Independence Day
Supporting People has enabled two older people to lead a quality life in the community. The Richmond Fellowship Scotland developed a joint tenancy for two older gentlemen in a rural area north of Oban in Argyll and Bute.
Both men were living in a long stay hospital but wanted to live in their own house in the community. Both men experienced dementia and required intensive support. Hospital life was for them a poor second choice to having their own tenancy - so Supporting People funding enabled them to leave hospital and settle into their own community.
Austen Smyth, Chief Executive, explained, 'The individualised nature of Supporting People funding and its vision of support within tenancies rightly raised the level of what could be achieved for people. This has not just been about affording better but in some instances affording humane and personalised focused services.'
Both men now have a home of their own and value this. They follow their own interests and hobbies. Both men value their independence, albeit with support, and have realised a future for themselves in the community and not in hospital or in nursing homes.