Meet the A4e Team in Stockton

Here we are, the Stockton A4e Direct Payments Support Service Team. A4e have held the contract with Stockton Borough Council since April 2007, supporting clients to manage all aspects of their Direct Payments and to date have supported over 550 individuals to access Direct Payments.

The Stockton team consists of four Independent Living Advisors; Sally Irvine, who is also the Team Leader, Marc Harrison, Carrie Metcalfe and the newest member of the team Melanie Edwards. The team Administrator is Jude Atkinson and Kelly Bainbridge is the Business Manager. Each member of the team brings something different to their role, but work closely together to ensure that they are delivering the highest quality service.

We are pleased to inform you that we have now moved into our lovely new offices on Yarm Road in Stockton.  We have remained with the other contracts with A4e and joined Enterprise House, the biggest benefit being based within Enterprise House is that it not only allows us to be aware of some of the other contracts which A4e's Advice and Learning section are currently running, but also allows us to be an integral part of the local community, in a prime community location.  We would love to see you at the new office so feel free to pop in for a coffee and a chat.

The office is part of Education and Advice Centre in Thornaby, attached to Thornaby Community School, however we are excited to inform you that our team will be moving offices in the next few months and will update you all accordingly once we have confirmed our new location. The biggest benefit to being based within the Education and Advice Centre is that it not only allows us to be aware of some of the other contracts which A4e’s Advice and Learning section are currently running, but also to be an integral part of the local community, due to this we are planning on moving with the rest of the Centre and still remaining in a prime community location.

The Stockton Direct Payment Support Service covers a variety of support services for its users, this includes but is not limited too:

For those individuals who are looking at recruiting a personal assistant but need support prior to their employee starting work or whilst looking for an employee, Stockton Borough Council have a preferred Providers list of potential agencies which can be used during this period via a Direct Payment, please click here to download Agency List.

As part of our support service we get a lot of Personal Care Assistants who are looking to work with some of our Direct Payment Clients, to make this a little easier we have attached an application for employment, so if you are looking at undertaking work with some of our employers, please feel free to download the attachments and return to Jude either via email at jatkinson@a4e.co.uk or alternatively you can print and post back to the office which is given below, please click here to download Application Form.

We regularly hold Service User groups which are extremely well attended, which creates an opportunity for both Service Users and carers to come together and discuss their own Direct Payments, share experience or raise any concerns they may have and identify solutions as a group. We invite all Service Users and Carers too attend these events and love seeing new faces, we quite often have guest speakers either from the Local Authority or external providers which are able to provide information, advice and guidance of available services. As we are aware that not all people will be able to attend due to their demanding personal commitments, we ensure that a newsletter will be produced with the minutes of the group and other useful information which is then sent out to all Service Users and Carers regardless to whether they attended or not so they can be kept up to date with what is happening within the service. If you are interested in either attending or speaking at the next Service User group, please contact the main office to speak to a member of the team on the number below. Please find attached the July Newsletter.

Date for your Diary - Service User Group 20th September 2010 1-3pm - venue to be confirmed.

On our last website update we told you all about the Department of Health pilot looking at the Co-production/support plan training around the Personalisation Agenda that we had been lucky enough to participate in, and we are pleased to update you that we have now completed the pilot which was a roaring success. As a result of this we had a fantastic write up in the Autumn/Winter 2009 Blueprint which we have the pleasure of attaching for your review. Please click here to download Blueprint article. We are extremely proud of the work we carried out on the project and will update you all when the final report from the Department of Health is produced. We would also like to extend our thanks to all the people who participated and provided such wonderful feedback.

We love hearing from the people we are supporting, regardless to the type of feedback, good or bad, after all if we don't know something is wrong then how can we fix it? We thought we would include some recent feedback from actual Service Users or Carers in the Stockton area. If you are or have used our service and would like to provide feedback yourselves, we have attached a copy of the complaints/compliments/feedback/suggestions form for your completion.  Please click here to download leaflet.

Here is what a few of our Service Users have had to say regarding our Support Service in Stockton:

“For your information I would like to take this opportunity to say that since A4e took over the ‘Direct Payment’ contract, my life has been very much more simple, in fact as it ought to have been since we decided on Direct Payments some years ago.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the high level of the customer service that my aunt and I have received from Jude Atkinson and the team at A4e, Stockton”

“I have always been very pleased with the efficient way everything I have asked of the staff of A4e has been handled”.

“I am grateful to Sally Irvine for her help, support and encouragement. Thanks to Sally I was able to pluck up enough courage to spend what turned out to be a very enjoyable weeks holiday in Benidorm”.

Useful Information and Links

As part of our contract we are often provided information which is beneficial to the Service Users and Carers which we work with, so we thought the best way to do this in addition to adding details to the Newsletter we would also add the information to our web page and update it accordingly.

Have you heard of the 'Bridge Card' launched on 1st March to provide additional support on public transport, please click here to find out more.

Stockton Borough Council Personalisation Newsletter - July 2010

Support Planning - 1 day free course on 5th July 2010 click here to find out more.

A series of one day training events to be held in September and October 2010 click here to find out more.

CRB Booklet Information

Below are a few Local Charities or Support Services which may be useful
Daisy Chain - Daisy Chain is a unique charity established to address the needs of both children with autism and their families. http://www.daisychainproject.co.uk/

Address: Calf Fallow Farm, Calf Fallow Lane
Tel: 01642 531248

George Hardwick Foundation - The George Hardwick Foundation provides a support network for Carers through our centres in Stockton, NE Lincolnshire and the innovative Carers' and Patients' Centre at North Tees Hospital.
http://www.georgehardwickfoundation.org/
23-27b Bishopton Lane
Stockton-on-Tees
TS18 1PS
Tel: 0845 3025523

Mains Project - "To provide advice and support for families who have children with an autistic spectrum condition, in the Tees Valley area".
http://www.themainproject.co.uk/
The Main Project
Beverley School
Beverley Road
Middlesbrough
TS4 3LQ

Tel: 01642 277450

Stroke Association
http://www.stroke.org.uk/ 

Contact Us

TS18 3NA