Branch Closures

dab1630

Registered User
Feb 23, 2007
24
0
Kent
You may have heard of the reorganisation of services being undertaken by the Society. What you may not have heard is that your local branch may be disbanding on April 1st.

The reorganisation is a unilateral decision taken by the Society management with no apparent consultation with members,branch committees or the many small donors who provide a financial backbone to the Branches.

Our local branch has already had control of their finances removed by the Area office and committee members treated with complete disrespect and disdain.

Whatever the Society says, this will have an impact on services to the people they are allegedly here to support. In alienating the local committees and volunteers they will create a support vacuum that may never be filled.

To prevent disappointment in April,contact your local branch now. It may be your last chance.
 

KatherineW

Registered User
Oct 2, 2007
12,654
0
London
Hi Duncan

I’m sorry to read your concerns about the restructuring process.

I’ve just responded to the concerns raised in the News thread around this issue (see: http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?t=20066), but I thought it might be helpful to post here also.

I have been given some information about the restructuring process, which I’ve copied again below and which I hope will help to reassure TP members about the changes.

If anyone has specific questions or concerns relating to what may be happening in your local area, I’d suggest that you contact your regional Alzheimer’s Society Area Office, who will have access to the most relevant and up to date information.

You can search for your region’s Area Office via the link below:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents.php?categoryID=200121

Best wishes,

Katherine

We are determined to provide more and better local services - that is the over-riding goal of the locality management proposals. The continuation and development of our local services will be an absolute priority. At the moment the Society is only able to place a fraction of the people who actually offer to volunteer thorough various channels such as our website. The new volunteer roles and greater coverage envisaged in the proposals would help to change this by establishing a route for far more people to get involved and help deliver services in their communities.

It is important to remember that the locality management proposals simply outline a new structure for the management and administration of our service provision; actual service delivery would continue to take place at a community level.

Where staff and volunteers are providing a based service within a community, they will continue to do so, with management oversight and support from their locality team. Similarly, where activities such as fundraising, campaigning and networking take place they will be supported through volunteer groups and operate on an agreed delegated authority.

Where money has been donated to a local branch with the understanding that it will only be used to fund local services or for a specific purpose, then of course we will honour that commitment. However, all funds raised are raised for the Alzheimer's Society and the proposals are designed to ensure that the organisation can be held accountable for their use.
The principle of local funds for local services will remain - we are very conscious that many people wish to support activities within their own community.

Our priority will be to ensure that services are available where and when they are needed.
 
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dab1630

Registered User
Feb 23, 2007
24
0
Kent
Nothing in your statement has addressed the complete lack of consultation of members etc or the atrocious way the local committees are being treated. I have witnessed area management's people skills and they leave a lot to be desired.

The somewhat less than diplomatic way this is being handled is likely to result in many of the current volunteers taking their skills elsewhere. Who will provide the current services then ?

I believe a leading journalist who has been made aware of the " proposals" has got it correct. In his reply he said " It sounds like what has happened at several other charities - restructures like this always seem to end up with a fat tier of extremely well-paid middle managers, with grassroots services emasculated."
 

sussexsue

Registered User
Jun 10, 2009
1,527
0
West Sussex
sadly I think that Duncan is right. I havent met anyone at local level who is less than disenchanted and alarmed at these proposals.

It does seem to be the case of a brilliant organisation shooting itself in the foot.
 

Tender Face

Account Closed
Mar 14, 2006
5,379
0
NW England
Hi Duncan .... you may have seen I responded to the initial ‘Alzheimer’s News’ thread .. having ‘been there’ as an paid employee with ANOther charity some 12/18 months ago going through a frighteningly similar ‘restructure’.

I am not wishing to labour points about the handling of the situation by said organisation (could write a book on it!) but the pertinent one here is that because of management speak about ‘consultation processes’ and their handling of redundancies/restructuring for staff it meant ‘service users’ were in many cases ‘left in the lurch’ and employees and volunteers unable to advise some very vulnerable and needy clients of changes with appropriate notice because they didn’t know themselves what had clearly already been decided (about services and jobs) until the day they were instructed ‘Will the last one to leave please switch off the lights?’. :(

To worry service users about withdrawal of services was not appropriate ... to promise them long-term support was neither ... it put grassroots staff in a desperately difficult situation – and to their credit the concern was more for the people they ‘served’ not the loss of their own roles.

