Enjoying a Malta easer break!

No - not Kirkcaldy prom - another sunny day in Malta

For one lucky carer the driech gloom of a Scottish Autumn was lifted by a week away on an all expenses paid holiday in Malta.  Judith Aitken heard about the Saga Respite for Carers Trust holidays through Fife Carers Centre and was encouraged to apply.  When she hadn’t hear from them for over a year she thought that she had been unsuccessful - but this summer to her great surprise and delight she was contacted by Saga Respite for Carers Trust and offered a holiday.  Judith and her sister went to Malta for a week and enjoyed a break in a 4 star hotel with great facilities, good food, pleasant company and a couple of excursions.  In the meantime Judith’s caring responsibilities were also taken care of and although Judith contributed some of her respite time towards the break the majority of it was paid for by SAGA.

Judith told us “Being in Malta was just wonderful. It’s lovely to be able to go on holiday and just relax – I enjoyed the whole experience.”

The Saga Respite for Carers Trust aims to give carers a break from their caring responsibilities by providing free holidays for carers and a companion and ensuring their loved ones receive care whilst they are away.  If you would like to be considered for a break you can nominate yourself.  Nominations will open on January 1, 2011 and any nominations received between now and that date will not be considered until then. Nominees who were unsuccessful in 2010 will be able to re-apply for 2011.

To qualify as a nominee, you must be over 50, have been caring for someone for more than a year, not taken a holiday away from your caring responsibilities within the last year and not be a professional carer.

You can apply yourself or nominate someone you think deserves it online at www.saga.co.uk or if you have no access to the internet you can either contact us at Fife Carers Centre to do it for you or nomination forms can also be obtained by post from January 1, 2011. Please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: The Trust Manager, Saga Respite for Carers Trust, The Saga Building, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE.

Communication for Health - Making Information Accessible for adults with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities can find it hard to understand complicated written information, but services can support them by making their information accessible and easy to read.
The Communication for Health team has been led by Speech and Language Therapy within NHS Fife, and has staff from health, Social Work and advocacy services for adults who have learning disabilities.
To ensure that service-users in Fife have access to high quality information that is easy to understand, we have developed a pathway for making information accessible. This pathway has identified quality standards, training, support and resources for making easy read information.
Staff and carers who are looking for accessible information can now access the new Communication for Health website. Although this service is aimed at people with learning disabilities, accessible information can benefit a wide range of people who have difficulty understanding written information.
On this website, you will find:

•  An online database of quality assured accessible information on a wide range of topics.
•  Support and advice on making information accessible.
• Signposting to resources and training in making accessible information.

All the information contained on our database has been rated against our Fife quality standards and agreed with local service-user groups.
To access this service please visit www.nhsfife.scot.nhs.uk/easyread/

The Caring Experience Module 2011 for Social Work Students

The Caring Experience module is for first year MSc students and aims to give them an opportunity to understand the experience of caring from the perspective of carers and service users.
The university of Dundee are once again looking for hosts to provide a placement for a student who would work with you over a minimum period of 15 hours in total. The detail of how the student would be involved with you would be agreed between you and the student beforehand.
This is a successful module which has, in previous years, given students a unique opportunity and an experience that remains with them in their training and future work.  The university hope that you will choose to work with them to provide these experiences for the students.
This year, the first session of the course will take place on 7 December 2010 from 10am to 1pm in the Dalhousie Building of the University, room 2S17 .  Please do join them if you can for some or all of this introductory session.  You will be most welcome.
If you would like to take part or have any questions regarding this request, please contact the Programme Secretary, Tracy Sutherland on 01382 381427, or email; t.l.sutherland@dundee.ac.uk