The meeting happened on Tuesday 9 November 2021 from 11.00am to 1pm.
The meeting happened on Zoom.
David McDonald
Kieran McCarthy
Collette Jones
Frances McHugh
Niqi Rainey
Amanda Paul
Bryan Myles
Peter Scott
Harvey Tilley
Linda Scott
Lee House
Liam Hargan
Colin Dunlop
Jim McComish
Robert White
Marianne Craig
Corrina Grimes
No one sent their apologies.
David welcomed everyone.
Everyone agreed the Minutes were fine.
Alannah will put them on the website.
Action 1. Linda will check with the Data Protection Officer to see how long Zoom meeting recordings can be kept for. This has been done.
Action 2. Lee will find out where people have left the meetings in the past, before the meetings had ended.
He will add this information to the Minutes. This has been done.
Action 3. Lee will add Advance Care Planning to the next meeting’s plan. This has been done.
Action 4. Members who are happy to share their email address and phone number with the group, can email:
This has been done.
Action 5. David will get in touch with:
He will thank them for being Stakeholder Group Members and say that they are welcome back anytime.
Action 6. David, Lee and Linda will check the Members list.
They will find out if people still want to be in this Stakeholders Group.
This is still being done.
Action 7. Lee and Linda will see if a room can be booked for the next meeting in November.
This has been done.
David said that other things could be talked about during the whole meeting.
David asked if everyone was happy to move meeting days to Thursdays.
Everyone agreed.
David said that meeting recordings would only be used to make the Minutes.
After this they will be deleted.
David talked about:
Colin said that funding and budgets make it hard to plan to open this fund just now.
Colin said that there is a new Director now.
Mark Lee has left.
The new Director is called Mark McGoogan.
Colin said that he will meet with Mark McGoogan very soon.
They will talk about the draft submission paper which will be sent to the Minister.
Colin said that they are looking at new ways to find money so that the fund can be opened again.
Linda said that if the Available Income Policy needed changes made, these could be done while the fund was being opened again.
Linda said the Sponsor Team are happy for COVID-19 flexibility payments to carry on being paid until March 2022.
David told the Group about the questions he had asked the Sponsor Team.
He had asked about:
for Personal Assistants and unpaid carers.
There was no clear answer to these questions.
David said that GPs will write letters to people who are in the At Risk group.
The letters will invite them to get their booster vaccination. But not all Personal Assistants and unpaid carers are in the At Risk group.
Colin said that most of the work has been done to pay thank you payments to Personal Assistants.
Bryan said that lots of people have asked for it.
Colin said that his team are working with other organisations, like Scotland Excel and Independent Living Fund Scotland to find a way to pay people.
Colin and Jim left the meeting at 12.10.
Liam said that Review Visits by Independent Living Fund Scotland are happening again now in Northern Ireland.
Liam said that the Trusts are not giving a full service yet.
Marianne joined the meeting at 12.15.
Corrina joined the meeting at 12.26.
Marianne made a presentation about the Charter for Involvement Standards.
She told everyone how Independent Living Fund Scotland has been getting on
with them.
Linda said that there will be lots more work to do into the next year.
Marianne and Bryan left the meeting at 12.54.
Corrina told everyone about how the Advance Care Planning Policy is going in Northern Ireland.
She talked about:
• the consultation events
• the ideas about introducing it
The members talked about:
the need for health care staff to be sensitive about life-saving treatment and DNR, which means Do Not Resuscitate
Corrina said she was happy to talk with Stakeholder Group members at another time to talk more about this.
Corrina said there is a document called the draft Department of Health Northern Ireland Guidance.
She wants to add people’s thoughts to this draft document.
David thanked Corrina for this update.
Lee will sent the presentation to everyone who was at this meeting.
Kieran McCarthy left the meeting at 13.17.
Frances McHugh left the meeting at 13.25.
Lee will email the Stakeholder Group to see if any members want to add anything to the newsletter.
No one had anything to add.
The next meetings will be:
All these meetings will be from 11am to 2pm.
This is the end of the Minutes.