Gloucester City Homes (GCH) is proud to support the National Housing Federation’s new initiative “Homes at the Heart”. The campaign aims to bring social housing providers together to create a “once-in-a-generation investment in social housing” to make sure that everyone has a safe, secure, and comfortable place to call home.
The theme of the campaign this week is living well. We take great pride in the service provided by our Independent Living Service which provides support to over 55’s across 8 schemes. The schemes deliver a wide range of services to enable people to maintain their independence for as long as possible whilst focusing on health and wellbeing and combating social isolation.
All of our Independent Living tenants complete a comprehensive health and wellbeing plan. Each individual plan covers personal safety, financial stability, safeguarding, maintaining their tenancy, living independently and any additional support required. Once a plan is completed the team make referrals to various agencies to assist with tenants remaining safe and independent within their own homes for as long as possible.
Referrals are often made to;
Adult Social Care – To provide additional help within the home.
Occupational Therapy – For the installation of handrails, grabrails, perching stools and lifting equipment.
Tenancy Sustainment – To ensure tenants are receiving all the financial support they can, including debt advice.
Community Investment – To assist in volunteering or learning new skills.
Community Meals – To prove the tenant with meals if they are unable to cook safely.
A day in the life of Becky Evans, Independent Living Team Leader
8am – Check messages, check rota, open call list, create task list for the day, speak with the out of hours call centre to collect messages.
8:30 – 9:00am – Scheme walkabout to complete daily health and safety checks and check scheme security.
9:00 – 11:00am – Complete daily welfare calls to tenants and action any tasks that have come from this; for example raising repairs or calling GPs.
11:00 – 12:30pm – Updating tenant records, making new and chasing referrals.
13:00 – 14:00pm – Completing tenant health and wellbeing plans and actioning any related tasks.
14:00 – 16:00pm – Completing mandatory housing management tasks and compliance monitoring checks including; H&S checks, water testing, fire alarm testing, gerda box checks and evacuation list check.