Supported Housing Services
Meres and Mosses Housing Association provides a support service designed to give extra help to people who have difficulty in coping with living independently and is best described as ‘Independence with a safety net.’
Independent living is achieved by a combination of:
- The Housing Support Officers.
- Meres and Mosses staff.
- Supporting People Services.
- Central Control.
- Social Inclusion and Involvement.
- Aids and Adaptations.
- Health and Safety.
- Knowledge of being secure.
The Housing Support Service aims to:
- Support older and vulnerable people in their own home.
- Help people to keep their independence for as long as possible.
- Encourage social interaction and lifelong learning.
The Objectives of the Support Service are to:
- Provide community based activities that will enable people to address specific issues that are a threat to their health, independence and social well being.
- Provide flexible and individual support in people's homes.
- Work within a co-ordinated multi-agency umbrella of services.
The Housing Support Officers' Role
The Housing Support Officers provide an individual support plan for each resident and are able to deliver the following services:
- Advice and assistance in obtaining equipment and arranging repairs that are necessary in keeping the resident safe.
- Advice and assistance in obtaining good financial help.
- Help with form filling.
- Enabling the resident to increase home security and identify response in emergencies.
- Advice on maintaining the condition of the resident's home and safety of appliances.
- Assistance in arranging professional visits.
- Referring for adaptations and occupational therapy assessments.
- Dealing with neighbourhood disputes.
- Advice and assistance on how to access social activities.
- Help to access other services e.g. cleaning, gardening and shopping.
- Monitor the resident's health and well being in conjunction with other agencies.
- Arrange social activities and events within the scheme.
- Co-ordinate social trips outside the scheme.
- Facilitate resident groups and enable clients to organise events together.
Emergency Alarm Monitoring Service
The Housing Support Officers work a total of 40 hours per week under a flexible arrangement, which enables them to provide an excellent service and meet service users’ needs. Most Housing Support Officers don’t live on site and are unlikely to be on site the whole time they’re on duty due to meetings, training sessions, etc.
When the Housing Support Officer is off site or off duty the alarm is switched through to the alarm monitoring centre at Milton Keynes. The Centre holds all relevant records of each person eg, next of kin, doctors, main medical problems and main medications.
In the event of an emergency, the alarm should be activated and the monitoring centre will take appropriate action. They will call an ambulance or the doctor if necessary and will also telephone the person who has been nominated as your emergency contact.
It’s important that the Housing Support Officer is told of any changes to the contact details so that records are kept up to date.