Ninth AGM reviews another successful year.
Our ninth AGM was held at Headway House on 18 September. In her review of the year, our new Chair, Carol Birch, thanked her predecessor, Michael Switzer, for his eight years of leadership. She also reported on the new Service Level Agreements with the City and County Councils which had provided us with a sound financial base. Significant support from a number of major trusts had also enabled us to continue to expand services and provide extra activities.
Carol also highlighted the quality endorsements achieved during the year, both against Headway’s national standards where we performed ‘well’ or ‘very well’ in most areas, and in obtaining PQASSO Level 2. We shall now aim for Level 3, said Carol, and continue to measure ourselves against other similar organisations.
The new three-year business plan had been adopted, and Carol thanked all the trustees for their work during the year. She thanked Richard Bird on his retirement from the Board, and welcomed our new Treasurer, Richard Burdon. Carol said that we would be on the lookout for new Trustees over the coming months and would like to hear from anyone interested, particularly those with direct experience of acquired brain injury or its effects.
Tribute was paid to Sylvia Davis, who died early this year. Sylvia’s commitment to Headway had still continued, in the form of a bequest, as a result of which there were now permanent memories of her in both house and garden.
Services Director Mary Goulty reviewed the satisfactorily stable staffing position, and welcomed Diana Jacques, our new administrative assistant. She referred to the extensive caseload now carried by our Ethnic Minority Support Worker Madhu Parmar following extensive training, and to the extra support given to Sue Hannam by Maggie Taylor.
A wide range of areas had been covered in staff training, and a full fire risk assessment was now in place. In response to the needs of our funding authorities a Business Continuity Plan had been developed to test the continuity and resilience of the organisation.
A total of 180 clients had been seen by Outreach during the past financial year, of whom 97 were new referrals, coming from as far away as Castle Donington and Kegworth to Oakham and Cadeby. Of the 180 people seen, 84 had been moved on from the service, including six who went back into paid work and 13 who found voluntary work or went into further education. The team had been consistent in making initial contact, and very often a first visit, with new clients within a week of referral.
The day centre supported 56 members with a diverse range of quality activities. The rear garden had been extended and refurbished, and had provide fresh salad and vegetables. Basic skills are embedded into all the activities, and the number of 1:1 or small group activities had increased. Links with local colleges are increasing.
Over the coming year, Mary said, we shall be increasing our public awareness and developing presentations for use with community groups, schools, professionals and other interested parties. We shall also try to fund an improved service to black and minority ethnic communities.
Mary also to the sad loss of Sylvia Davis, and said that Headway’s continuing success was a fitting tribute to her.
Treasurer Richard Burdon reported a satisfactory financial year, due in large part to the increased revenue from our funding authorities. The charity’s costs in the year had been £287,580, just 3% up on the previous year, and we had been able to transfer £30,000 into designated funds to cover any eventualities caused by an interruption to our normal funding.
This year’s guest speaker at the AGM was Dr Dechlan McNicholl, consultant neuropsychologist to the Leicester Hospitals Trust, and successor in that role to our trustee Chris Spreadbury, whose work was warmly praised by Dechlan in his opening remarks. He described his work as helping to understand the impact of the disruption to the normal relations between the brain, emotions and thinking which traumatic brain injury could cause. He likened the emotional impact to a thunderstorm breaking out of a clear sky, after which ‘nothing re-settles right’.
The cognitive aspects of brain injury – attention, speed of processing, memory, perception, visual abilities, language and executive functions, were understood by reference to norms and an attempt to get a sense of the individual’s life. While in the past assessment was all, now the focus was on ways of intervening by playing to people’s strengths, helping them to retrain or learn old skills, and to use external aids.
Dechlan also saw his role as helping families and carers and the education
of others – helping, he said, to make society more tolerant of the changed
behaviour of people with acquired brain injuries. He told the meeting that
there was now nine months’ funding being made available by the Primary
Care Trust Commissioners for ‘scoping’ the health and social needs
in the community for brain injury survivors.