As I spend more time in Argyll & Bute (specifically Cowal), trying to understand the landscape for older people, I’m learning that there isn’t so much an issue with filling in the gaps as there is connecting the dots.
There is a range of community support available- groups, clubs, befrienders and lunch clubs. There are also a range of paid-for supports in the area, offering different services in the home and community. But these services aren’t always delivering holistic outcomes for an older person -they may only be meeting specific basic needs. I think this may be because support (paid and unpaid) can be disconnected. This may be because of
- Transport
- Housing
- Information Sharing
- Access for older people with support needs
Isolation is a concern across Scotland, but can be even more so in rural areas like Cowal. Even more so for people who may have issues with mobility, may need support to leave the house and may not be able to use community transport. It is these people that services find it most difficult to reach.ย Paid care at home staff are often the only people to see some of these older people through the day. Their houses may be older, difficult to renovate and harder to reach.
The local befrienders charity, Cowal Elderly Befrienders, have adapted their service model to try to connect the dots. They try to act as facilitators for older people to get together with each other, giving them the support, opportunity and transport to do so. Rather than visit home to home, they try to bridge the gap between an individual and their community.
Distance is also an issue- I had the opportunity to sit in with the carers club at Crossroads Carers in Dunoon. The women in attendance were talking about lack of accessible venues meaning that even groups made to support people with long term conditions were not accessible to those people. There was also mention of travel, specifically to and from Inverclyde for hospital, which was seen as traumatic and unnecessary. It is in these cases that reducing unnecessary hospital admissions must be even more of a priority.
Work in Argyll and Bute will be centred on delivering support which addresses these issues as much as possible – and links with older people and the community to understand these barriers.
I’d also like to develop stronger relationships amongst partners in the areas- to try to connect the dots to deliver better outcomes for older people.