GRATITUDE is being expressed for the support shown to the region’s health and social care system in the face of major challenges.

It follows a request to communities to take actions which can support the system, and for families and loved ones of hospital in-patients to help facilitate a speedy discharge.

Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership Chief Officer Julie White said: “We’re very grateful to everyone for the responses we’ve seen after we highlighted the very serious pressures being felt right across health and social care in Dumfries and Galloway.

“Even just being aware of the pressures and being prepared for and understanding our current limitations is of help and appreciated.”

Mrs White added: “As we noted, staffing pressures are a fundamental aspect of the current pressures right across our system.

“Although we have sizable numbers of people needing treatment in hospital, we simultaneously have seen significant increases in the number and complexity of people who require support to remain in their own homes and to return home from hospital. Recruitment challenges are limiting our ability to meet this increased need.

“This is despite recent success recruiting to Dumfries and Galloway Council’s in-house Care and Support Services (CASS), where the enlisting of 32 staff equated to a further 784 hours of care provision – supporting the care at home visits in our region which now total 80,000 every single week.

“As a consequence, you will hopefully be aware of the concentrated and ongoing recruitment activity aimed at bolstering our care at home services – supported by the increase in pay for this sector announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

“As that work continues, we are recruiting health and care support workers to help support care at home services, and we have multi-disciplinary teams reviewing people’s needs and identifying new and alternative ways of meeting those needs.

“We’re evolving our ways of working, developing models which will look to safely maximise hospital discharges and looking at options for how people requiring long-term care can be supported in the interim until that longer term arrangement is in place. Thanks to our Community Nursing Teams, our STARS team, social care teams and the staff deployed from our empty cottage hospitals, we are now supporting more than 100 people at home who would have otherwise been delayed in hospital awaiting packages of care.

“Huge credit and appreciation needs to be voiced for the many thousands of unpaid Carers in our region, as without them our health and social care systems would simply not be able to function. The pandemic has led to an increasing number of people becoming Carers as well as adding to the huge impact that caring has on those who were already caring.

“This current situation may mean that there could be added requests made of families and Carers at this time and we acknowledge the added pressure this may cause. It is important that Carers are considered as partners alongside our health and social care teams and made aware that there is support available to them via local organisations like D&G Carers Centre and others who can provide ongoing information, advice and support to anyone caring for a relative or friend.

“Technology continues to evolve, and we are looking to harness developments there which can help across all of health and social care. The use of technology to support people to be as independent as possible at home will be a key feature of our work this winter.

“Meanwhile, we are reconfiguring our approaches so that we have Mountainhall Treatment Centre now supporting the flow of patients out of DGRI, and staff being deployed to where they can help people to safely return to their homes as soon as possible – which is the central ethos of our Home Teams way of working across our communities.

“And very significantly, work is taking place with the region’s third sector partners around the role they currently, and could in future, play in supporting people to live in their own homes. I am also very grateful to our Police Scotland colleagues and our Scottish Fire and Rescue Service colleagues who are offering their support to help with things such as welfare checks on our most vulnerable people, and the ongoing vital work carried out by the Scottish Ambulance Service.”

All of these actions are being supported by an increase in funding received from the Scottish Government.

However, Mrs White warns that money in itself is not the solution to the challenges still weighing very heavily across the region’s health and social care system.

Mrs White said: “The bottom line is that this is about people. It’s about increases in the number of people in our region who need treatment and support, as our population continues to age.

“It’s also about challenges in finding the staff and volunteers from our working age populations to meet those needs.

“And it’s about how everyone accesses health and social care, how we maximise the existing resources, and how we help look after ourselves and each other to try and make certain that our systems work to ensure everyone gets the right level of care, in the right place, at the right time.”

A VERY serious situation now exists across the health and social care system in Dumfries and Galloway – currently experiencing the greatest pressures in living memory. 

Direct requests are now being made to families and loved ones of hospital in-patients to provide whatever support they can to facilitate a speedy discharge, and help address major pressures. 

Julie White is Chief Officer of the Health and Social Care Partnership and Chief Operating Officer of NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and she said: “We are in an unprecedented situation. 

“Never in the living memory of health and social care services in Dumfries and Galloway have we been faced with such pressures. Not with the move to the new DGRI back in 2017, not in the worst of any winters… this is a whole new level of pressure. 

“And we can’t promise that it’s not going to get any worse. 

“Our fundamental issue at the moment is the volume of people who genuinely require our help and support and finite staffing resource available to meet those needs. We are doing our best to recruit more staff to support us but the pressure is immediate. 

“So today we are not just looking for the ongoing support of our incredible staff and volunteers, but also from our communities. 

“To families and friends of loved ones currently in our care, anything you can possibly do to help support the return of that person to their home environment will assist us in ensuring we are then able to help others. 

“Get in touch with our teams, guide our approaches, suggest ways in which we can accelerate their return home. 

“For the wider community, anything you can do to help support us at this time will be met with immense appreciation. Help us by following guidance which sets out where to seek the most appropriate source of help if needed, but, if it is needed, please do come forward. Please continue to be tolerant and understanding as we make some really difficult decisions to manage this unprecedented demand. 

