Families face 100-mile trips for respite support

Elizabeth Jones and her son Ollie

A new campaign hopes to secure respite care support for families in Caithness with children or relatives with additional needs.

Access to occasional overnight care was provided at Thor House in Thurso, but that stopped during the Covid pandemic and has not restarted. The nearest similar service is more than 100 miles away.

Elizabeth Jones, whose eight-year-old son Ollie has severe autism, said even one night a month would make a huge difference to their lives.

Highland Council, which works with NHS Highland in providing services, said it was looking at how it could meet needs of families across its region.

For people in Caithness the nearest respite services, when available, are more than 100 miles away in Inverness.

Ms Jones said an alternative option - having a carer come and stay in her own home - was not suitable because she has other children and also nowhere for the person to stay.

She told BBC Naidheachdan: "Living with autism or another disability like that is all consuming. It's exhausting.

"Having no services and having nothing on offer is tiring, and it's very disappointing and depressing."

She added: "If we could just plan and have one night off a month it would be massive."

Campaigner Iain Gregory added: "We've got 68 members within the first few weeks - that's 68 families looking for respite care."

A Highland Council spokesperson said: “We are looking at overnight breaks across all of the Highlands and how we can meet this need.”

Maree Todd, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and minister for social care, mental wellbeing and sport, has met campaigners.

She said: “Respite care is essential for maintaining the health and wellbeing of those in caring roles and I hope a solution can be identified as soon as possible to ensure that my constituents have access to this vital support.”

In January, another group - Caithness Health Action Team (Chat) - said its area needed Orkney's model of provision due to how far patients have to travel to access key services.

It said 90% of local pregnant women gave birth at Inverness' Raigmore Hospital - more than 100 miles away from the main Caithness towns of Wick and Thurso.

The Scottish government and NHS Highland said they were working together to provide safe and sustainable services.