Many clients relied on the support given as their absolute lifeline ... and had done over many years .... and had minimal and totally inappropriate notice that services were to be withdrawn (at best relocated and therefore often inaccessible, so same difference really) and too little time to look for alternatives (if they hadn’t already been ‘scrapped’ by other organisations too) to ensure some continuity of care and support, even if the change of source in itself was a challenge.

I am sitting back and keeping my fingers crossed I now don’t see this from ‘the other side’ and that AS will handle their restructure from grassroots up ..... and that means from ‘Joe Bloggs’, worried carer or sufferer, who rings the National Helpline, or their local group, on March 30th asking for some help and being given an honest answer about what may or not be available ...

I appreciate Katherine’s suggestion to ring for information, but the onus should really not be on vulnerable service users to make themselves aware of possible changes ...... ???? And what about all those who don’t use TP or the AS website and may not know what changes are coming??????? :(

Regards, Karen, x
 

TinaT

Registered User
Sep 27, 2006
7,097
0
Costa Blanca Spain
The number of times I've sat on a committee, had my views listened to and then ignored completely, is infuriating. I've wasted my time and effort breaking my neck to attend for nothing.

I've come away from so many meetings feeling I was invited only as the 'token carer', invited there only so the organisation can tick a box to say Carers have been consulted.

The agenda is set, the outcome of the meeting is set, everything decided, done and dusted, fixed in stone long before I, or others like myself, come onto the scene. What a waste of time my being there.

Whatever the organisation, whatever good intentions they have seem to be drowned in 'Corporate Speak'.

xxTinaT
 
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Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
17,000
0
SW Scotland
I've come away from so many meetings feeling I was invited only as the 'token carer', invited there there only so the organisation can tick a box to say Carers have been consulted.

That's exactly how I often feel, Tina. As the only non-professional (and unpaid) member, so often our views are listened to very politely, sometimes even minuted -- and then ignored.:(
 

KatherineW

Registered User
Oct 2, 2007
12,654
0
London
Hi everyone

I thought I should re-iterate that this is a review of our management structures, to allow the charity to grow. There are no plans to reduce or diminish services, rather to expand and extend them.

The Society has consulted with staff and volunteers extensively about these proposals and the feedback received has had a significant impact in shaping the final programme. Information and a report on the consultation process can be found here.

For more detailed information about these changes, as well as the process for raising concerns, I’d refer you to Alzheimer’s Society’s Fit for the Future microsite:

http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/fitforthefuture/

Best wishes,

Katherine
 

dab1630

Registered User
Feb 23, 2007
24
0
Kent
Judging by the growing swell of disenchanted doomed committees, the consultation process was a bit of a one way dialogue in the Branches deemed to be financially underachieving. Sounds like the carrot and stick approach with no carrot involvement.

The Society has severely underestimated the traumatic effect this hatchet job has had on people who have served for years as volunteers and committee members, and there is no doubt many will vote with their feet.

If the Society's plan has any dependence at all on retaining the current local knowledge, they will be sadly disappointed in many areas.
 

dab1630

Registered User
Feb 23, 2007
24
0
Kent
One minor? point. The Fit for the future microsite appears to be well hidden.

I have just Googled Alzheimer's Society Fit for the future and there is no reference to the microsite on any of the hits.

Considering the complete lack of information on the main site, if the Society is so proud of this , why is it such an apparent secret ?
 

Sandy

Registered User
Mar 23, 2005
6,847
0
Society Fit for the future and there is no reference to the microsite on any of the hits?

Well I found it top of the list on the first go:

google_search_fit.jpg
 

dab1630

Registered User
Feb 23, 2007
24
0
Kent
Just run the search again now and it appeared - spooky !

It certainly wasn't there when I searched the first time, but I do know how search engines work and a lot can happen quite quickly if you want it to.
 

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