Wales Audit Office (WAO) and Cardiff Third Sector Council (C3SC) invite you to a Consultation Workshop for Third Sector Organisations in Cardiff on the WAO’s All Wales Local Government Improvement Study: Independence of Older People.

Does your organisation work to support older people live independently? If so, we’d like to invite you to participate in a workshop being held by the Wales Audit Office and Cardiff Third Sector Council on Monday 30^th March 2015. The workshop is part of a study being undertaken by the Welsh Audit Office looking at how well councils across Wales are working to support older people to maintain their independence outside of the health and care system.

The proportion of older people in the Welsh population has been rising over the past 25 years and, with a steadily decreasing birth rate, is likely to continue rising in the future. Many older people in Wales remain healthy, active and independent with little or no reliance on health and social care services. However, for others, increasing age is generally associated with increasing disability, a loss of independence and function impairments such as loss of mobility, sight and hearing. Older people are therefore major users of health and social services. This scenario is likely to present significant challenges to such services across Wales in future as they strive to meet the demands of older people.

Against this backdrop, The Welsh Audit Office is now undertaking a study looking at how well councils across Wales are working to support older people to maintain their independence outside of the health and care system. The study will review the effectiveness of ancillary services which support older people to live independently by looking at the services that older people say are most important to them in continuing to live independently. In short, the study will ask the question: Is there evidence that councils are working effectively to manage the demand for social care and health services for older people by supporting them to live independently at home?

As a part of this work, the WAO wishes to gather the views of citizens and partners on the effectiveness of existing local arrangements that support older people’s independence. These views will be gathered primarily using both online and telephone surveys. However, there is an opportunity in Cardiff for third sector organisations working in this field to participate in a specific consultation workshop, facilitated by the WAO, which will contribute to the development of an Assisted Assessment for local councils to enable them to build a profile of local services that are available to support older people to live independently.

If your organisation would like to participate in this workshop, please email [email protected] or telephone (029) 2048 5722 to register.