[guide.chat] Mobility
- From: "Harold Kitching" <harold.kitching01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Forum chats guade forum" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 16:03:50 +0100
Dear Sir,
I am writing to tell you about the proposals we have to transform Guide Dogs so
we can provide a much wider range of mobility services and help more blind and
partially sighted people get out and about on their own terms.
I first want to explain why I think we need to change. Our research shows that
there are at least 180,000 blind and partially sighted people who rarely, if
ever, leave home alone. Even though we plan to extend the guide dog service,
which will remain at the heart of what we do, we will never reach all of the
people who could benefit from mobility support through this service alone. If
we want to help more people, we need to offer a greater variety of options -
from habilitation services for children, to sighted guiding for older people.
To do this we will need to raise more funds, attract more supporters and bring
Guide Dogs into the 21st Century.
What we propose
One of the key changes we are proposing is to set up Mobility Action Centres
(MACs), across the UK, in 20 major towns and cities, supported by outreach
workers based in other key areas.
The changes we are proposing will help us reach more people - both service
users and supporters. The MACs will incorporate mobility services, like guide
dogs and the My Guide service, but also enjoy fully integrated volunteer
support, communications, campaigning and fundraising.
We believe this will allow us to be much closer and more visible to the people
we serve - both service users and supporters. Because we will be able to
connect more effectively with the local community, we will understand local
issues better and thereby develop more relevant and evidence-led products and
services. This should also help us identify many more partnership opportunities
with other like-minded charities.
We propose that these more resilient MACs will be based in Belfast, Birmingham,
Cambridge, Cardiff, Coventry, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds,
Liverpool, London, Luton, Maidstone, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham,
Reading, Shrewsbury and Southampton. The GDMI footprint will remain as it is
today - they will simply work to a smaller number of (more resilient)
administrative offices.
We will also have outreach workers based across a much wider geographical area
and we will continue to work directly with our service users and supporters. We
want to develop current collaborative working arrangements and also seek new
opportunities particularly in those locations where some of staff are currently
based, such as Bristol, Forfar, Guildford, Helsby, Preston, Redbridge,
Stokesley, Sheffield and Worcester.
These locations are proposed at this stage and could change, particularly if
there is a good opportunity to co-locate with other organisations. It will take
time to establish all 20 MACs, so we are taking a phased approach to be
implemented over a four year period.
Our new MAC in Reading will also be the new base for our Central Office staff.
This will give our support staff a much better understanding of the people we
serve and will also be in much more accessible location than our current
Hillfields Head Office.
And it almost goes without saying that, with our continued focus on growing the
guide dog service, those locations that are core to the production of the dogs
themselves - our four Guide Dog Training Schools in Redbridge, Leamington,
Forfar and Atherton, and our very new National Breeding Centre in Warwickshire
- will continue to operate, and will continue to rely on the support from
volunteers that they currently enjoy.
The proposals do mean that some of our staff may need to work from a different
base and may have different responsibilities as part of a bigger team. Our aim
is to retain as many of our staff as possible because we want to keep their
valuable knowledge and experience within the Guide Dogs family. However, we do
accept that some of our staff may not want to complete the journey with us.
Needless to say we will offer all of our staff full support as we go through
this necessary transformation.
Your Service
We believe that you will receive a service of the same or even a higher
standard. The larger MAT structure should provide greater resilience and
provide you with more focused support. The increase in local campaigning and
communications will also have a positive effect on levels of public awareness
about the issues and barriers you encounter on a daily basis.
Our plans to expand the guide dog service, combined with a review of the
training process, should lead to a greater supply of dogs and shorter training
times. This in turn should have a positive effect on our waiting times.
Our District Team Managers will be meeting with DCRs this week to discuss the
proposals and any concerns there may be. As some of you will be aware some DCRs
are helping us, through the Representation Transition Group (RTG), to revise
and update our service user representation as part of the changes and this will
be considered by Council in November. The RTG will also receive a full
presentation about the changes at their meeting on 9 August.
As part of the proposals service user representation at the corporate level
will be supported within a new Strategy and Research Team. This is the best
team to do this in the proposed structure because it will be focused on
listening and responding to our customers, understanding what they require, how
we can improve their mobility and what they think of our existing services. Our
new MAT managers will be responsible for service user relations at the local
level.
In conclusion
All of these changes will allow us to support more blind and partially sighted
people in getting where they want to be. We will begin implementing these plans
in the New Year.
As we celebrate our 80th birthday, I would like to assure you that our
intention is to build on all the amazing work we have achieved in Guide Dogs to
date. Having the power to help blind and partially sighted people achieve the
same freedom of movement as everyone else is an incredible privilege and, not
surprisingly, we are hungry to do more. What we are proposing to do should lead
to more services, more supporters and help us to enable thousands more blind
and partially sighted people to play a full part in their community.
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- » [guide.chat] Mobility - Harold Kitching
