Plan My Project - Case Studies

Age Concern Rural Development Project

This Age Concern project improved access to services for older people in rural West Oxfordshire by bringing services to people rather than people to services.

A number of key organisations supported the £88,743 project including Opportunities for Volunteering, local Primary Care Trusts, Oxfordshire Social Services, Barclays Bank, Age Concern England, Age Concern Oxfordshire and Leader +.

The need for the project was clearly established through a major piece of research and consultation with older people in rural Oxfordshire. This was undertaken with the SW Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) Public Involvement Group and used DETR deprivation data.

In January 2000, Age Concern Oxfordshire completed a study of the needs of older people living in rural areas and how they could best be enabled to maintain their independence. Over 200 older people living in rural parts of Oxfordshire were consulted during the study and they themselves identified the following priorities: better access to basic services; enhanced income; choice in relation to social life; opportunities to be participants not recipients.

Need was also established through consultation with older people themselves, through work undertaken by the Public Involvement Group of the SW PCT (who highlighted the need for foot care) and using DETR and local data which maps poverty and difficulties accessing services. DETR data shows significant numbers of older people living in poverty in West Oxfordshire, and also highlights some acute access problems.

This research not only formed the basis of the services offered but was used to set realistic, achievable targets for up-take achievement.

The key elements of the project wereto improve;access to basic foot care service; access to services through the extension of the Local Link volunteer support network; access to gentle exercise; and provide computer taster opportunities.

Age Concern is a large organisation and is able to provide continuity of project management and all the skills and experience needed to deliver the project successfully.

The level of administration time needed to run the Leader Plus project was, however, seriously underestimated. As a result, more staff time was spent than was anticipated, the costs being borne by Age concern.

A locality development worker was appointed to work with local communities where access to services is most difficult or where significant numbers of older people are living in poverty.

The project achieved or exceeded most of its targets but fell short of others.

2176 (Target 860) older people now have access to Local Link
190+ (Target 200) people involved in IT and taster sessions
199 (Target 680) people using foot care services
30+ people per week (Target 200) involved with exercise

There were some problems with recruitment of volunteers which did delay the project in some areas. Volunteers’ time was not included in the match funding so this was not a problem.

The project has had a major effect on the community and especially on rurally located older people.

It was never anticipated that this project would become self-financing. It was accepted from the outset that continuation funding would be needed and work to secure this was ongoing through out the project. It is not clear what would have happened had the funding not materialised.

Because of its successful uptake by the community, many of the services put in place will continue to be delivered by core service providers. All elements of the project are continuing in some form.

To see the full evaluation report for this project click here.

To email the project manager click here.

To see other case studies click here.