NHS Welsh Language Contact Points Meeting 25.09.08 Broneirion Centre, Llandinam, Powys In attendance Sally Attwood Maria Blagojevic Gareth Davies Rhiannon Davies Delyth Evans Bethan Griffith Eleri Hughes Alaw Jones Sharon Jones Glenys Leach Carys Morgan Trystan Pritchard Patrick Riley Heledd Thomas Kathryn Thomas Richard Timothy Alun Williams Guests Helen Prosser Deris Williams Powys LHB Conwy LHB South East Wales LHBs Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust Ceredigion LHB Gwynedd LHB North West Wales NHS Trust North Wales NHS Trust (central region) North Wales LHBs North Wales NHS Trust (eastern region) Mid and West Wales LHBs North West Wales NHS Trust Cwm Taf NHS Trust Welsh Language Board South East Wales LHBs Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust Glamorgan Welsh for Adults Centre Menter Cwm Gwendraeth WAG Officer Dyfed Rowlands (DR) Head of NHS Welsh Language Unit Elin Rowlands NHS Welsh Language Unit Emyr Williams NHS Communication/Welsh Language Unit Apologies Kathy Bennett Richard Bevan Joanne Harris Cardiff LHB Blaenau Gwent LHB Monmouthshire LHB 1. Welcome and Introductions 1.1 DR welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced himself as the new Head of the NHS Welsh Language Unit. 1.2 A special welcome was extended to the new Welsh Language Officers who have been appointed since the last meeting: Gareth Davies and Kathryn Thomas, South East Wales LHBs Carys Morgan, Mid and West Wales LHBs Alun Williams, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust 2. Current situation with Welsh Language Officers 2.1 It was noted that some organisations still need to appoint Welsh Language Officers, an update was given from those organisations: Cwm Taf NHS Trust are waiting for the outcome of the finance committee before proceeding with advertising the post. 1
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University NHS Trust are yet to appoint but will advertise soon. Hywel Dda NHS Trust have advertised internally and will interview this week. Ambulance Service are yet to advertise. 2.2 It was noted that this issue needs to be kept high on the agenda of those organisations to comply with the Health Circular. 2.3 Training for Welsh Language Officers will take place on the 4 th of November, everyone is welcome. Organisation to proceed with appointing Welsh Language Officers and to keep in touch with the Unit for any advice. 3. Minutes of the last meeting 3.1 It was noted that EIDO and EMIS were spelt incorrectly in the notes from the last meeting. 3.2 The minutes were agreed. - The Unit to collect data on how much use is made of the Welsh language side of the NHS Jobs website The Unit to publish the best practice booklet from the Review of the Awards 4. NHS Annual Operating Framework 08/09 (paper 1) 4.1 The targets related to the Welsh Language in the AOF 08/09 were discussed and a template for reporting on the targets disseminated comments were invited. 4.2 Many of the contact points noted that they weren t aware of these targets, the message hasn t been passed on in some organisations. 4.3 The framework is high on the Minister s agenda as it is a measure of the performance of health organisations and they will need to report by the end of March. 4.4 Concerns were raised about organisations ability to reach these targets especially as there hasn t been much work done over the first 6 months and some organisations still haven t appointed a Welsh language officer. 4.5 The Unit noted that there wasn t an expectation for everything to be perfect, but that organisations need to show that they are moving in the right direction and that there will be scope to share some examples of responses to the framework as best practice. 4.6 It was suggested that it will be difficult generally to report on the priority groups as they are not targeted in organisations Welsh language action plans. It will also be difficult for LHBs to report on the priority groups separately and it might reduce duplication if they were to report on the groups together. 4.7 It was agreed that reference to the Welsh language in the framework is a good thing as it raises awareness on the higher levels, but the message needs to passed down. 2
- Officers to ensure that they familiarise themselves with the framework and to plan for reporting by March. - The WL Unit to let the Contact Points know what the procedure will be for reporting to WAG. 5. The Task Group for the Welsh Language in Health and Social Services paper 2 5.1 It was noted that the Task Group and the Minister for Health and Social Services have agreed the 3 year work plan and that several beneficial meetings have been held with the Deputy Minister, Gwenda Thomas chairing. 5.2 Concerns were raised regarding whether the Unit are sufficiently resource to undertake the tasks in the work plan. 5.3 It was noted that the Unit hope to collaborate widely in order to deliver the work and that the programme includes different pieces of work which will make a difference rather than dealing with the whole sector in its entirety all at the same time. 5.4 The work programme with be distributed to Chief Executives and the Deputy Minister will make a statement to the Assembly about the work taking place. It was agreed that it would be useful to consider ways of raising the profile of the Task Group further through a press release. 