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Except it isn’t really the gate of the year any more, is it? January is nearly over, temperatures are still dropping even as the days draw out, and brave daffodil shoots are pushing their way up through the frozen soil in my back garden. Apologies for the delay in communications – this has been the […]

As many of you will know, the National Care Standards are currently being revised and a consultation period has recently closed. We made our comments and sent them in, and look forward in due course to seeing the results. Meantime however, Standard No. 12 is the one that interests us the most. This is the […]

Here is another great poem by our anonymous home carer. In this poem, she reflects on her first, nerve-wracking night on duty, visiting people in their own homes to ‘do the tuck-in’ – or as we might prefer it, to assist our loved ones to get ready for bed. Night One September. Wednesday night, half-past […]

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about the realities of working life for paid carers. It’s not an easy job and it’s not well paid, and yet we expect the very best of attention, professionalism, even love for our elderly loved ones. Time and time again, carers deliver on this. Occasionally they don’t. […]

As an organisation, we celebrate the importance of spirituality for older people of all faiths and none. Dianna Wolfson is a Faith in Older People Trustee and was previously the Head teacher of Calderwood Lodge Jewish Primary School in Glasgow and the Convenor of the Scottish Inter Faith Council. To provide an insight into the […]

A goodly number of FiOP people attended a reception at the Scottish Parliament on 30th October, to mark the launch of ‘To Absent Friends: A People’s Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance’. It was a very pleasant event indeed, safe in the calm and creative hands of Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief. Mark Hazlewood, Chief […]

We were treated to a great post-lunch waker-upper at the recent Arts in Care Seminar. Debra Salem, a folk-and-blues singer (visit Debra’s site and click the juke box symbol for a blast of her fabulous voice) addressed the 100+ audience. ‘We’re going to sing together,’ she said, ‘let it all hang out!’ And I must confess […]

On 14th October, the Arts in Care conference was held in Perth Concert Hall. It was an excellent event, run jointly by Animate and Scottish Care and chaired with a light but efficient touch by Sally Magnusson. The keynote speeches were excellent and very heartening – with a general message that care homes should be […]

We recently held a small (but perfectly formed) seminar with colleagues from Edinburgh University, on ‘Risk and Resilience in Residential Care’. Charlotte Clark spoke on research into risk, and how the insidious creep of risk–aversity (my new word) is crippling staff and residents alike in denying them various life-affirming opportunities. Then Harriet Harris talked about […]

A lot of our work involves helping clergy and lay people to develop their skills, confidence and sensitivity in issues relating to death and dying. This year, we invited Rabbi Julia Neuberger to give the Malcolm Goldsmith lecture, on ‘Dying Well.’ Although people in our society tend not to like talking about death, we had […]