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Crossroads Orkney
Crossroads Orkney is a charity which was established in 1994
with the aim of improving the life of Carers and those for whom they care
by giving information, emotional support and practical help.
The initial funding came from the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, which was initiated by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal in 1991, the Local Authority and NHS Orkney.
The service is run by a volunteer Board of Directors, a Manager, an Assistant Manager (part time) and an Administrator.
There are 40 Care Attendants who cover the Orkney Mainland and some of the Outer Islands.
Funding Update
The Change Fund
Crossroads Orkney have secured funding from the Change Fund. The funding is to be used to provide full days of respite to carers on the outer islands to allow them to come into Kirkwall to attend essential appointments such as the doctor or dentist or to do some shopping. We can also now offer an overnight sleep in to allow the carer to go away overnight with back up visits through the day to ensure their dependants safety and wellbeing. This is an alternative to residential respite, as often the dependant does not want the upheaval of leaving their own home. Additional to these new services we can also provide a care attendant for a full day of care to carers of high dependency dependants for example people suffering from Dementia. All these services have been developed to try to shift the balance of care into the community. Instead of your dependant going to a day centre which they may not want to attend they can have a care attendant for the day to meet their social needs and also meet the carers need for respite. Most of the outer islands do not have day centres and this service will help to address this short fall.
For more information please contact the centre on 870500.
TIME TO LIVE FUND
The Orkney Carers Centre has secured funding from the ‘Short Breaks Fund’ resourced by the Scottish Government. The funding is to be used to provide short breaks to unpaid carers who do a significant amount of caring. The Time To Live Fund is a pilot scheme and if there is a good uptake there may be more money available next year. With Christmas approaching we have decided to offer a return trip to Aberdeen with a cabin. For older carers who have a free boat pass we would offer a B and B for an overnight stay in Aberdeen. For carers who cannot leave their dependant our respite service may be able to help out. To apply to this fund contact the Orkney Carers Centre on 870500. The funding is limited and each application will go before a panel and applicants will be contacted immediately.