The help on offer will be tested

Twelve people are being selected to trial the help on offer from Monmouthshire Council.

The pilot scheme will use people from the area who are over the age of 50 with no experience in using social services.

They will be given scenarios which will require them to access help and will then report their findings on the services back to Age Concern Gwent which is running the scheme with the council.

"We are keen to check the quality of services from service users," said Eileen Powell from Age Concern Gwent.

It is a common thing that people don't know where to turn for help in times of crisis Eileen Powell, Age Concern Cymru

"We are trying to get a small number of people in Monmouth who don't have any contact with social services and we will ask them to away with some scenarios to access care.

"For example, someone may care for their elderly mother who is becoming more frail and they need help looking after her.

"It is a common thing that people don't know where to turn for help in times of crisis, and we want to find out how people access the services on offer.

"We are not going to give them any ideas about where to go for help, we want them to show us where they would turn to get advice first and if that advice they are getting is adequate.

"We don't know where people are going to go to get help and that is something we are interested in finding out.

"Are they being pointed in the right direction, is the advice good advice, are the people they ask for help courteous and polite, these are all questions we want answered.

"After the exercise we are going to collate all the information we get back from the mystery shoppers and get their feedback.

The council want to find out where the gaps are in the service

"We want to find out where are the barriers for getting help but we also want to hear about the positive things too.

"It isn't about catching people out, it is about seeing where the gaps and seeing what works.

"It is a way of ensuring the quality is the best we can offer," she said.

The scheme, which is trialling help on offer for the over 50s, could be extended if it is a success.

"If it works we may look at adopting this type of involvement with service users in other areas," said Ms Powell.

"Hopefully it will give a clear picture of what happens when people need help and don't know where to go and what can be done to improve things," she added.

Simplistic

The panel of 12 will carry out their survey of the council during the summer.

"We want all providers of social and healthcare in Monmouthshire to make sure that their information is accessible, easy to understand and that the pathways to the services are logical and simplistic," said Julie Boothroyd, the authority's projects co-ordinator.

"We also want to ensure that social care workers and local volunteers understand the available information so that they can provide effective support to individuals needing social care," she added.