Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Local government

• Local authorities
• Civil Society Organisation
• Older People’s Association
• Social or health care provider
• Volunteers
• Private sector
• Research institution

How collaboration worked: Project management: GM Ageing Hub facilitated a weekly project meeting to monitor progress and map dissemination of the campaign attended by colleagues from Local authorities, Greater Manchester Older People’s Network, Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, and universities. Campaign material: Older residents and over 20 Greater Manchester organisations contributed to designing the campaign, embedding learning from the earlier ‘Keep Well at Home’ booklet produced in May 2020. The booklet content was sourced from partner organisations, and collated by the GM Ageing Hub, with input from older people’s groups at all stages of its development. The Talking Tips guide, a list of conversation prompts, built on the expertise of front line workers at Age UK and housing providers having wellbeing conversations with older adults. A group of older people involved in a community media project were commissioned to present the key campaign messages in a short film. The Ageing Hub worked with other older people’s groups to ensure representation in the film of people from LGBT, disabled and BAME backgrounds. Distribution: Booklet distribution plans were coordinated through local authorities enabling a hyper local approach to reaching older people working with the community and voluntary sector and housing providers. Several areas made booklets available in Covid-19 vaccination centres. Finance: Financial contributors for the Keeping Well This Winter campaign came from 12 different partners from a range of sectors; public services including departments for fire and police, housing providers, health, local councils and national charity Centre for Ageing Better.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: Older people informed the campaign topics, feeding back on content they would have liked in the Keeping Well At Home booklet made in May 2020. Older people were consulted on the language and design of the booklet to ensure it was engaging and accessible. Words of older people were included in the booklet, sharing practical tips on health and wellbeing. A diverse group of older people were commissioned to produce a film presenting the key campaign messages and writing the script and presenting.

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
Feedback from older adults and representatives have been positive. We heard that recipients valued the Keeping Well this Winter booklet and remembered the advice it gave. Organisations delivering the booklet commended the printed format which they said made the information more tangible and therefore more effective. It was also mentioned that the booklets made good conversation starters which facilitated meaningful interactions about keeping well in the winter. We have also heard back that people are doing the exercises at home via local council reablement teams.

Expansion plans:
To share the key messages in marginalised communities we have commissioned translations into various languages and produced Easy Read, Audio and British Sign Language versions. The campaign materials continue to be shared through organisational partners physically including through volunteers, councils and vaccination centres, and digitally through social media and newsletters. Resources have been shared nationally and internationally as good practice through Public Health England, Future NHS, AGE Platform Europe and UK Network for Age Friendly Communities.

Reflections:
We would like to have been aware of national plans to have been able include more detail in the booklet. For example, we would have been able to include information about getting the vaccine, if this information had been available earlier. As a result of the implementation of the Keeping Well at Home campaign earlier in the year, we were able to make some improvements to the process including increasing the amount of copies printed.

Challenges:
Securing funding: A business case was made to partners that funds that had been budgeted for face to face interventions for winter messaging, could be put into the campaign to reach older people in their homes. Leadership in collaborative project: Whilst the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub is a strategic team, we adapted into a delivery role to enable to Keeping Well This Winter campaign to be shared in a timely manner. We continued to convene a wide range of partners to attain input from multiple areas, and support a sense of ownership which supported the distribution of finished materials. Distribution during the pandemic: Each locality of the ten localities within the city-region was allocated a quantity of booklets, and took responsibility for sharing the copies according to their local expertise. A quantity of booklets was held back to be distributed more widely, for example through post outs with information about concessionary passes for public transport. Reaching the hardest to reach: A programme for the distribution of Keeping well this winter was specifically designed for marginalised communities and included the publication of tailored materials in addition to training webinars for community leaders from BAME backgrounds.