Supporting unpaid carers in Aberdeenshire

Anna Garden, Director of Children and Families at VSA

Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership and Aberdeenshire Council recently awarded VSA a contract to provide practical, emotional, social, financial, and wellbeing support to adults, and young people caring for someone in the Aberdeenshire area.

Anna Garden, Director of Children & Families at VSA said: “We are truly honoured to have been awarded the contract from Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership and Aberdeenshire Council to support unpaid carers living across the shire.

"At VSA, we know the impact being an unpaid carer can have on many aspects of a person’s life and we are looking forward to being able to provide support and a friendly ear to chat to.”

Lindsey Flockhart, Lead Social Worker for the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “This contract was awarded to VSA after a competitive tender process which gave us the opportunity to ensure that the specific needs of young carers and unpaid adult carers living in Aberdeenshire will be met by the right service provider.

“Unpaid carers provide the backbone of care and support across Aberdeenshire and the country as a whole and we are looking forward to working with VSA to ensure that our Aberdeenshire carers are recognised and get the support they need and are entitled to.”

VSA Aberdeenshire Carers Service has a team that will support carers across the locality areas in Aberdeenshire focussed on making the support more accessible in each local community.

The service will continue to provide the programme of events that carers are used to attending while adding more across the year in each locality area for carer groups across Aberdeenshire.

Anna continues: “I am thrilled that the team and I will be able to provide much-needed support to unpaid carers living in Aberdeenshire.

"If you or someone you know is an unpaid carer in the shire and want to find out any more information about what support is available and how we can support, please get in touch and a member of the team would be delighted to help.”

“We also have a variety of resources on our website, vsa.org.uk, for carers to access including a range of toolkits that provide practical information and support that can be accessed digitally at any time.”

Sue Freeth, Chief Executive at VSA added: “Unpaid carers are truly unsung heroes in Aberdeenshire and across the UK and we are committed at VSA to provide a quality service to help support each young and adult carer in their caring role.”

VSA currently also provide support to vulnerable children and adults living across the city and shire through a range of other services including a care at-home service, Linn Moor school which provides support for children living with additional support needs, learning disability support, residential mental health facilities and sheltered housing and care homes.

For more information about VSA Aberdeenshire Carers Service, visit vsa.org.uk / e-mail [email protected] or call 01224 727670