Residents across Hyde South East sent us their views on the Audit Commission report, written after a Short Notice Inspection (SNI) last December.

Time was short before an action plan - showing how HSE would make improvements – was due at the Commission. Yet 568 residents took part in a wide range of ways – by post, Internet and face-to-face. All who participated deserve our thanks; we learned a great deal.

You told us that:

• Many residents feel happy with HSE services, but others agree: customer services - and access to services - fall short of the high standards we want to provide.
• Staff responsiveness and accountability aren’t as good as they should be. You  questioned how well Hyde Customer Service and office staff listen, respond to queries, repairs and complaints, and follow-through.
• You want to know how well our services deliver. You want better progress-checking and communication between services, and for us to take on board your feedback. You’d like us to pay attention to your suggestions for improvement. And you want us to keep to the service promises we make, whatever service is involved.
• You told us that HSE residents support better care for those who are older, vulnerable, or disabled. Mobility is a particular concern. You want us to pay more attention to what youngsters require, and to the needs of working people around repairs and other appointments.
• In most neighbourhoods, every day, residents are dealing with difference. You told us that differences between neighbours can be painful, and that we need to ensure that these and other acute situations which directly affect people’s lives get the attention they need - quickly.
• You want to see Hyde staff operating more at a local level, to work with you and to be alongside you when problems arise.
• Our website is not nearly as useful and engaging as it could be or should be.

What’s happening now?

A special Project Board has been established to look after the delivery of the Action Plan. This board includes two resident representatives who will play a major role in looking closely at what we are doing to deliver what has been promised and that we are keeping to the timetable for delivery. The Project Board meets on a weekly basis with a special meeting dedicated to resident scrutiny, once a month.
Work continues on the website to improve quality and accuracy of information, access, and opportunities for you to feedback and interact with Hyde. You have given us some useful feedback and from this we have made changes such as enlarging the map and putting in a post code search on the homepage. Thank you for your input and please do keep involved through the website feedback forum.
Through the website pages you can now access data on how well we are performing in different areas of activity: the levels of rent collected, speed with which we turn around voids, that is make an empty property back into a home and move residents in, how well we are doing in delivering gas servicing.  We are also working on improving the information given on the pages which are local to the area where you live.

Completing the Hyde Census

Over the last few months, Hyde has asked all its residents to complete a census form so that we can understand more about our resident population. This information is extremely useful in helping us design our services to meet your needs in the future. We are delighted to say that thousands of people have completed the forms and in some areas we have managed to reach our targets of 80% of tenants and 50% of all residents but we still need as many people as possible to complete them. If you haven’t completed a census form then please contact your local office to get one

High Impact repairs

The Staff at Hyde South East have been responding to resident feedback looking at what we can do to improve our repairs service, focusing on those areas which have a high impact on resident satisfaction. They have considered what we can do to improve resident satisfaction with time taken to complete repairs and together this will help us to address a number of the SNI recommendations. In particular residents were concerned with:

• Pest control 
• Communal and external repairs (particularly fencing and works to trees) 
• Repairs for vulnerable residents, which are not technically landlord’s responsibility 
• Clarity about rights and responsibilities 
• Keeping residents informed

Resident requests

During the resident consultation about the development of the Action Plan, we received a number of requests to improve the way we work, which do not relate to specific recommendations from the inspectors. We included these in the Action Plan and have made progress in delivering these:

• We will now only ask residents security questions when our discussion with you involves personal information e.g. we won’t ask you a security question when you order a repair, but we will if you want to know your rent account balance. 
• We have a new information flyer, including pictures, which we use to notify residents of a change of local neighbourhood staff. 
• We’ve agreed improvements to staff identification cards and we’re also pressing contractors to make sure they identify themselves to residents properly. (Vulnerable residents let us know how they would like us to gain access when we visit; ringing the bell or knock on the door).
• We’re introducing Hyde-branded bags and clip-boards for staff to use to help make them more visible on estates and streets where you live.
• Our new customer service training focuses on supporting staff to really listen to residents and understand what support you need to resolve your enquiry.
• We now send flyers to give advance notification of estate inspections and we are seeing increasing numbers of residents taking part. 

Scrutiny

Residents are vital to the Action Plan and the way it is delivered. Your views will help us to make sure that we do what we need to do to improve services. This is why we have invited residents to join the Project Board and have also taken the SNI Action Plan to the newly established Hyde South East Resident Scrutiny Panel.
 
The resident members of the Project Board scrutinise the Action Plan from a strategic view point and help to validate what we are doing to achieve the objectives set out in the Plan. The role of Hyde South East Resident Scrutiny Panel complements the work of the Project Board. The Panel’s members will help us test the service improvements and from their feedback we can judge if you, the people who use the service, are getting the service you need and want. At their first meeting (in May 2010) the Resident Scrutiny Panel discussed how the Panel would operate and also looked closely at the way performance information is presented to residents. They plan to meet every 2 months, taking part in other activities and consultations in between meetings.

We will of course, continue to keep you updated with our progress but would like to hear your thoughts about the changes we are making or any other ideas you have. Contact your local office or visit the residents' forum to tell us your views.