“To be clear, we will always be here to provide treatment and care – but the limits of what we are able to do continue to be stretched to new degrees, and I am extremely concerned about how much further these resources can stretch.  

“As noted, we can’t guarantee that this current situation won’t worsen still, but right now we want everyone to understand just how difficult things are, to help in any way they can, and ask them to be as supportive and polite as possible to the amazing staff and volunteers who remain professional and caring – no matter how difficult and testing the circumstances.”  

Buildings across Dumfries and Galloway will be lit up in purple to mark International Overdose Awareness Day.

The tribute – on 31st August – is being made to remember those who have died due to overdose and acknowledge the grief of the families and friends left behind.

The locations include: We are With You – Buccleuch Street, Dumfries; St Ringans Parish Church – Castle Douglas; Old Parish Church – Annan and The Baptist Church – Stranraer. 

Information packs on overdose awareness, harm reduction and contact details for local support services will be available at these locations.

Families and members of the community are being invited to tie a purple ribbon at these locations to remember those who have lost their lives to drug related death. Ribbons will be available at each location

Grahame Clarke, Independent Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, said: “We have previously highlighted the continued rise in suspected drug related deaths in Dumfries and Galloway, and so, we are using our activity in support of International Overdose Awareness Day to again remind all of our communities of the devastating impact that drug related deaths have.

“We want to acknowledge the profound grief felt by families and friends whose loved ones have died or suffered permanent injury from drug overdose.

“We would like to remind drug users and their families of the key things they can do to reduce the risk of overdose.”

Steps include:

· Don’t take drugs alone – most suspected fatal overdoses have involved someone taking drugs alone. Taking drugs alone increases the chance of fatally overdosing, because there is no one to call for help in an emergency.

· Don’t take a combination of drugs, drugs that haven’t been prescribed and or drugs that may have been bought over the internet. This includes alcohol and prescribed medication. Mixing drugs greatly increases the risk of overdose, particularly if you don’t know exactly what they are or what effect they will have.

· Don’t try new substances, increase or reduce the quantity of drugs or alcohol being regularly taken without support from your GP or Drug and Alcohol treatment Service. If trying any new substances, try a very small amount at first, so you know how it might affect you.

· Get a Naloxone kit. Naloxone is a medication that temporarily reverses the effects of a heroin or other opioid overdose and allows time for someone to seek emergency help. Friends and family can also get a Naloxone kit

· Dial 999 immediately if you believe that someone is having an overdose or if you feel unwell after taking any drugs. When someone has overdosed, they can look and sound like they are simply asleep; snoring can be an indication the person is having breathing difficulties. Always check when you hear snoring that the person is actually asleep.

The message from Dumfries and Galloway Alcohol and Drug Partnership is being echoed and supported by Dumfries and Galloway Local Resilience Partnership in the form of its partners Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway Council, Police Scotland, Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Ambulance Service and Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership.

Further information can be found at www.stopdgdrugdeaths.co.uk

A collaboration between a ward at Midpark Hospital in Dumfries and a local camera club has resulted in new stimulating art for patients. 

The Glencairn Ward is one of six wards at Midpark Hospital, providing 15 beds for older adults who are experiencing difficulties with their current mental health which cannot be supported at home and so require hospital admission.  

Senior Charge Nurse Claire Gabriel said: “Staff on the ward were keen to decorate its walls with art which would encourage conversation, and allow discussions about life experiences and memories, as well as hobbies and locations visited in the region. 

“We all know how stimulating artwork can be for many of our patients, and it made sense to see if we could obtain attractive and engaging pictures that could take up a permanent place on the walls of the ward.” 

It was a chance discussion between Claire Gabriel and Dumfries Camera Club Competition Secretary Ian Findlay, a partner at Findlay Design, that led to a project being undertaken by the wider camera club members. 

Dumfries Camera club is a long-standing amateur photographic club that would normally meet at Gracefield Arts Centre between August and May.  

Due to restrictions around lockdowns, they have continued to hold virtual meetings – but have arranged competitions and welcomed guest speakers on a Wednesday night throughout the pandemic. 

The Camera Club members were happy to take on the challenge of creating new images to help decorate Glencairn Ward, providing an abundance of entries for the ward staff to choose from. 

Ultimately, eight pictures were chosen, and Ian from Findlay Design supported staff by getting large canvases printed for the staff to hang within the ward.  

Mr Findlay said: “The club were really happy to support this bid to create some original artwork for Glencairn Ward at Midpark Hospital, and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge which was put to them by the ward staff. 

“We had a huge number of entries, of fantastic quality, and the club is delighted that the some of that resulting work has now been selected and is providing talking points for patients and staff.” 

Claire has expressed huge gratitude to Dumfries Camera Club for what they undertook, and for the role played by Mr Findlay. 

She said: “The pictures are stunning and have proven to be a huge success for both patients and staff.  

“Their comments when viewing some of the shots of life and nature include, ‘You can actually see what is happening at that time’,  ‘I just love looking at these pictures’, ‘Amazing’, ‘They stimulate conversation’ and ‘When I go back, I see something different every time’. 

Glencairn Ward at Midpark Hospital sees care provided by a wide range of multi-disciplinary team members. Staff also work in partnership with family and friends, to provide a high standard of patient-centred care.