Aims of Worcestershire Association of Service User - Essay Example

It also helps older people in improving their quality of life. Accordingly in the year 2011, WASU availed the services of TIME4PEOPLE to impart training to their members. The program is aimed at empowering disabled people to garner enough confidence so that they can speak up for themselves and others. WASU has been successful in disseminating information on the self-management of diabetes. Peter Ashley, with his wealth of experience, spoke on the topic of Dementia that mostly old age people found quite beneficial (The annual report 2011, p. 6).In a bid to expand the service area, WASU undertook small but effective modules at the University of Worcester.

The topics include professional nurses, social workers, paramedics, and many more. The programs were so appreciated that WASU secured another 12 months extension to run such modules until August 2012. WASU Supermarket project is currently going on with full force. The specialist training services from WASU could increase its revenue by £8000 and that is a sign of enhanced participation by user members (The annual report 2011, p.7). Thus, WASU has been successful in pushing its program in the wider context of service users and carer involvement.

How Can WASU Improve Welfare Practices?WASU seeks to volunteer support for a variety of work and services. ‘Having your say’ and ‘making your voice heard are two such programs which were designed and aimed at developing peer visitors. The “Having Your Say” project is unique and only of its kind in the UK. Residential care for old people is seen as one area where the considerable scope of improvement in welfare practices is still there. That will, in turn, improve the quality of life of old-age people (Volunteering, 2012) WASU focuses on continuous development on training aspects of service providers that can fulfill the diverse needs of service users.

The aging population is increasing significantly in most parts including Worcestershire and most of the old individuals will prefer home care rather than moving to residential care. The benefits of home care are immense as economically it is less burdensome in comparison to nursing or residential care. The local authority also prefers to provide home care mostly due to resource constraints. As per the census data, the population of people aged 75 and over has almost doubled in the last thirty years and will go on rising in the coming years.

Home care workers are important links between such old people and the outside world. In this perspective, home care workers need to have a specific training program that covers human management aspects so as to improve their communication and practical skills. In this way, they are better equipped while providing home care to old-age people. WASU can do a lot more to fill this gap by running specific training programs to meet the home care needs of old people with differing disabilities including mentally disabled ones.

Improved welfare practices in-home care will raise the quality of life of service users to a great extent in the Worcestershire area.