5.5 It was discussed whether bodies such as NLIAH (National Leadership and Innovation Agency for Healthcare) provide enough leadership in this area is the Welsh language a component in the agenda for leadership so that future health managers are aware of the need to plan services bilingually? 5.6 It was noted that there are discussions taking place with NLIAH to develop the workforce planning element. - Raise awareness of the Task Group s work amongst health workers and also the public. - Implement the work plan and ensure working in partnership with the appropriate organisations i.e. NLIAH. 6. Working in Partnership Deris Williams paper 3 6.1 Deris Williams (DW), Maniging Director of Menter Cwm Gwendraeth (Cwm Gwendraeth Language Initiative) gave a presentation about their project, the Twilight Service which was successful in the Welsh Language in Healthcare Awards 2008. 6.2 Menter Cwm Gwendraeth work on combining community development with language development and have encouraged collaborative working with the different sectors in the Carmarthenshire area to improve opportunities and services in the community and have made the language an integral part of all their activities. 6.3 More information on the Twilight Service which is located in the A&E departments at Glangwili Hospital and Prince Philip Hospital can be seen in attachment 3. 6.4 Discussions following the presentation included the work of district nurses the Twilight Service workers refer clients to the district nurse, or to support charities. There is no assurance that any service to follow will be bilingual but the patient will have been able to 3
speak Welsh during the time when they are most vulnerable, in the hospital and moving back home. 6.5 It is the elderly who usually use the service provided by the Twilight Service and they appreciate having someone speak to them in Welsh, not necessary receiving their medical treatment through the medium of Welsh. 6.6 It was asked if the project had faced any challenges in being implemented, but DW said that the Council and the health services were prepared to finance the project as it would be beneficial to them it would mean that people would have a shorter stay in the A&E and that there would be less pressure on social services. 6.7 All the staff had to be trained and this took 7 months. The staff are employed by Menter Cwm Gwendraeth and the partners pay MCG for providing the service. DW noted that having MCG staff speaking Welsh in the hospitals has raised the confidence of other staff to speak more Welsh with patients and has led to a more bilingual environment. 6.8 It was discussed whether it would be possible to lose these important developments as a result of political changes and changes to the structure of the health service. DW noted that the idea had come from the community and that they established a strong steering group before developing the initiative to make decisions. 6.9 The Minister for HSS, Edwina Hart has visited the scheme in action and thinks it s a positive development and wants to see it extended to other areas in Wales. One of the scheme s positive results is reducing the number of patients being admitted to the A&E by referring them to other services. 6.10 Working in partnership has been the key factor in the success of the project between the Council, the LHB, the Trust and voluntary bodies. The Welsh language underpinned the whole planning process. 6.11 The Contact Points discussed other examples of working with the Mentrau Iaith (Language Initiatives) Conwy LHB have collaborated to provide Welsh language training to contractors and Anglesey LHB have worked with the Menter Iaith to raise awareness of the Welsh language and simple vocabulary amongst nursing homes staff. 6.12 DW noted that Menter Cwm Gwendraeth, established in 1991, is different to the other Mentrau Iaith as their work includes community development as well and they have been working in this direction since 1997 on the basis of the community planning framework. It was recently announced by the Welsh Language Board that all the Mentrau Iaith will now follow the same framework and that their work in future will be similar to MCG. 6.13 Everyone agreed that the important thing to remember is not to think of the language as something separate, but to make it an integral part of services and of the community. 7. Learning Welsh in the NHS - Helen Prosser attachment 4 7.1 Helen Prosser, head of Glamorgan Welsh for Adults Centre gave a presentation on learning Welsh in the workplace, attachment 4. 7.2 Following re-structuring the arrangements for teaching Welsh to adults, the main aims were to raise the standards, improve marketing and target lessons. There are 6 centres across Wales and the emphasis is on Welsh for the family and Welsh in the workplace. 4
