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The times they are a bein’ developed through a period of consultation

By Jim Griffin
August 7, 2009 at 4:19 pm

(Apologies: colossalism.)

It’s a time of change in our patch. Having resolved the volunteer crisis in medical loan and regrouted the Great Wall of China I can turn my attention to another minor task: developing a new service. Glasgow & Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire branches have been waiting patiently while our neighbours launch care in the home pilots but now the wait is over and the work begins.

It’s an interesting time, chasing leads, sniffing out possibilities. We might work with young carers, supporting them in their roles, transporting the people they care for to respite and doing a wee bit of advocacy work to ensure they get the help and support available to them.

We could do some work around telecare, recruiting volunteers to act as nominated keyholders for isolated, vulnerable people who don’t have friends or family members to act as responders. We could support hospital discharge, taking people home from hospital and getting them settled in their homes to give them the support and reassurance they need while freeing hospital beds for new patients.

Or we could do something we haven’t even thought of yet. Our research could take us to a vulnerable group we hadn’t considered, or to a need we hadn’t realised existed. It’s an interesting time. It feels as if I’m on an open road, looking ahead to a distant horizon, unsure of where I’m heading but knowing somehow that wherever I go and whatever I find one thing remains certain: I’ll be even busier. Less updates, more apologies. I’ll meet you back here for Christmas.

And I’ll be late.

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