Successful service brings help, when you need it, during the night
Friday, April 13 2007
A night-time care service to help mainly frail older people to remain longer in their own homes has received a resounding vote of confidence from its users and their families.
An independent evaluation has found that the Scottish Borders Night Support Service is highly prized and brings improved health and well-being, security, comfort and human contact. Carers also appreciate it because it gives them sleep, support and peace of mind. There were no criticisms of the service from long-term users.
The service, which is joint-funded by Scottish Borders Council and NHS Borders and managed within the home care service, provides care such as assisting into bed, help to get to the bathroom and turning in bed. It offers safety checks as well as reassurance and reorientation visits. Staff work in pairs out of the Borders General Hospital and local hospitals, from 10pm to 7:30am, 365 days a year.
It has brought relief to many vulnerable older people and anxious carers since it was first introduced in the Duns and Kelso areas in November 2004 before being extended throughout the Borders in July last year. Most users are introduced to the service through assessment by a social worker or district nurse.
One of its main advantages is that it enables people to stay at home, rather than go into a residential home, and with fewer spells in hospital. After one long stay in hospital, a service user said: “I had started to worry about going home on my own, but this helped a lot.”
Other benefits include:
- improved health and well-being from a good night's sleep in bed (rather than spending part of the night in a chair and feeling tired next day)
- feeling comfortable
- the security of knowing you will be checked during the night, whether or not you are awake
- the security of knowing the service could be called via their Bordercare alarm in an emergency: “It's nice to know they are on hand when I have done enough struggling,” one user said.
The staff were described as ‘always so bright and nice’, ‘very nice, very supportive’, ‘very friendly’ and ‘they know what they are doing and they are so careful with everything . . . I couldn't be more fortunate’.
Both teams of Night Support staff were enthusiastic about their jobs. All had been in post since the start of the service. As one carer put it, ‘After watching for them coming at the beginning, I soon just went off to sleep, knowing that any problems with my partner would be sorted.”
The independent evaluation was commissioned by the Users and Carers Group of the Borders Voluntary Community Care Forum (BVCCF).
Annette Scobie of the BVCCF said: “We commissioned this report because we wanted to know exactly what people thought of the Night Support Service, and it has made welcome reading to learn how widely appreciated it is. Users also made some recommendations for improving the service, which we have been able to feed back into the system. Night Support really is a life-saver for some frail older people and a huge relief to their families and carers.”
Unified Solutions.