Partner Directory

Learning Disability Partnership Board

Contact	Name: Judith Geddes Role: Executive Director Telephone: 01202 458702 Work Telephone: 01202 458702
Address	Strategic Services, New Century House, 24 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth
Postcode	BH1 3ND View Map (opens a new window)
Partner Type	Disability Groups •
Life Events	Education • Relationships • Caring • Health and wellbeing
What we do	As Valuing People states: People with learning disabilities are amongst the most vulnerable and socially excluded in our society. Very few have jobs, live in their own homes or have choice over who cares for them. This needs to change: people with learning disabilities must no longer be marginalised or excluded. Valuing People sets out how the Government will provide new opportunities for children and adults with learning disabilities and their families to live full independent lives as part of their local community. The delivery of Key Principles of Valuing People requires a co-ordinated approach from social care, healthcare, user led organisations and community based enterprises. It is the responsibility of the Learning Disability Partnership Board to lead this joined up approach. In Bournemouth we are keen to ensure that people with learning disabilities and their carers are able to make a real contribution to partnership working. Local independent providers and voluntary sector agencies are part of the process and implementation. Effective links are being developed with other agencies to ensure services delivered are fully inclusive and accessible to all and that people with Learning Disabilities are enabled to take part in the social, economic and environmental life of their local community.
Contribution to Partnership	On the 20th March 2001 the Government published a White Paper: Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability Services for the 21st Century. It sets out a cross-departmental approach to delivering better life chances for people with Learning Disabilities based on 4 Key Principles of Rights, Independence, Choice and Social Inclusion. There is now an updated document “Valuing People Now” which enshrines the same principles. The work of the Learning Disability Partnership Board is fundamentally about delivering the objectives of “Valuing People”. Furthermore, it is about making a real and visible difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities in Bournemouth. The Board is not a statutory body but has responsibility for overseeing the inter-agency planning and commissioning of comprehensive, integrated and inclusive services that provide a genuine choice of service options to people with learning disabilities. The Board has responsibility for ensuring a number of strategies are developed and implemented to improve and modernise a range of local services including Health and housing.