People with learning disabilities to get a stronger voice

People with learning disabilities in the borough are to get a stronger voice in decisions about services that affect them.

The council, along with the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) are working together to find new and better ways to put the people they serve at the heart of decision making.

At the moment, the council and the PCT pool their learning disabilities budgets and then joint decisions are made by the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board about how the money is best spent. Service users are invited to have their say, but those involved on the partnership board fear that the process is too confusing and might be putting them off attending and taking part.

A task group has now been set up to look at the issue, with the aim of making sure that people with learning disabilities have a clear voice in shaping the services that affect them.

Cabinet member for health and social care and Chair of the Board, Councillor Dale Mulgrew said: "We want to make the right decisions about the services we provide, but to do that, we need to know what people with learning disabilities need and what they think. We can guess what people want until the cows come home, but the best way to get it right is to ask them - and this needs to be done in a meaningful way.

"More importantly, if we can improve our engagement with the people we support who have learning disabilities we also are proving to them that they do have a future input into the way that support is provided. It is my desire to see them involved in a significant way."

The task force, which is made up of members of the board, service users, officers from the council and PCT and carers will now look at how the board can encourage more people to get involved and at the best ways of structuring information and meetings to make them understood and accessible to all.

The task force is expected to report its recommendations before the end of the year.