Stroke Care Study Day

Lesley recently took part in a study day for stroke health care staff organised by Joanne Graham, NHS Fife’s stroke training coordinator. The day was entitled “Caring for Carers” and focussed on the experiences of carers of people affected by a stroke with the intention that health care staff would understand the carers role and how they can help to make a difference. Lesley made a series of presentations to the delegates along with psychologists Emma Hickabottom & Kim Kemp covering topics such as Who is a carer?, How to support a Carer and Legislation and Policies. The thing that made the most impact on the delegates though was the session on A Carers Perspective. Five carers of people who have had a stroke came along and spoke about their experiences, the things they found easy and the things they found tough, how they felt at different stages of the journey and the things that had changed in their lives forever. The carers were Nancy Beveridge, Alex Birt, Josephine Munro, Kerry Brown and Moira Williams. They told us that they found being asked to talk about themselves an unusual and sometimes emotional experience but hearing the responses from the delegates made it feel very worthwhile. When the delegates were asked what they had found useful about the day the session with the carers was top of their list – many of them said that it had changed the way they think about carers and their role in helping their patient’s condition improve. Fife Carers Centre would like to say a BIG THANK YOU!! to Nancy, Alex, Josephine, Kerry and Moira for making such a difference to the day and the way carers are perceived.
We are always looking for carers to take part in similar activities - it is usually for about an hour and involves simply talking about your own experiences as a carer. If you would like to take part at some time in the future please give Lesley a call on 01592 642999.

Meeting Point Lunch Friday 25th September 2009

Our speakers at the meeting point lunch this month were from Kirkcaldy and District Samaritans. Linda and Eric gave a brief history of Samaritans starting with how the founder Chad Varah began the organisation and explaining how Samartians still aim to achieve their vision of a society where fewer people die by suicide. Samaritans do this by offering confidential emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland. The service is available 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which may lead to suicide. Carers asked Linda and Eric a lot of questions about topics such as how they remained emotionally healthy when they spend so much time listening to people with sadnesses in their lives. It was interesting to hear that they received comprehensive and obviously effective training to help them to do so. We also learnt that each of the branches of Samaritans is a charity in their own right and that Kirkcaldy and District Samaritans need to raise £30,000 each year to keep going. As with all volunteer organisations Samaritans are interested in recruiting volunteers to help in various roles such as fundraising, publicity and administration as well as being a listening volunteer. We also found out that you can contact Samaritans in a number of different ways now - Samaritan volunteers offer support by responding to phone calls, emails and letters. Alternatively people can drop in to a branch to have a face to face meeting.
Across the UK you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 for the price of a local call. In the Republic of Ireland call 1850 60 90 90. You can also email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org, write to Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92.

Looking after the interests of an adult with incapacity

Carers can often find themselves caring for someone who is no longer able to manage their own affairs, like finances, business or property or make decisions about their own care, for example, medical treatment. So that it can be done by the carer, or perhaps someone else who can be trusted to do the job, certain legal steps must be taken. It’s a good idea to seek advice if you are not sure what you will be required to do if you are the person who will be taking on one of these roles.

We ran a workshop on Tuesday 22nd September with the help of Amanda Kerr and Stuart Fowler from the Office of the Public Guardian and Sue Williams, a solicitor with Baird & Co. Carers attending found out about the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and how it affects their ability to act on behalf of the person they care for. All those who attended said they found it very interesting and useful and for some it cleared up particular questions they had about their individual circumstances. The main lesson that seemed to come from the day was that each person's circumstances are different and that they should be looked at individually. It was also apparent that putting in place a "Power of Attorney" is a useful thing to do for all of us - it is a safeguard so that if the situation arises where someone is not able to make decisions for themselves then another individual is able to act on their behalf with the proper authority.

Acting on behalf of Adults with Incapacity – what do the terms mean?

Appointees

Someone can be made an appointee for benefits, where the other person is unable to manage their own benefits. This is arranged through the Department of Work and Pensions, and applies only to state benefits.
In the first instance contact the office that deals with the benefit involved.

