Campaigning

Do You Have An Issue You Would Like Us To Campaign On? 

In addition to the hugely successful information services, another of the Organisation’s core activities is campaigning for the rights of the client group that Can Do represents as a community of interest. We actively engage with lobbying both the Local Authority and the Welsh Assembly Government for improved services and a greater commitment to listening to the needs of those we represent to ensure this community of interest are having their voices heard in their local community and beyond.

 A recent example of this involved changes that came to light regarding the way in which mobile library services within the Borough were going to be delivered to our client group in future in light of financial cutbacks.  Can Do contacted the Mobile Library Service and it was arranged for volunteers to accompany the Service Delivery Officer to travel with the mobile library van on its rounds out in the community for a period of one month.  Throughout this time we were able to directly consult with our client group and record their feelings, worries and long term concerns.  During the four weeks we saw over 350 people, 85% of whom were over 65, 70% had limited mobility and the majority who used the library service lived in areas of the Borough with higher deprivation and isolation and/or were living in sheltered accommodation. We established that an overwhelming majority of service users viewed the mobile library as a lifeline as they often went from day to day without seeing anyone.  We used this evidence to lobby the Local Authority so that they would look again at the withdrawal of the service. We were able to report the weight of concern out in the community and outline our clients, and Our, great disappointment at the possible closure of the service

We have fed into the Independent Commission on Social Services (ICSS) in Wales; provided information for use by the Older Person’s Commissioner for Wales and lobbied both the local MP (Wayne David), local AM (Jeff Cuthbert) and the Deputy Minister for Social Services at the Welsh Assembly Government (Gwenda Thomas AM) for improvements to Continuing NHS Healthcare (CHC) within Caerphilly County Borough and improved consistency of care for all.

Recently we have been asked by numerous people from different areas of the Borough for help in obtaining disabled parking outside their house to make their lives easier. This is especially the case for individuals living in typical terraced houses streets with very little on street parking for residents. We have been successful for obtaining parking spaces for some individuals and so we will now work on obtaining an agreement with the council to resolve problems for clients in other areas.

Another issue that we are currently looking into is that of refuse collections.  A large proportion of Caerphilly Borough is valley areas and service users have been reporting problems relating to physical handling of bins and getting them to collection points.  We are currently working on this issue in order to represent our client group with the Local Authority.

Our Pilot Advocacy Service also deals with many individual cases on a daily basis helping individuals fight for their rights to get what they deserve. It is through our cases that we have identified that people across the Borough are facing the same issues and concerns and the maybe as an Organisation we could work with you to group these concerns together and fight the authorities for change to benefit service users as a whole.

        What problems are you facing?      

  What needs to change?

As you can see from above Campaigning on behalf of our client group is an essential part of our role and one we take seriously. We take on board the needs of our service users and welcome suggestions from clients of the issues we need to pursue on their behalf.

 If you do have an Issue you would like us to Campaign on then please get in touch

Call us on 01495 223555

or Post a message on our Forum