7.3 It can take a long time for learners to move from entry and foundation level to intermediate and advanced level, depending on how many hours of lessons they have a week. It s important for employers to realise this. 7.4 A measure of the success of Welsh lessons in the workplace is whether the individual uses their Welsh at work, it s important that it is a part of the individual s performance targets. 7.5 It s possible for Trusts and LHBs to work with the Centres to ensure that courses are tailored to their needs. An effective way of giving learners an opportunity to practice their Welsh is through a mentoring system with Welsh speakers. 7.6 It was asked whether it would be possible to offer specific courses for different professions for example health visitors or speech and language therapists. Helen noted that she had developed a course for health visitors a few years ago but that there was a shortage of learners on the right level to attend the course. 7.7 It was noted that traditional lessons aren t always the best option, especially for staff such as district nurses who spend a lot of time travelling, would podcasts for learning Welsh be possible? It was agreed that new ways of working were being developed but that it is difficult to measure how effective they are. It is important to have contact with the tutor at the beginning, so a mixture of lessons and e-learning is the way forward. 7.8 It was noted that there is a challenge in getting the most important staff front line, to attend lessons as many of them work shifts, it might be easier for them to take a block of a week off at a time. 7.9 Some staff members see Welsh lessons as time off work so it is important to plan and ensure that learning Welsh is part of their performance targets. In some organisations the individual pays for 50% of the lessons and so show a commitment and motivation towards learning. 7.10 There was a discussion on the lack of using Welsh learned in classes with patients and there is work to be done on raising the confidence of Welsh speakers to speak Welsh as well. The Welsh Language Board have recently consulted on a document of best practice in using Welsh in the workplace. 7.11 It is difficult to say how many people would be needed to hold a class, it depends on how the lessons are being financed according to how many students, or the tutor s time. 7.12 The Centres are hoping to be successful in obtaining money from Europe to finance classes, but these would only be for the voluntary and private sectors. They could consider GPs and other health workers. - The WL Unit to consider the possibility of Welsh language courses tailored to different professions within the health service. - Organisations to try and make sure that targets for learning Welsh are included as a part of performance management of staff learning Welsh. 8. Conference and Awards 2009 attachment 5 8.1 Following a meeting of a small group of contact points to discuss the Awards new and more open categories have been introduced for 2009. 8.2 It was noted that the form will be sent out soon. 5
8.3 The end of February is the closing date for nominations and following requests for judges comments on all nominations it was emphasised that nominations need to be received by the closing date in order to do this. 8.4 The aim of the Awards is to encourage and award good practice in providing bilingual services in the health sector so the message is that the Unit won t be too strict if nominations don t fit into any particular category. 8.5 The Conference will be held in North Wales next year, in Venue Cymru, Llandudno on the 21 st May. 8.6 It was agreed that the theme of the patients experience is good and that it would be effective to get patients and users to talk about their experiences. 8.7 It was agreed that new people need to attend the Conference, there needs to be a wider cross-section of practitioners and managers at the Conference. It was also noted that consideration needs to be given to the effect re-structuring the health service will have on who will attend the Conference. 8.8 It was agreed that workshops are needed in the Conference to discuss practical issues and to provide variety to the day. 9. Any other matter 9.1 It was noted that contact points may be approached by Tony Wilcox for a report on how simultaneous interpretation services are provided in all languages. 9.2 A private company BTC Group / the Learning Business offer language awareness training as part of their training pack and this may be of interest to Contact Points. More information here: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/305742/663c02978c/1310001322/abc0bb9ea3/ 9.3 The Unit will be working with NLIAH to include language awareness training as part of the NHS e-learning programme. Consideration could be given also to including parts of the Welsh Language Board s pack. 9.4 There was a discussion on the Welsh Language Board s badges and the group were disappointed that they will no longer be producing the badges for learners. It was noted that the Police have their own badges for Welsh speakers a red dragon, it s possible that all the emergency services will adopt this. 10. Future Meetings 10.1 All agreed that the next meeting will be held in February. 6