South Ayrshire Council News

A wide range of services are provided by South Ayrshire Council to support vulnerable people in our communities and this service is to be further enhanced.

Councillor Margaret Toner, Depute Leader of the Council and Portfolio Carrier for Community Services said: “The Council has a legislative requirement to meet people’s community care needs and to develop personalised and responsive services. In recent years the Council has fully embraced policies of deinstitutionalisation and shifting the balance of care from accommodation based services to specially tailored individual support based on the needs of each client. Therefore regularly reviewing the special requirements of every vulnerable person is critical.

“A decision by members of the Council’s Leadership Panel to refocus the work of existing employees and create new posts that will be funded from existing resources, will improve the services and benefit people who need extra support.

“None of us know what the future holds, maybe a member of our family, a work colleague or a friend could need these services in the future and it is reassuring to know that they are there.”

Support is provided in a range of areas including:

• Learning Disability Services – the recent Pan Ayrshire Inspection of Services to People with Learning Disability awarded the Council an ‘excellent’ report, the first time that this level of award had been given during such an inspection.
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – there are over 1,000 people in south Ayrshire who are on the Autistic Spectrum and they require specialist assessments and support by appropriately trained professionals.
• Physical Disability/Long Term Conditions – this service provides support to people with Physical Disability and long term health conditions through the Council’s equipment and adaptations service delivered by our Occupational Therapists and this will now be complimented by specialist care management provision.