Teign_Annual Report 2018

14 15 Providing opportunity / Annual Report 2018 Neighbourhood Working with you and other organisations to provide social, environmental and economic wellbeing and keep neighbourhoods and communal areas clean and safe. Patch Pods We developed a Neighbourhood Strategy this year which has seen us restructure our teams to improve how we deliver services and enhance customers’ experience. As part of the strategy we have created new patch pods, which are made up of a number of both our homes in general needs and those that benefit from our Independent Living Service. There are six Patch Pods each with a Neighbourhood Services Advisor, Independent Living Advisor and a Caretaker. The teams will be out and about more so we can build a new and closer relationship between us and our customers, give us more visibility in our communities and more joined up working with others. Contribution to community This year staff donated more than 100 presents to children in need this Christmas. We teamed up with Action for Children and other local organisations to identify families in need to help ensure every child had a gift to open. We also have supported the local food bank and the Pow Wow Café. Snow response Winter 2017 brought with it some significant snow. With many roads blocked and dangerous walking conditions, our teams went the extra mile to ensure boiler repairs were completed and that vulnerable residents received a visit. Some of our team had to abandon their vans and instead headed out in their own 4x4 vehicles to ensure you continued to get emergency repairs. One visit by our neighbourhood team found a resident ill on the floor, thanks to us attending we were able to get emergency help and ultimately save her life. Estate inspections We changed the way we carry out estate inspections, following consultation with our involved customers. The number of residents attending the publicised estate inspections had decreased and we were finding only a handful of attendees took part. Feedback told us the times are not always convenient or the weather was poor. We continue to inspect all our estates every three months as we feel this is important to meet our aim to create ‘safer, cleaner and greener neighbourhoods’ but we are also meeting individuals and community groups more flexibly around their other commitments. We gave £4,090 to help local projects through the Community Chest scheme We introduced six Patch Pods We worked closely with our local communities to support our commitment to improving engagement with our customers through initiatives At a glance... £