Understanding Home Care in South Lanarkshire

Do you know what to do if all of a sudden your mum or dad suddenly needed care at home. What would you do, how would go about finding out what to do, who would you ask.

Do you know who to contact to get Home Care

Do you know what to do if all of a sudden your mum or dad or another loved one suddenly needed care at home. What would you do, how would go about finding out what to do, who would you ask.

At some point in your life you are likely to require some help for a loved one as they get older and struggle to fend for themselves. It is a question we get asked quite often at Home Instead South Lanarkshire, when we get frantic phone calls from families looking for help but don’t know what to do or what the process is to get help in the Social Care system.

An older couple happily preparing food together in a kitchen, grating cheese on a counter with vegetables nearby. - Home Instead

My Story - Alan Barr owner of Home Instead South Lanarkshire

Here at Home Instead South Lanarkshire, we have great knowledge of the Home Care sector and are quite happy to advise and educate families on what the next steps they should take and what options are available. One of the reasons I started Home Instead South Lanarkshire was because I was in this very position and did not know what to do to get help for my mum, who was living with dementia.

It was a difficult time for the family and especially for my dad who looked after her and cared for her, which was a 24 hour task and very tiring and mentally draining. At the time I did all the usual things, like going online and searching for possible solutions, and made several phone calls but hit many brick walls and could not find anyone who could help us with my mum. We eventually got pointed towards Alzheimer’s Scotland who could eventually give us some help for a few hours a week, a service they no longer offer. There was no Home Instead South Lanarkshire or similar companies around but there is now.

An elderly man and a young woman sit in a sunlit room with large windows, surrounded by flowers and magazines. - Home Instead

Understanding Care

With that experience in mind, we have decided to start a campaign of educating our local communities across South Lanarkshire on “Understanding Care” and how the Social Care system, and in particular Home Care, works within Lanarkshire. We will provide free drop-in workshop sessions across the towns of North and South Lanarkshire where we will invite members of the public to come along and ask all the questions they need answered. This may be because they have a current urgent care requirement or they may feel that they will need help further down the line and are planning ahead.

We will answer questions around:

Am I entitled to help from Social Services
How do I get in contact with Social Services
What type of services can I get help with from Social Services
What is Self Directed Support, someone mentioned it to me but don’t know how it works
Can I pay for home care privately
My mum needs help around meals, can you help with this
My dad is lonely and needs some company and go out a couple of times a week

And many more questions which we can answer and also provide quality solutions via our own Care Professionals.

Two people stand by a pond feeding ducks. An empty wheelchair is nearby, and a wooden bridge is in the background. - Home Instead

If you want to learn more about this initiative or have questions of your own to answer then please feel free to get in contact with us or come along to one of our drop-in sessions. We are holding them at the following venues and the following times over the few months.

Lanark – 1st Wednesday of every month from 11-00am to 1-00pm,

starting on Wednesday 7^th June in the

Memorial Hall which is at the top of Lanark High Street, on St Leonard Street

Biggar – 2nd Wednesday of every month from 1-00pm to 3-00pm,

starting on Wednesday 14^th June in the

Gillespie Centre which is situated on the High Street in Biggar

Carluke – 3rd Tuesday of every month from 11-00am to 1-00pm,

starting on Tuesday 20^th June in the

Carluke Lifestyles in the centre of Carluke just along from the shopping precinct

Lesmahagow – 4th Tuesday of every month from 11-00am to 1-00pm,

starting on Tuesday 27^th June in the

Lesmahagow Resource Centre in the centre of town