West Berkshire Direct Payments

Pam Champion, Project Manager
Pam came in to post on 6 September 2004 having been employed by the Kingsley Organisation to develop a support service for Community Care Direct Payment users following the pilot of a one-day a week service. She previously specialised in child protection and anti social behaviour and, although had worked with people with disabilities, this project was a new challenge to her and has been a great learning experience. Pam says ‘Everybody involved in the development of the project has been enthusiastic and supportive, and together we have developed a service to be proud of.

Managing a direct payment can be hard work, however, people who have been using them for a while say the change to their life in terms of independence far outweighs the extra responsibility. Because it can be daunting to move from council provided services to arranging your own, the right support makes the process more manageable and more likely to be successful. Therefore, working in partnership with West Berkshire Council, who grant fund the project, a comprehensive service providing individually tailored support, is now available to all people using direct payment in West Berkshire.’

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Nina Wheeler, Direct Payment Worker
Nina started working for Kingsley Organisation as a Direct Payment Support worker on the 2 June 2005. Nina says ‘Since I started working for Kingsley I feel I achieved a great deal. I have a disability, deafness, and in the past I have found working life difficult i.e. some people are difficult to lip read and following a conversation with more than one person can be very difficult. I have also not been able to use the telephone. However, I have had the right support, guidance and encouragement from my line manager – Pam Champion who had the office made fully accessible for my disability including a Captel phone.

I thoroughly enjoy my position as a Direct Payment Support worker. I support clients by helping set up their direct payments, providing information and advice on Direct Payment, and helping with employing carers/support workers.

I perform my role in a number of different ways including interacting with the client, care managers and other professionals. This may be in person, or by telephone and email. I have, on average four home visits a week and have taken on 34 new Direct Payment users since I started.

Kingsley Organisation are the first organisation that I have worked for who have made the job fully accessible for me and they are still continuing to make it more accessible by looking into a note–taker for conferences, meetings etc. Since I have started working for Kingsley, I feel I have more confidence, not only in my job, but also about speaking up about my deafness. I am not nearly so embarrassed about my disability.’

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Trevor Dobson, Webmaster
Trevor says he couldn’t possibly find so many interesting things to write about himself as have the illustrious ladies above. Having said that he has very much enjoyed creating and developing the website and all that entails, and tries to be proactive on many disability issues.