Independent Living Fund Scotland:
Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group Meeting
Collette Jones
David McDonald
Kieran McCarthy
Niqi Rainey
Amanda Paul
Bryan Myles
Harvey Tilley
Linda Scott
Lee House
Frances McHugh
Liam Hargan
Liz McGarrity
David asked Members if they would be happy to have the meeting recorded to which all agreed.
David welcomed everyone to the meeting, took apologies and went through housekeeping.
The previous meeting’s minutes were approved will be uploaded to ILF Scotland’s website. Alannah to action.
David McDonald and Linda Scott discussed the length of time to keep the video file recording of the minutes. The Group agreed that ILF Scotland would keep the recording until the Group signed the minutes off at the next meeting, subject to Linda checking with ILF Scotland’s Data Protection Officer.
David McDonald advised the Group that he is part of the Advanced Care Planning group and had asked for a Member of that team to come to one of our meetings and update the Members on recent and future work.
David McDonald asked the Group to email him, Linda Scott and Lee House to give permission for their emails addresses and phone numbers to be shared between each other, to help support better communication.
David McDonald advised the Group that there has been two resignations from the Stakeholder Group. (Victor & Valerie McCarthy and Richard Sale). It was agreed David would write to them to thank them for their work and to advise they would be welcome back if circumstances change.
The Group discussed contacting Stakeholders who have not attended a meeting recently. It was agreed Lee House would search on the ILF Scotland internal system to try and identify any recipient details to allow a letter to be sent to ascertain if they still would like to be part of the Group.
Linda Scott advised the Group that ILF Scotland included an article in the June Newsletter, which is sent to all recipients, asking if anyone would be interested in joining the Group. She advised there has been a note of interest from one person to join the Northern Ireland Stakeholder Group and that she has been in regular contact with them. It was agreed that Linda would send a condensed note of the meeting, as they could not make this meeting.
The Group discussed the possibility of the next meeting being in person in a conference room. Lee House and Linda Scott will take this as an action point before the next meeting in November 2021.
Harvey Tilley advised the Group that he is confident we are making progress on the re-opening of the Fund in Northern Ireland. He mentioned the delay is partly due to the Covid 19 pandemic. He advised if ILF Scotland are given the go ahead in the coming weeks, there is a lot of work to undertake to get the Fund up and running and he would not envisage taking the first applications until early 2022.
David McDonald reminded the Group of the session on Thursday 26 August between 13:00 and 15:00 and invited Members to attend.
Linda Scott advised the Group that ILF Scotland is in the process of signing off the action plan with the designer and will publish it on the website as soon as possible. Linda will discuss progress against the action plan at each Stakeholder Group meeting from November 2021.
Linda Scott advised that Scotland and Northern Ireland differ in terms of the available income policy. She advised the Group that the Northern Ireland Sponsor Team’s preference is to tie these changes in with any re-opening of the Fund. She advised that an updated AI policy would have the positive impact of reducing a number of other policies, as there will no longer be a need for a financial assessment, as is not the case in Scotland.
Linda Scott advised that ILF Scotland policies covered sustainability payments i.e. Flexible Covid-19 policies until the end of September 2021. During the meeting, Linda advised that the Department of Health NI had just issued a letter to all Trusts advising this is now extended to the end of March 2022.
Harvey Tilley advised the Group on the process of the £500.00 thank you payments in Scotland for PA’s. He advised that ILF Scotland has passed on the details and findings to the Northern Ireland Department of Health on how this might be rolled out in NI. At this stage, there is no confirmation about whether and when this might begin.
Harvey Tilley left the meeting (12.41)
Niqi Rainey raised an issue with insurance for PA’s. Premiums for the one she uses, Fish, have reduced but some of the terms and conditions have been altered, for example, “Theft by Employee” is removed. Bryan Myles advised the Group that there are alternatives to Fish Insurance, published on CILNI’s website. Linda Scott advised that ILF Scotland is currently looking at ‘Surewise’. David McDonald asked if ILF Scotland could write to recipients advising them of the issues regarding Fish. Linda said it was unlikely that they could do that but they could potentially do something more general and ensure choices were published on ILF Scotland’s website and staff made aware of this so that they could discuss with recipients.
Linda Scott advised that ILF Scotland issued a letter to all recipients on behalf of the Department of Health NI, to advise that lateral flow tests are available for PA’s locally.
Tuesday 9th November 2021 11.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Tuesday 8th February 2022 11.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Tuesday 10th May 2022 11.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
Tuesday 9th August 2022 11.00 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.