Power of Attorney

Someone can arrange for their welfare to be safeguarded and their affairs to be managed in the future, should they become unable to do this for themselves. They can do this by giving another person (someone they trust) power of attorney to look after some or all of their property and financial affairs and/or to make decisions about their personal welfare, including medical treatment.

The person giving power of attorney has to be able to understand what they are agreeing to when they give consent.

Power of attorney is a legal document, drawn up by a Solicitor, and has to be registered (since 02/04/01) with the Office of the Public Guardian for it to be effective. Power of attorney does not come in to effect unless the person granting it becomes ill and is unable to manage their own affairs.

Guardianship

If someone is incapable of making decisions, and there is no power of attorney, someone can apply to the Sheriff Court for an Intervention order or a Guardianship order.
An Intervention order is for a one off decision or short-term help e.g. selling property, or signing a document.
A Guardianship order is where continuous management of affairs or safeguarding of welfare is required.

Local Authorities or any person claiming an interest in the person’s affairs may make an application.

Access with funds

Individuals can also apply to the Office of the Public Guardian to gain access to the funds of an adult incapable of managing those funds for example a bank account in the sole name of the adult.

Intervention orders

An intervention order allows another person to make a single, one-off decision for
someone if they are unable to do so themselves (for example: this could be to consent to a having a particular medical procedure). Intervention orders are applied for through the Sheriff’s Court.

Contact Details

For further information from the Office of the Public Guardian you can contact them at:

Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland)
Hadrian House
Callendar Business Park
Callendar Road
Falkirk
FK1 1XR

Telephone number 01324 678300
Email opg@scotcourts.gov.uk.

Photos from the Royal Visit to Fife Carers Centre

Here are some of the photos taken during our recent visit by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal Princess Anne. The photos were taken by photographer Barry Moir , of Barry Moir Photography, who really kindly donated his time and skill for free. Barry is normally a wedding and portrait photographer based in Kirkcaldy so being a royal paparazzi for the morning was a departure from his normal routine! Not being allowed to ask the Princess to pose meant that Barry had to capture the moment quickly. I think it has resulted in some lovely natural smiley faces being caught in the picture. What do you think?

Important news for Myfife C+1 card holders

If you hold a “myfife” card with the C+1 element of concessionary travel (that’s the card that allows you to travel by bus and rail with a companion for example a carer) then you should note that the qualifying criteria has changed. When it is time to renew your card you will need to meet with one of the following new criteria if you are to continue to receive these concessionary travel services:




Qualifying Criteria

“C+1” card
Disability Living Allowance, middle or higher rate of care component
Attendance Allowance
In residential care

“Ceye+1” card
Registered Blind

If you do not meet with one of the above criteria then you may be still eligible to hold a “C” card. This card offers free bus travel and discounted rail travel.

Should you need further information please contact Fife Council’s Concessionary Travel Team on 01592 583370.

Royal Visit to Fife Carers Centre

We were honoured today with a visit from our patron Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal Princess Anne. Along with invited guests who included carers, representatives from NHS Fife and Fife Council were people who have helped us out over the years. After talking to carers, staff and visitors in the centre Princess Anne joined more carers in the Path Head Hall where she was presented with a framed copy of the poem "Carers - the UK's Secret Service" written for the Carers Week by Kerry Black. It was a really enjoyable morning with everyone commenting on how interested and knowledgeable Princess Anne was about carers issues.

Meeting Point Lunch Speaker - Janice Russell

We had a very interesting talk on Friday 28th August at the Meeting Point Lunch. The speaker was Janice Russell from Trading Standards. We learnt a lot (and not just about Janice's fine appreciation of a man in uniform!!). The subject under discussion was avoiding Scams. She told us about some Scams that had come to the attention of the Trading Standards inFife and how utterly ruthless the scammers are in taking away the last penny from those they are scamming. We also learnt about phishing scams on the internet and only today I received one from the HM Revenue and Customs purporting to tell me I had a tax refund coming and could I just confirm my bank details? HA!! No chance! I followed Janice's advice and forwarded it to Trading Standards and to the HM Revenue and Customs so they could see what was being done in their name.

The maxim that Janice said we should stick to is "If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is!"