My parent was last assessed years ago and received £1500 a month.
I moved in due to them not coping and SW have cut budget in half.
I am now not well and have to atrend hospital but not getting sufficient to attend (and leave parent alone). Parent needs 24/7 supervision that has fallen to me. Lost .
Hi Heather,
Many thanks for your email and welcome to the SDS Forum.
I’m really sorry to hear that you’re having such a difficult time at the moment. As your circumstances have changed, now would be a good time to ask for a review of your parents needs, as it sounds like you’re not in a position to provide the level of support you were providing before. Even if your health was being affected on a temporary basis, it sounds like your parent would need additional support when you have to attend any appointments. The Social Work Department might have ‘factored in’ the support you were providing before when working out the SDS budget that was needed to pay for your parents support, but this has now changed.
As you are an unpaid carer for your parent, I don’t know if you have an Adult Carers Support Plan in place for yourself? If you do, that’s great - and this could also be updated as there’s some significant changes for you and the Plan would need to reflect these.
If you haven’t got this Plan in place, then you can request this. Often, your local Carers Centre can support carers to do this. The Plan itself is based on a ‘good conversation’ with someone who understands Carers needs and if you meet local eligibility criteria for Carers, you could be offered an SDS budget for yourself, or these resources could be directed towards paying for your parents support.
In addition, there is likely to be an Independent SDS Information and Support service based in your area, that could support you further. You can either do a search for their details and the Carers Centre’s details on our website by using the ‘Find Help’ tool and searching for your Local Authority area, which you can find here: SDS Scotland website
Alternatively you can let me know which area you live in and I can find their contact details for you.
I hope that helps but do come back to me if there’s anything else that I can do.
Many thanks,
Mark
Thank you, I’m in Edinburgh.
Never had a carers assessment and muddled through but as I have to attend hospital and also have a son with Autism who needs support I’m absolutely drained.
Thanks for reply, Heather
Hi Heather,
Many thanks for getting back to me and letting me know the area you live in.
In Edinburgh, the local Carers Centre is VOCAL and they have loads of experience in supporting unpaid carers, so they will be very familiar with the kind of issues you are currently trying to deal with. Their contact details are:
VOCAL (Edinburgh)
Edinburgh Carers’ Hub
60 Leith Walk
EDINBURGH
EH6 5HB
Tel: 0808 196 6666
Email: centre@vocal.org.uk
Website: https://www.vocal.org.uk/
The other local organisations that can provide further information and support around SDS, is the Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCIL). Their contact details are:
LCIL
Norton Park
57 Albion Road
Edinburgh
EH7 5QY
Tel: (0131) 475 2350
Email: admin@lothiancil.org.uk
Website: https://www.lothiancil.org.uk/
It sounds like you have multiple caring roles - so getting the right support for yourself is really important.
You mentioned that your son may also need further support. I’m not sure if this would be both at school and outside of school. If you needed any advice or support with this, it would be worth mentioning this to VOCAL and LCIL.
There is for example, as national information and advice service for Scotland, for children with Additional Support for Learning (ASL) needs, provided by Enquire. They have a helpline and you can find more details about their support here if you ever need them: https://enquire.org.uk/
I hope that gives you something to go on but do come back to us if there’s anything else that you need.
Many thanks,
Mark
Thanks so much, Heather
Hi Heather,
I would definitely contact one or both of the organisations that Mark mentioned above.
You should also make sure that the local authority social work know that you are struggling in your caring role, so that they can potentially provide you with more support. This is nothing to be ashamed of, especially if you have more than one person relying on you and you have your own health issues. You can ask for a review of your parent’s care package at any time, so if your health has changed this would be a good reason for a review.
It can be really tricky for carers to get support to allow them to attend things like hospital appointments, especially if these are not scheduled much in advance and you don’t have family how can help. If you employ a PA for your parent, then maybe they can provide extra help if your budget allows this. You may be able to access a respite voucher scheme, which you can use to pay for someone to provide a few hours homecare. VOCAL will be able to tell you about this, as well as any support you might be able to get as a parent carer.
Best of luck with finding the support you need.
Justin