Over 80 older residents, community partners and providers of services for older people took part in the inaugural North Ayrshire’s Older People’s Conference.
The event took place in Saltcoats Town Hall with Arran residents taking part virtually with the help of Arran Community and Volunteer Services.
The purpose of the conference was to get North Ayrshire-wide representation on the real-life challenges currently faced by older people, while providing a networking opportunity to get older people connected with each other.
The networking aspect of the event was led by the council’s community capacity and empowerment team who are seeking to establish a dedicated Older People’s Voice network across North Ayrshire’s six localities.
This will include:
• Addressing gaps in service provision to determine how to make improvements
• Introducing every locality to their single point of contact to help establish a dedicated action plan for older people in their area
• Understanding what is most important to older people
• Encouraging participants to share any concerns they may have
• Providing helpful information and signposting to support services via a host of information stalls from the likes of Trading Standards, North Ayrshire Housing and Libraries and a host of other key community partners supporting older residents.
The lively event had a combination of community groups, and organisations, with a shared vision to develop an enhanced Older People’s Voice network for North Ayrshire. This will help establish an Older People’s Voice participation structure which will ensure that older people are at the forefront of the council’s decision-making in Arran, the Garnock Valley, Irvine, Kilwinning, North Coast and Cumbrae’s and the Three Towns.
The conference also provided an opportunity to learn about the community provision currently out there for older people to ensure that it is included in a shared community mapping resource – set to be published in early 2024 – so that anyone in North Ayrshire knows what support available for older residents in their community.
Council leader Marie Burns began the proceedings on the day with an opening speech. She later said: “As older people’s champion for North Ayrshire Council, it was my pleasure to recently attend our first ever Older People’s Voice Network Conference.
“It was an incredibly valuable opportunity to not only meet with our older residents, but also to find out more about the dedicated officers and volunteers who are working so hard day in and day out in in the heart of our communities to better the lives of senior citizens across North Ayrshire.
“It is my continued goal as older people’s champion to ensure all older people’s voices are heard at various forums and to do my very best to make sure our older residents needs are considered in the planning and delivery of key council policies and services.”
“We are keen to ensure all of our communities, including older people, get the chance to participate in some of our key decision-making processes.
“Our Older People’s Voice Network Conference is the first stage in launching an effective participation structure which ensures our older people are heard and valued in North Ayrshire.
“I look forward to experiencing first-hand how this progresses in 2024. Thank you to everyone involved in making the recent conference a success and to our older residents who took the time to come along and have their say.”
The information gathered will used to form the council’s Older People’s Voice participation strategy and will be used to establish an agenda for the upcoming Older People’s Voice network locality-wide meeting.
Council leader Marie Burns addresses the delegates at the Older Peoples Voice Conference. No_B49older01_23_Marie_Burns
Delegates heard from a number of guest speakers and organisation representatives. No_B49older02_23_speaker
In addition to round-table conversations participants also had discussions with key council workers and housing and Trading Standards representatives. No_B49older03_23_groups_discuss