Cardi Care - Rural Health and Care Wales

CARDI CARE - RURAL HEALTH AND CARE WALES

“Cardi Care” is a pilot project that will investigate whether a tool kit, developed by the award-winning Solva Care, is able to be used by other rural communities as a basis of emulating and duplicating the successful community care model that is currently in place in Solva, Pembrokeshire. The aim is to build and sustain vibrant, strong and connected community in villages whilst working closely with the Community Council and other local groups and organisations.

The innovative tool kit is to be piloted in a rural community in Ceredigion, to see whether the Solva Care model could be successfully duplicated elsewhere, for the benefit of other rural communities. The Solva tool kit has recently been completed and can be found here https://www.solvacare.co.uk/toolkit/.

As this pilot is to test the replicability of the tool kit, it is important that a community closely resembling that of Solva is selected to trial the kit via the “Cardi Care” project. Solva is a small seaside village, heavily reliant on tourism that has a population of around 800 people, a large proportion of whom are over the age of 60 and also a large number of whom have moved into the area. Four potentially suitable locations have been identified within Ceredigion to run the project, based on demographic and geographic information – Aberporth, Llangrannog. New Quay and Borth.

The first stage of the project will involve engagement with the four communities to outline the Cardi Care project and potential for involvement. Community engagement is essential for the project to succeed and a series of surveys will be conducted with residents within these villages to ascertain interest and needs. This was conducted in Solva at the onset of Solva Care, thus this is an important part of the project research.

Once this research has been conducted, the village with the largest level of interest and needs, with strong community support, will be selected for the pilot. During this phase, residents will also be asked to identify if they wish to register as a volunteer, should their village be selected, thus a volunteer resource will start to be collated. Also at this stage a Co-ordinator will be appointed.

Research will be conducted throughout to ascertain the level of engagement, how easy the tool kit is to emulate, the impact on the community and potential for the project to continue after the funding has ceased. It is envisaged that should the toolkit have instigated a successful model of community care in Ceredigion, that funding will be sought as part of the Co-ordinator role to ensure the project continues after the Cynnal y Cardi funding has ceased. One section of the toolkit that will be piloted focusses on funding and therefore this is an important element of the research.

This project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.