Update on our services
Since the start of lockdown at the end of March, most of the team here at Adapt (NE) have continued to work from home. Our advocacy service has been as busy as ever, providing support remotely to people across the county through our NHS, Care Act, Relevant Person Representative, Independent Mental Health and Independent Mental Capacity advocacy services.
Healthwatch Northumberland’s information and signposting service has been busy helping people find out about changes to services, where to get support locally and listening to people’s experiences of health and social care. The team are holding some online public forums starting from this week, and you can find out how to get involved here.
We are looking at ways we might be able to safely provide the dial-a-ride transport service again in the future. We have been able to help a number of people get to urgent hospital appointments where they have been unable to access any other transport. This was done following social distancing guidelines on our vehicles. If you have issues with getting to medical appointments we might be able to help so do get in touch.
Through our facilities at Café @ Burn Lane we have been able to provide space for volunteers to produce freshly cooked meals for members of both Corbridge and Allendale Lunch Clubs. These have been well received and we’re very pleased to have been able to help. The café will have to stay closed for now until we receive further advice from the government. Although we are permitted to open for take away food, we recognise that there are plenty of businesses in the area providing this service and we have decided not to take custom away from those already offering these services.
We have taken the decision to de-register as a provider of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, as we need individuals to visit us at our offices to do this. With staff working from home and social distancing measures in place for some time to come, we feel we can no longer offer this service. Any DBS checks that are currently being processed will be completed. There are many online DBS services which will be able to help if you need one.
