Drive Health Centre, Aigburth, and since Sept 2007 we are now based in the Lifehouse, Brunswick Business Park.
3. The LWUG received a Grant of £5000, an ESF Social Risk Capital Grant through the Merseyside Disability Federation in the Summer 2006 and a revised Constitution was adopted in Sept 2006.
4. Looking back, we need to remind ourselves of the journey we have made. Our main focus has been tackling the horrendous state that the NHS Wheelchair Service had been in, trying to run on a starvation budget out of cramped, unsatisfactory building at Mossley Hill Hospital Site, paralysed for many months at a time by exhausted budgets.
5. We need to continue to maintain awareness and the importance of a well resourced Wheelchair Service, both amongst Senior PCT managers, politicians and the wider public. This means not just a basic  budget, and suitable accommodation for the wheelchair team, but opportunity to review future designs of wheelchair with wheelchair users, better options with the voucher scheme, monitoring reviews of people with complex seating needs and working towards further reducing waiting times. Can I take the opportunity of LWUG to thank Bill Moran, Louise Adcock and her team for their hard work and commitment to a continuing ‘work in progress’.

6. Much of the energy during the year has involved contributing to keeping alive the Lifehouse, the planning of details of facilities, staffing, publicity, such as the website, www.liverpoollifehouse.com, which is yet to come on-line. This in itself is a major achievement: to have the agreement for a website outside of the rather unwieldy www.Liverpool.gov.uk and www.Liverpoolpct.nhs.uk ‘front doors’. A real boost to having better accessible information about our support services.

7. We have also had time to develop our own LWUG publicity, spreading the message, during the  year with : 
• LWUG Leaflet - have you any ideas on new places we can distribute it?
• Starting the development of a  LWUG website
    ( www.lwug.co.uk ). A work in progress, needs your ideas.
• An email box ( lwug@hotmail.co.uk ), at present has more junk mail than enquiries.
• and a LWUG mobile phone ( 07939 450849 ).
We need to develop our skills and confidence in working with the mass media, although we have had opportunities with Granada Reports and Radio Merseyside.

 Formal Representations have developed greatly during the year. The opportunity to scrutinise and comment on Health and Social Services:

• CSCI Healthcare Commission and Commission for Social Care Improvement (CSCI) carried out a joint inspection of services (the First in the UK) for people with physical and sensory impairments which took place in January 2007, and got we finally sight of a report in July 2007.   
•  CEDAS Advisory Board. We always insist on making jargon clearer. Community Equipment and Disability Advice Service.
•  The Advisory Board for People with Physical and Sensory Impairment Board was dismantled by Samih Kalakeche,  Senior Director Health and Social Care in Sept 2007 with integration into the Joint Commissioning Group (JCG).
• We have also had opportunity to present our views on Liverpool Council altering the ‘London conditions’ and allowing the licensing of the Peugeot E7 taxi.

8. What of the future?   Last year I used a picture or an analogy of a tree. We started, from seeds sown by a handful of people, a Liverpool Wheelchair User Group has started, determined to make a difference. The analogy is still relevant. Today we are a slightly larger handful of people.
Do not be despondent, if you had the vision of hundreds of people involved by now. After all there are over 12,000 people using wheelchairs around Liverpool.

One - trees grow slowly, and we all know of people who haven’t got the opportunity to physically join us, or the energy, or who are just struggling with daily life and the challenge, still, of identifying and getting the support needed for everyday life, let alone  many options for recreation and a social life! 
Two - we need to  always remember that we are not the only ‘tree on the block’ and can change things and make things happen by collaborating , even just , I say just, listening to and encouraging others in other  representative groups or individuals around the City who are perhaps getting battle weary.
Three - trees even at a young age and not looking very big, can actually be surprisingly robust, and support many other growing things around them to flourish. This should always be high on our priority. Lets hope for instance that at the end of 2008, we have a City of Culture that is more accessible at the end, than at the beginning.

Jean Price, ever on the ball (and often well ahead of us!) has noted that the Government’s big plan for local government is to have Neighbourhood Services with Neighbourhood Representation, and needing to get a neighbourhood voice for wheelchair users. We may find that some people are more confident or comfortable in being active for wheelchair users in their own patch, and we have to look at  new creative ways of supporting and equipping them, as well as working hard in the Advisory Boards and the recently relaunched Joint Commissioning Group. 

Key areas 
• Pushing for greater consultation. Getting more service users involved in Advisory Boards and groups with the PCT and Social Services.
• Negotiating for a greater  range and diversity of chairs and special seating to be available, and for service users to have greater involvement in testing and advising on designs and suitability of different models
• To keep up contact city wide, regionally and nationally with other wheelchair user and disability representative groups

  We have no wishing wells or magic wands to wave. We cannot do everything, be everywhere, guarantee results, and even if some of the things we do , we don’t do particularly well, by some expectations, but as Rick Grainger passed on to us: Together everyone achieves more   (TEAM).  Looking back, a lot more has been achieved than we sometimes realise in the last year, and these can be robust foundations for the future.

John Bruce -Chair LWUG
November 2007  

• Current projects

Have lots of fun and teamwork along the way, as we

1. Develop effectiveness of Advisory Boards , Groups and Consultations offered by Health and Social Services to scrutinise see development of services for people with long term conditions.

2. Developing  our LWUG Website to get better contact with more wheelchair users.

3.  Contributing to www.liverpoollifehouse.com  the website, which should start on-line soon.

4. Working with media , newspapers, radio, tv to improve awareness of access issues in our City,  public buildings.housing, transport.

5. Work for improved access to information and advice, including use of publicity, to wheelchair users and other people with a disability

6. Supporting wheelchair users in becoming active in  Neighbourhood initiatives.
7. Developing skills of service users to take part in consultations.

Current representations by LWUG

1) Community Equipment and Disability Advice Service ( CEDAS ) Advisory Board - meets every 3 months.

The service is a joint partnership between Health and Social Services with a budget over £4 million in 2006-07. Services include Wheelchair Services, Joint  Equipment Service based at Graylaw, Aintree, Minor Adaptations Team, Disabled Living Service, Moving and Handling Collaborative, Communication Equipment Service.

 Coming Meetings

Monday 3rd December 2007

Monday 3rd March 2008

Monday 2nd June 2008

Monday 1st September 2008

Mon 1st December 2008

2) Joint Commissioning Group ( JCG ) 

 chaired by Samih Kalakeche Director of Integrated Adult Health & Social Care Liverpool <City Council / Liverpool PCTs . Next meeting Dec 2008