A new Centre for Independent Living will be officially opened on Thursday (24th March) by Gordon Jamieson, Chief Executive, NHS Western Isles, and Ron Culley, Chief Officer, Health and Social Care. The centre is a partnership initiative between NHS Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and third sector organisations and will run as a pilot project for 12 months.
The purpose-designed facility will be a multi-disciplinary led Centre based within the Grianan Centre, Westview Terrace, Stornoway. The centre will be an interactive demonstration space, set up as a ‘real life’ house with rooms designed to showcase a variety of health and care technology that can help people live a more independent life, allowing people to see how these various pieces of technology would work ‘in-situ’ and allaying fears as to the use of technology.
The demonstration centre means that people will now have access to all the information they need in one place, as well as being able to see and try out adaptations and equipment, including telecare and telehealth products. The equipment available will range from simple aids to more major pieces of equipment or possible adaptations to the home.
The Centre is being developed as part of an EU funded project, RemoAge, funded by the Northern Peripheries and Arctic Programme that is looking to find new ways of supporting vulnerable older people to live longer in their homes in remote areas of northern Europe. The RemoAge project is a collaboration between academic and practitioner partners from Sweden, Norway, Scotland (the Western Isles, the Shetland Islands and University of Stirling). The lead partner is the County Council of Norrbotten, Sweden. There are also associate partners in Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands.
Chief Executive of NHS Western Isles, Gordon Jamieson, said: “The new Independent Living Centre represents the culmination of joint work and a shared ambition to provide a common access point for the introduction to and the use of assistive technologies. I am particularly excited by the demonstration centre which will allow folk to try out new equipment in a safe environment and help support them to remain at home longer or to return home with confidence after a period of illness. This is an excellent example of how integrated working can provide benefits to vulnerable people in our community.”
Ron Culley, Chief Officer, Health and Social Care, adds: “Across Scotland public bodies are responding to the challenges of constrained budgets and increasing demand on their services, with vision and imagination, finding new and better ways to work together to deliver services.
“The Centre for Independent Living is a great example of what can be achieved when local authorities and health boards in collaboration with third sector organisations, design services in the interests of individuals and families, helping them to make positive choices in respect of their current and future care needs.”
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