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New partnership between Highland Hospice and local community to provide rural home care and support service


By Staff Reporter

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Deirdre Mackinnon.
Deirdre Mackinnon.

A badly-needed service providing home care and support to residents in part of the Highlands is to be set up under a new partnership between Highland Hospice and the local community.

The charity is working with 3 Glens Community Care, which covers Fort Augustus, Glenmoriston and Glengarry.

It is part of the hospice’s Sunflower Home Care programme, which is an extension to its care provision and aims to provide a service for people aged over 18 in their own homes with varying health and social care needs.

Deirdre MacKinnon, chairwoman of Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston Community Council, is also chairwoman of the 3 Glens board.

She said the new community-led service was badly needed as there was otherwise little provision for the population of about 1200.

“We have been trying to do this for three years because we are really stretched for home care,” she said.

“We did a community action plan about three years ago and that is what the communities wanted – it was felt there was not enough home care.

“We are trying to set up something in the same way as Black Isle Cares or Boleskine Community Care.”

Both organisations were established to improve care services, particularly for older people.

“They were really struggling,” Mrs MacKinnon said. “But they have gone from strength to strength.”

Lorraine Coe, the hospice’s head of clinical services, said her organisation was now recruiting care at home workers and hoped the new service would be up and running in October.

“This is an exciting and new development for Highland Hospice,” she said.

“There are two other hospices who have developed Care at Home services in Scotland.

“However, what is different is that we are working with a community group to help provide the care required to people in the Fort Augustus, Glenmoriston and Glengarry Community Council areas.”

The new 3 Glens Community Care organisation gained charitable status as the coronavirus pandemic struck, but the communities set up the 3 Glens Resilience Group to help alleviate the impact in the area.

Initially, it mainly delivered food, newspapers and prescriptions but has since expanded its services thanks to funding from a range of organisations including Falck Renewables, owner of the Millennium Wind Farm, Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

It has provided 1500 hot meals and 200 larder boxes, plus grants to people hit by the lack of seasonal work.

Some local businesses have now formed 3 Glens Working Together to look at reopening the villages again safely.

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