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Making it Real

Making it Real Board

In 2013, we set up a Making it Real Board in Herefordshire. Since then, the Board members, who are carers and people who use services, have been working together to improve the availability of good quality information for people and help them understand how they can take more control of their care and support.

Open meetings

The Board, which is made up of carers and people who use services, now wants to encourage involvement from a wider range of people and is inviting service users and their carers (including personal assistants) to come to the Making it Real open meetings.

The meetings that have taken place previously have covered a wide range of areas such as WISH, carers services, technology enabled care and mental health. This year the Board will continue to review various service areas and highlight any issues.

Dates

All meetings are held 11.30am to 2pm, in person at The Aspire Community Hub, Canal Road, HR1 2EA.

  • Wednesday 13th May 2026
  • Wednesday 1st July 2026

Meeting notes

Let us know you're coming

Please let us know if you are coming, so we can make sure we send you the MS Teams invite and the simple joining instructions, or the meeting location, before the meeting.

If you would like to attend please contact Sylvia Nicholls:

For more information about Making it Real, please visit the national Making it Real website.

Making It Real Board - meeting notes March 2026

On 18 March 2026, the Making it Real Board met at the Aspire Centre, in Hereford, to share what’s happening locally and to keep improving how people can get the right support. The conversation focused on helping residents take part in community life, stay independent, and feel included. The bullet points below provide a summary of the meeting.

  • Making It Real Terms of Reference: we approved the updated Terms of Reference for the year, and they are now available on this website.
  • Physical & Sensory Disability Strategy: we confirmed the date of the next Strategy meeting.
  • Let’s Connect (libraries and digital inclusion): we heard how libraries are improving the tablet set-up to make them easier to use, based on feedback from community groups and schools. The updated tablets are now being tested with the public ahead of wider roll-out.
  • Talk Community, Community Connectors: we shared an update on the Community Connectors service, which offers short-term, practical help so people feel more confident joining local activities and getting to appointments or advice services. The service has been running countywide since November 2025.
  • Early prevention of homelessness: we heard about early help for people who may be at risk of homelessness, including how the team finds and supports people earlier, and why outreach matters in rural areas.
  • Quality and improvement: we talked about how we keep improving services, including the importance of clear communication and sharing feedback in a timely, constructive way.

Next steps:

We’ll share information on how to refer into the Community Connectors service, and we’ll also put together a short piece of text that can be used in local community newsletters and magazines. At a future meeting, we’ll come back to Direct Payments and look at how information and support can be improved for people who manage their own arrangements.