Summer reflections on planning for the winter

Winter currently seems a long way off or a distant memory.  But when extreme weather hits during the winter, the risks to vulnerable people can be very real.  Being prepared for winter is very important, and once again, during the winter of 2015/16, VANEL and our team of over 60 volunteer ‘buddies’ were ready and waiting to assist vulnerable people should the worst of the weather strike.

We spread the “stock up, stay in, stay safe” message far and wide in preparation and our volunteers were ready to help as needed to get groceries and supplies delivered to vulnerable people should the call come through.

As it was, winter was very forgiving this year and we had no need to mobilise our volunteers this time around.  But they and we were prepared and ready to act as in previous years.

Many of our winter buddy volunteers this year had been volunteers with the Winter Planning project in previous years and VANEL and the NEL CCG would like to thank them for all their willingness to prepare with us to assist vulnerable and elderly people in winter and to be ready to be called on in extreme weather.  Should the need and opportunity arise again, we’re sure that we’d be able to call on this team of volunteers and coordinators once again.

The Winter Planning programme itself was managed by VANEL and funded by the NEL Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  Priorities and finances have changed and sadly the funding for the project for the coming winter 2016/17 is no longer available to support this work.

The NEL CCG would like to share their position on this:

“For a number of years NEL CCG were able to allocate monies for additional services to support winter pressures from a specific national funding source. As part of this, the CCG were pleased to be able to commission VANEL to develop a  volunteer network to deliver essential supplies in severe weather conditions. The network was established, and then publicised and made accessible via the NEL urgent care advice line known as the SPA (Single Point of Access) tel. 01472 256 256.

“The CCG is now dealing with a very difficult financial climate, and the separate resilience funds to support this scheme are not available from this year (2016) onwards. Unfortunately this has meant that the CCG is no longer able to commission this support.

On behalf of the CCG, we would like to thank VANEL staff, other partners and in particular the volunteers who have involved in developing and delivering this service.”

The Winter Planning project has been in place for a number of years now and both VANEL and the NEL CCG would like to thank every single volunteer, volunteer coordinator, staff member, partner organisation, group and organisation that has helped this critical preparation and support service exist.

There will definitely be more harsh winters, and the risks to the elderly or vulnerable will still be there.  So VANEL will continue to look for other funding options and opportunities and partnership possibilities this year to see how a Winter Planning project equivalent can be established again.

Thanks to the NEL CCG for the financial support over recent years for the project but the biggest thanks, as always, goes to those who give up their time freely, as volunteers, to ensure that projects such as this can exist to support those in need.